The 2011 Rugby Football League Championship is known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group.
The 2011 Co-operative Championship is a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the UK and France one tier below the first tier Super League. The two worst performing teams during the season, with the exception of Toulouse Olympique, will be relegated to Championship 1.
There is no automatic promotion from this league to Super League, which uses a licensing system renewed every three years. Qualifying for the Grand Final or winning the Northern Rail Cup is a prerequisite for Championship clubs to be able to apply for a licence in the next round of applications for the 2012–14 period.
All of the teams in the 2011 Co-operative Championship will also compete in the 2011 Challenge Cup where they will enter in the third round. All of the teams will also compete in the 2011 National League Cup which starts before the Co-operative Championship with the finals held mid season.
Teams
This competition features mostly the same teams as it did in 2010. The Hunslet Hawks and York City Knights were promoted from the 2010 Championship 1 while the Keighley Cougars and Whitehaven were relegated.
Legend Reigning champions Defending Northern Rail Cup Champions Promoted
Team & Current Season Stadium Capacity Location Barrow Raiders Craven Park 7,600 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Batley Bulldogs Mount Pleasant 6,000 Batley, West Yorkshire Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 3,500 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 6,750 Featherstone, West Yorkshire Halifax The Shay Stadium 6,561 Halifax, West Yorkshire Hunslet Hawks South Leeds Stadium 4,000 Leeds, West Yorkshire Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester Sheffield Eagles Bramall Lane 32,702 Sheffield, South Yorkshire Toulouse Olympique XIII Stade des Minimes 4,066 Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France Widnes Vikings Stobart Stadium Halton 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire York City Knights Huntington Stadium 3,428 York, North Yorkshire
Season standings 2011 Co-operative Championship Team 1 Featherstone Rovers 20 18 1 1 840 348 +492 0 56 2 Leigh Centurions 20 18 1 1 776 368 +408 1 53 3 Batley Bulldogs 20 12 0 8 498 406 +92 0 41 4 Sheffield Eagles 20 12 0 8 577 488 +89 0 39 5 Widnes Vikings 20 11 1 8 555 532 +23 0 38 6 Halifax 20 10 0 10 569 543 +26 1 36 7 Hunslet Hawks 20 4 1 15 395 630 -235 3 20 8 York City Knights 20 5 1 14 416 788 -372 3 19 9 Dewsbury Rams 20 4 1 15 413 618 −205 0 18 10 Toulouse Olympique(R) 20 4 0 16 358 663 −305 0 15 11 Barrow Raiders (R) 20 9 0 11 527 540 -13 1 0
Teams qualifying for the Play-offs Teams in relegation position
Season results Regular season
Play-offs Elimination play-offs
Qualifying semi-final
Elimination semi-final
Elimination final
Grand Final
Statistics The following are the top points scorers in the Championship during the 2011 season. Statistics also include tries and goals scored in the play-offs.
Most tries Player Team Tries Jamie Ellis Leigh Centurions 22 Mick Nanyn Leigh Centurions 22 Andy Ballard Barrow Raiders 20 Bryn Powell Featherstone Rovers 20 Tom Saxton Featherstone Rovers 18 Paul White Halifax 17 Martyn Ridyard Leigh Centurions 17 Quentin Laulu-Togagae Sheffield Eagles 17 Menzie Yere Sheffield Eagles 16 Jon Hepworth Featherstone Rovers 15
Most goals Player Team Goals Liam Finn Featherstone Rovers 115 Mick Nanyn Leigh Centurions 104 Simon Brown Sheffield Eagles 95 Steve Tyrer Widnes Vikings 69 Danny Jones Halifax 65 Jamie Rooney Barrow Raiders 63 Paul Handforth Batley Bulldogs 59 Darren Nicholls Toulouse Olympique 40 Dominic Brambani Dewsbury Rams 39 Pat Walker Dewsbury Rams 29
Most points Player Team Tries Goals DGs Points Mick Nanyn Leigh Centurions 22 104 0 296 Liam Finn Featherstone Rovers 14 115 1 287 Simon Brown Sheffield Eagles 2 95 1 199 Steve Tyrer Widnes Vikings 12 69 0 186 Danny Jones Halifax 6 65 0 154 Jamie Rooney Barrow Raiders 6 63 1 151 Paul Handforth Batley Bulldogs 4 59 0 134 Darren Nicholls Toulouse Olympique 13 40 0 132 Dominic Brambani Dewsbury Rams 6 39 1 103 Jamie Ellis Leigh Centurions 22 7 0 102
See also Co-operative Championship 2011 Championship 1 British rugby league system Super League Rugby League Conference Northern Ford Premiership National League Cup
References