2010 RFL Championship

The 2010 Rugby Football League Championship is known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group.

Co-operative Championship 2010
The Co-operative Championship logo
League	Co-operative Championship
Duration	22 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Teams	11
Highest attendance	3,686 Widnes vs. Halifax (18 Mar)
Lowest attendance	835 Sheffield vs. Dewsbury (19 Mar)
Average attendance	1,771
Attendance	53,130
Broadcast partners	Sky Sports
2010 Season
Champions	Halifax
League leaders	Featherstone Rovers
Runners-up	Halifax
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to Championship 1	Whitehaven Keighley Cougars
← 2009 2011 →

The 2010 Co-operative Championship is a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the United Kingdom 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 license in the next round of applications for the 2012–14 period.

All of the teams in the 2010 Co-operative Championship will also compete in the 2010 Challenge Cup where they will enter in the third round. All of the teams, with the exception of Toulouse Olympique will compete in the 2010 Northern Rail Cup which starts before the Co-operative Championship with the finals held mid season.

Featherstone Rovers finished the league in first place after the regular season but were beaten by Halifax in the grand final 23-22

Teams

This competition features mostly the same teams as it did in 2009. The Dewsbury Rams and Keighley Cougars were promoted from the 2009 Championship One. The Leigh Centurions and Doncaster were meant to be relegated. However, the chairman of Gateshead Thunder wound up the club and they were reformed by the community. This breach of insolvency laws caused them to be relegated and allowed Leigh to stay in the Co-operative Championship.

Legend
	Reigning champions
	Defending Northern Rail Cup Champions

	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
	Keighley Cougars RLFC	Cougar Park	6,800	Keighley, West Yorkshire
	Leigh Centurions	Leigh Sports Village	12,700	Leigh, Greater Manchester
	Sheffield Eagles	Bramall Lane	32,702	Sheffield, South Yorkshire
	Toulouse Olympique XIII (2010 Toulouse Olympique season)	Stade des Minimes	4,066	Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France
	Whitehaven	Recreation Ground	7,500	Whitehaven, Cumbria
	Widnes Vikings (2010 Widnes Vikings season)	Stobart Stadium Halton	13,500	Widnes, Cheshire

Rule changes

Player safety in tackle

The RFL announced two new rule interpretations intended to increase player safety in the tackle:^[1]

• Referees will now call "held" if one of the ball-carrier's legs is lifted by a defender in a tackle in which the participants are stood upright.^[1] Previously, a referee would only declare the tackle complete if both legs had been lifted.^[1]
• Referees will now call held as soon as they see the ball carrier being dragged by more than one defender.^[1] This will prevent groups of defenders dragging an opponent into touch or the in-goal area.^[1]

Salary cap

• The salary cap for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship has been reduced from £400,000 to £300,000^[2]

Fair Play Index

The Fair Play Index was launched in 2007 as part of The RFL's new Official partnership with Frontline Bathrooms. The Fair Play Index (known as the Frontline Fair Play Index through sponsorship) will be putting standards of discipline under the spotlight throughout the 2010 Co-operative Championship campaign.

At the end of the regular season the teams that finish top of the Frontline Fair Play Index will be presented with a specially engraved trophy and £5,000 prize from Frontline Bathrooms.

2010 Fair Play Index

2010 Frontline Fair Play Index
#	Team	Pen	Sin	Off	Ban	Pts
1	Widnes	45	0	0	0	45
2	Leigh Centurions	46	0	0	0	46
3	Sheffield Eagles	44	2	0	0	50
4	Keighley Cougars	53	0	0	0	53
4	Featherstone Rovers	50	1	0	0	53
6	Whitehaven	57	0	1	0	61
7	Batley Bulldogs	61	1	0	0	65
7	Halifax	59	2	0	0	65
7	Dewsbury Rams	62	1	0	0	65
10	Toulouse Olympique	66	0	0	1	71
11	Barrow Raiders	61	1	0	4	84

Source:"2010 Co-Operative Championship Fairplay Index". The RFL. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010. Note: Stats are correct as of Round 7 of the Co-Operative Championship on 16 April 2010.

Disciplinary record

The following table lists all incidents that were reviewed by the Rugby Football League during 2010 Co-Operative Championship, which were later deemed guilty and resulted in disciplinary action. The offenses were graded, depending on severity, in alphabetical order, "A" being less severe than "B".

Disc date	Name of player	Grade	Offense	Suspension	Fine	Source
23 March 2010	Gareth Haggerty	C	Use of forearm on player not in possession of the ball in 56th minute (Barlow).	4 matches	£50	Report[permanent dead link‍]
31 March 2010	Brendan Worth	B	Head butting in 20th minute.	1 match	£50	Report[permanent dead link‍]

Notable moments

December 2009

• 18 Dec - Keighley Cougars (Cougars (2001) Ltd) appeared in court in Leeds after an unpaid tax bill of £183,000 forced them into administration. However, the club was saved from being wound up after local businessmen sealed a deal to purchase the club and restart under the name of Keighley Cougars (2010) Ltd.^[3]

