| avg_attendance = | points = 8,308 | TV = | season = 2024 season | season_champ_name = Promoted to Super League | season_champs = Wakefield Trinity | season_champs_count = | league_leaders_name = League Leaders' Shield | league_leaders = Wakefield Trinity | league_leaders_count = | wooden_spoon_name = Relegated to League One | wooden_spoon = Swinton Lions, Whitehaven, Dewsbury Rams | biggest_home_win = Featherstone Rovers 66–0 Whitehaven () Wakefield Trinity 72–6 Doncaster () | biggest_away_win = Swinton Lions 0–60 Wakefield Trinity () | top_scorer = Max Jowitt () | top try scorer =Derrell Olpherts () | prevseason_link = 2023 RFL Championship | prevseason_year = 2023 | nextseason_link = 2025 RFL Championship | nextseason_year = 2025
The 2024 RFL Championship (officially known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby league club competition. The second tier of the British rugby league system comprises 14 clubs – 13 from England and one from France.
The season comprised 26 rounds in the regular season with the top six teams taking part in the play-offs to determine the champions.
The title was won by Wakefield Trinity who beat Toulouse Olympique in the grand final. Wakefield also won the league leader's shield winning 25 of their 26 matches during the regular season.
Wakefield's Max Jowitt became the first player in the British game to score 500 points in a season. Going into the grand final on 494 points, Jowitt kicked the three goals he needed to reach the 500 mark.
Despite Wakefield winning the Championship, there is no automatic promotion to Super League, due to Super League status being dependent on a club's performance under the IMG grading system. However, on 22 October 2024, it was announced that Wakefield had improved their rating to a Grade A, which will now see them playing in Super League for the 2025 season.
Team changes London Broncos won promotion to the Super League at the end of 2023 and were replaced by Wakefield Trinity who were relegated from Super League. Promoted from League 1 in 2023 were Dewsbury Rams and Doncaster who replaced the 2023 relegated teams, Keighley Cougars and Newcastle Thunder.
Structure changes There was no automatic promotion from the Championship to Super League at the end of the season. This was due to the introduction of the grading scheme where clubs are graded by a number of factors, not all based on on-field performance.
The Summer Bash round which saw all the fixtures played at one location over a weekend was dropped for 2024 following disappointing attendance figures for the 2022 and 2023 events which were played in Leeds and York respectively.
Following a review of the league structure below Super League, the RFL announced that by the start of the 2026 season, the Championship and League 1 would be equalised in size at 12 teams each. The first step was to reduce the Championship from 14 clubs to 13 at the end of the 2024 season. This was achieved by the bottom two clubs being relegated to League 1 but only the League 1 champions being promoted. The team finishing third-bottom in 2024 played the team winning the League 1 play-offs for the 13th spot in the 2025 Championship.
Rule changes A number of changes were introduced for 2024.
The "six again" rule was amended so that set restarts would only be awarded if the ball was in the defending team's half of the field. Infringements in the attacking team's half would result in a penalty to the attacking team.
The use of the 18th man was allowed after two players (reduced from three) had failed head impact assessments or a player was unable to continue through injury (not just a head injury) resulting from foul play where the opposing player was sin-binned or sent-off. The use of the green card by the referee ordering injured players off the field for treatment was discontinued in the Championship.
A team awarded a penalty at a scrum had the option to reset the scrum instead of taking the penalty.
For disciplinary processes a category of "reckless tackle" was introduced.
On 26 February 2024, the RFL announced that changes would be made to the 'head on head contact' rule that was previously implemented to start the season. This came after Nu Brown of Super League club Hull FC was controversially shown a red card for a tackle during his side's match against Warrington Wolves. The RFL stated that the rule will be amended, "emphasising that it applies only to initial contact".
Clubs
Team Location Stadium Capacity Barrow Raiders Barrow-in-Furness Northern Competitions Stadium 6,000 Batley Bulldogs Batley Mount Pleasant 7,500 Bradford Bulls Bradford Odsal Stadium 22,000 Dewsbury Rams Dewsbury Crown Flatt 5,100 Doncaster Doncaster Eco-Power Stadium 15,231 Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Millennium Stadium 8,000 Halifax Panthers Halifax The Shay 10,401 Sheffield Eagles Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park 1,320 Swinton Lions Sale Heywood Road 3,387 Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Wakefield Trinity Wakefield DIY Kitchens Stadium 9,333 Whitehaven Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Widnes Vikings Widnes DCBL Stadium 13,350 York Knights York York Community Stadium 8,005
Results
Table
Play-offs
Championship play-off On 13 October Swinton, the team finishing 12th in the regular season, played Hunslet, the League One play-off final winners to decide the 13th team in the 2025 Championship. Swinton lost to Hunslet and were relegated to League One for 2025.
