2020 RFL League 1 – Wikipedia

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2020 rugby league competition in the United Kingdom

The 2020 RFL League 1 was a professional rugby league football competition played in England and Wales and is the third tier of the sport for Rugby Football League (RFL) affiliated clubs. The sponsors for the league were the bookmakers, Betfred and the league continued to be known as the Betfred League 1.

The league was to have followed the same structure that was in place for the 2019 season and consist of 22 rounds with each of the 11 teams playing 20 fixtures against each other home and away and two bye rounds. The team finishing top would have won automatic promotion to the 2021 Championship and be named league champions for 2020. The teams finishing second to sixth were meet in a series of play-off games culminating in the League 1 Play-Off Final. The winner of this match will also be promoted to the Championship for 2021.

The season did sees the introduction of golden point extra time but no matches went to extra time before he season was suspended and subsequently abandoned. Extra-time will consist of two periods of five minutes but unlike the version in use in the Super League where winner takes all, in League 1 each team will earn a point for a game where the scores finish level at the end of normal time with a third point awarded to the first team to score during extra-time.[1]

On 16 March the structure and timing of the competition was placed in doubt as all rugby league games were suspended until 3 April at least as part of the United Kingdom’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.[2] The suspension of the season was extended to indefinite.[3]

A discussion between the RFL and club officials in May saw seven of the 11 clubs reject a suggestion that the season could recommence with games being played behind closed doors.[4] The RFL board met on 20 July and having consulted with the League 1 clubs decided to abandon the 2020 season as the majority of clubs did not support playing behind closed doors.[5] At the date of suspension only two rounds of matches had been played and the season was declared null and void.[6]

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Locations of the 2020 RFL League 1 teams
Colours Club City Stadium Capacity*
Barrowcolours.svg Barrow Raiders Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness 7,600
Coventrycolours.png Coventry Bears Coventry, West Midlands Butts Park Arena 4,000
Doncaster colours.svg Doncaster Doncaster, South Yorkshire Keepmoat Stadium 15,231
Hunsletcolours.svg Hunslet Leeds, West Yorkshire South Leeds Stadium 4,000
Cougscolours.svg Keighley Cougars Keighley, West Yorkshire Cougar Park 7,800
Skolscolours.svg London Skolars Haringey, London New River Stadium 2,000
Gthundercolours.svg Newcastle Thunder Newcastle, Tyne and Wear Kingston Park 10,200
NWCrucolours.png North Wales Crusaders Wrexham, Wales Queensway Stadium 2,000
Rochdale colours.svg Rochdale Hornets Rochdale, Greater Manchester Spotland Stadium 10,249
Canberra colours.svg West Wales Raiders Llanelli, Wales Stebonheath Park 3,700
Workingtoncolours.svg Workington Town Workington, Cumbria Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000

*capacity for rugby league games may differ from official stadium capacity.

Results[edit]

Round 1[edit]

All the ties in round one were due to be played on 15–16 February but all were postponed. Four due to one or both clubs in the tie being involved in rescheduled Challenge Cup third round ties, the original dates having been affected by Storm Ciara.[a][8] The remaining match (North Wales Crusaders v Doncaster) was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch caused by Storm Dennis.

  1. ^ Under the RFL operational rules cup ties take priority over league ties[7]
  2. ^ Postponed as Newcastle were involved in a rescheduled Challenge Cup tie on 16 February
  3. ^ Postponed due to a waterlogged pitch
  4. ^ Postponed as Rochdale were involved on a rescheduled Challenge Cup tie on 16 February
  5. ^ Postponed as Keighley were involved in a rescheduled Challenge Cup tie on 16 February. Was rescheduled for 10 May but match was never played
  6. ^ Postponed as both clubs were involved in rescheduled Challenge Cup ties on 16 February

Round 2[edit]

Round 3[edit]

Standings at date of abandonment[edit]

Updated to match(es) played on 8 March 2020. Season abandoned on 20 July 2020. Source: [1]

References[edit]



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