February 2010

• 18 Feb - Coronation Street actresses Michelle Keegan, Helen Flanagan and Lucy-Jo Hudson, joined a host of current players in the Manchester Evening News Arena to officially launch the 2010 Co-Operative Championship.^[4]
• 20 Feb - Keighley Cougars will start the 2010 season on minus nine points after being deducted nine points by the RFL for going into administration.^[5]
• 28 Feb - Widnes Vikings recorded the biggest win of the season so far after defeating Keighley Cougars 72-10 at the Stobart Stadium Halton.^[6]

March 2010

• 15 Mar - All Co-Operative championship clubs agree to a special Easter Bank Holiday weekend family ticket that gives matchday admission to two adults and two children for just £25.^[7]
• 17 Mar - The Co-operative Group announced that Jamie Rooney has signed alongside Paul Sculthorpe to form part of their 2010 ambassador line-up.^[8]
• 18 Mar - Widnes Vikings set a new highest attendance record for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship season. 3,686 fans were in attendance to witness the Widnes Vikings take on Halifax RLFC at the Stobart Stadium Halton.^[9]
• 19 Mar - A new record low attendance for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship season is set. Only 835 fans attended the round 3 fixture between Sheffield Eagles and Dewsbury Rams at the Don Valley Stadium.^[10]
• 23 Mar - Gareth Haggerty is suspended for 4 matches and fined £50 by the RFL disciplinary panel. Haggerty was found guilty of a category C offence for "use of forearm on a player not in possession of the ball".^[11] Haggerty was put on report during the clash between Sheffield Eagles and Widnes Vikings at the Don Valley Stadium when an off the ball incident between Haggerty and Sam Barlow was not witnessed by the referee.

May 2010

• 6 May - Featherstone Rovers 100% unbeaten record for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship season came to an end when they were beaten at home 24 - 26 by Touoluse. Featherstone has started the season by winning 8 consecutive league games.

League table

2010 Co-operative Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Featherstone Rovers	20	18	0	2	735	334	+401	2	56	Qualified for the Play-offs
2	Halifax	20	16	0	4	684	509	+175	2	50
3	Leigh Centurions	20	12	1	7	580	403	+177	5	43
4	Barrow Raiders	20	12	1	7	607	449	+158	1	39
5	Widnes Vikings	20	11	0	9	619	488	+131	5	38
6	Sheffield Eagles	20	10	1	9	503	555	−52	1	33
7	Batley Bulldogs	20	7	0	13	479	488	−9	8	29
8	Toulouse Olympique	20	8	0	12	486	649	−163	3	27
9	Dewsbury Rams	20	6	0	14	454	503	−49	8	26
10	Whitehaven (R)	20	4	0	16	281	707	−426	4	16	Relegation position
11	Keighley Cougars (R)	20	4	1	15	362	703	−341	−4	10[a]

Updated to match(es) played on 25 August 2010 (1:12pm). Source: ^[12][13]
Rules for classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.
Competition points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Keighley had 5 bonus points, but started the season on −9 points for going into administration.

Play-offs

The 2010 Co-Operative Championship play-off structure.

The play-offs commence following the conclusion of 22 round regular season and include the top six sides from the league.

The 2010 play-offs culminate in a grand final to be held at Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington, home of Super League side Warrington Wolves.

The Co-operative Championship uses a top-6 play-off system.

Preliminary semi-finals

Home	Score	Away	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Leigh Centurions	24 – 26	Sheffield Eagles	2 September, 19:30 GMT	Leigh Sports Village		1,516
Barrow Raiders	38 – 0	Widnes Vikings	5 September, 15:00 GMT	Craven Park		2,434

Qualifying and minor semi-final

Home	Score	Away	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Featherstone Rovers	46 – 16	Halifax	9 September, 19:30 BST	Post Office Road	Robert Hicks	2,553
Barrow Raiders	14 – 21	Sheffield Eagles	10 September, 20:00 BST	Craven Park	Gareth Hewer	2,231

Major semi-final

Home	Score	Away	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Halifax	42 – 16	Sheffield Eagles	16 September 2010, 19:30 BST	The Shay	Robert Hicks	1,490

Grand final

Home	Score	Away	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Featherstone Rovers	22 – 23*	Halifax	26 September, 17:30 BST	Halliwell Jones Stadium	Robert Hicks	9,443
*Halifax won in extra time via the golden point rule.

Attendances

	Team	Played	Highest	Lowest	Total	Average
1	Widnes Vikings	10	3,686	2,659	30,205	3,021
2	Halifax	10	4,795	1,725	25,090	2,509
3	Leigh Centurions	10	3,392	1,265	20,180	2,018
4	Featherstone Rovers	10	2,353	1,353	19,120	1,912
5	Barrow Raiders	10	2,072	1,328	17,170	1,717
6	Toulouse Olympique	10	2,500	850	14,380	1,438
7	Sheffield Eagles	10	2,871	835	13,080	1,308
8	Dewsbury Rams	10	1,935	850	11,950	1,195
9	Keighley Cougars	10	1,602	736	10,830	1,083
10	Batley Bulldogs	10	1,837	689	10,580	1,058
11	Whitehaven	10	1,580	504	9990	999
	Playoffs	6	9,443	1,490	19,667	3,278
	Total	116	9,443	504	202,242	1,743

See also

• 2010 RFL Championship Results
• Co-operative Championship
• 2010 Championship 1
• British rugby league system
• Super League
• Rugby League Conference
• Northern Ford Premiership
• National League Cup