Player statistics
Top 10 try scorers RankPlayer (s)ClubTries1 Derrell Olpherts Wakefield Trinity262 Max Jowitt233 Paul Ulberg Toulouse Olympique214 Lachlan Walmsley Wakefield Trinity205 Connor Wynne Featherstone Rovers196 Joe Burton Batley Bulldogs187 Joe Brown York Knights178 Matty Dawson-Jones Sheffield Eagles16 Maxime Stefani Toulouse Olympique10 Kieran Gill Bradford Bulls15 Jayden Hatton Swinton Lions Ryan Ince Widnes Vikings
Top 10 goal scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Max Jowitt Wakefield Trinity1462 Jordan Lilley Bradford Bulls1083 Cory Aston Sheffield Eagles884 Tom Gilmore Widnes Vikings845 Jake Shorrocks Toulouse Olympique816 Louis Jouffret Halifax Panthers667 Connor Robinson Doncaster RLFC658 Ryan Shaw Barrow Raiders559 Josh Woods Batley Bulldogs5410 Ben Reynolds Featherstone Rovers48
Top 10 point scorers RankPlayerClubPoints1 Max Jowitt Wakefield Trinity3842 Jordan Lilley Bradford Bulls2453 Tom Gilmore Widnes Vikings1934 Cory Aston Sheffield Eagles1925 Jake Shorrocks Toulouse Olympique1786 Louis Jouffret Halifax Panthers1647 Connor Robinson Doncaster RLFC1518 Ryan Shaw Barrow Raiders1389 Ben Reynolds Featherstone Rovers12410 Josh Woods Batley Bulldogs115 : (Round 27)
Discipline
Red cards RankPlayerClub Cards1 Delaine Gittens-Bedward Barrow Raiders1 Brad Walker Greg Worthington Dale Ferguson Dewsbury Rams Gareth Gale Featherstone Rovers Ed Barber Halifax Panthers Matty Gee Zack McComb Matty Marsh Sheffield Eagles Jordy Gibson Swinton Lions Richard Lepori Gavin Rodden Sitaleki Akauola Toulouse Olympique Harrison Hansen Owen McCarron Whitehaven RLFC Jacob Gannon York Knights
Yellow cards RankPlayerClub Cards1 Edene Gebbie Whitehaven RLFC52 Mitchel Souter Bradford Bulls4 Lambert Belmas Toulouse Olympique Ryan King Whitehaven RLFC5 Adam Gledhill Batley Bulldogs3 Dane Manning Jorge Taufua Bradford Bulls Ronan Dixon Dewsbury Rams Danny Addy Featherstone Rovers Dec Patton George Roby Swinton Lions Matty Fleming Widnes Vikings13 Eribe Doro Bradford Bulls2 Franklin Pele Jayden Myers Bailey O'Connor Dewsbury Rams Kieran Rush Brad England Featherstone Rovers Josh Hardcastle Gadwin Springer Jacob Fairbank Halifax Panthers Matty Dawson-Jones Sheffield Eagles Joel Farrell Joshua Eaves Swinton Lions Gavin Rodden Reubenn Rennie Toulouse Olympique Luke Bain Wakefield Trinity Jack Croft Sam Brooks Widnes Vikings Will Dagger York Knights30 Brett Carter Barrow Raiders1 Ryan Johnston Ryan Shaw Jarrad Stack Brad Walker Tom Walker Josh Wood James Brown Batley Bulldogs Kieran Buchanan Luke Hooley Nixon Putt John Davies Bradford Bulls Zac Fulton Kieran Gill Tom Holmes Fenton Rogers Jamie Field Dewsbury Rams Matt Garside Jacob Hookem Elliott Morris Paul Sykes Calum Turner Jackson Walker Marcus Walker Brett Ferres Doncaster RLFC Brad Knowles-Tagg Joe Lovodua Suaia Matagi Pauli Pauli Connor Robinson Jack Arnold Featherstone Rovers Yusuf Aydin Harry Bowes Jack Bussey Ben Reynolds Connor Wynne Ben Kavanagh Halifax Panthers Kevin Larroyer Adam Tangata Gareth Widdop Eddie Battye Sheffield Eagles Blake Broadbent Alex Foster James Glover Bayley Liu Jesse Sene-Lefao Jayden Hatton Swinton Lions Richard Lepori Robin Brochon Toulouse Olympique Paul Marcon Éloi Pélissier Dominique Peyroux Paul Ulberg Matty Ashurst Wakefield Trinity Liam Hood Max Jowitt Mason Lino Derrell Olpherts Lachlan Walmsley Sam Ackroyd Whitehaven RLFC Lucas Castle Lachlan Hanneghan James Newton Curtis Teare Sam Web-Campbell Mike Butt Widnes Vikings Ryan Ince Danny Langtree Max Roberts Connor Bailey York Knights Jordan Thompson Nikau Williams: (Round 27)
Broadcasting The two-year deal with Viaplay expired at the end of the 2023 season. No new deal was arranged with any provider for 2024.
References