The RFU Championship is the second tier of the English 🏴 rugby union league system. It was founded in September 1987. See below for the latest English Championship Predictions.
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The twelve-side league was known as National Division One and in 2009 changed from semi-professional clubs to fully professional. The 2020 champions were Newcastle Falcons, winning automatic promotion to Premiership Rugby.
Originally the league required an end-of-season round of two-legged play-offs in which the top eight, from 2012–13 until 2016–17 revised to top four, clubs at the end of the main phase of the season played each other.
However, on 10 November 2008 it was proposed by the Rugby Football Union that the second tier of the English rugby union system should be a fully professional twelve club Championship.
HISTORY
The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England’s other two principal team sports.
The RFU’s reluctance to allow leagues was based on a perceived threat to the sport’s amateurism regulations. Competitive leagues were seen as making clubs more likely to use incentives to attract and retain the best players.
When formalised leagues were finally permitted in the 1987–88 season, the second level was known as ‘Courage League National Division Two’. The league has since had several different names before becoming the RFU Championship in the 2009–10 season
However, in November 2008, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership. The 12-team Championship replaced the 16-team National Division One.
To enable Level 2 to transition from 16 teams to 12, the RFU proposal called for five teams to be relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. The relegated teams would play in the third level of rugby, known as ‘National Division 2’ in 2008–09 and to be known as ‘National League 1’ in 2009–10.
Additionally, one team would be relegated from the Premiership (Level 1 to Level 2). One team would be promoted to the Premiership (Level 2 to Level 1). Finally, one team would be promoted from National Division 2 (Level 3 to Level 2).
The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.
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