2019 Rfl League 1

The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers, Betfred and the league will continue to be known as the Betfred League 1.

2019 League 1
League	League 1
Duration	20 matches
Teams	11
2019 Season
Champions	Whitehaven
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from League 1	Oldham
← 2018 2020 →

The league was restructured following a meeting on the RFL clubs in 2018 and League 1 was reduced in size from 14 clubs in 2018 to 12 clubs for 2019. However, on 23 October 2018, Hemel Stags announced that the club was withdrawing from the league for 2019 reducing the number of teams to 11; the RFL indicated that no replacement team is to be sought. The season will 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 will win automatic promotion to the 2020 Championship and be named league champions for 2019. The teams finishing second to sixth will 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 2020.

During the season Coventry Bears were forced to move home fixtures away from Butts Park Arena due to work being undertaken on the pitch by the ground owners, Coventry R.F.C. Two other clubs also played home games at other venues due to pitch works; Doncaster played three games at Featherstone Rovers LD Nutrition Stadium in July and Workington Town played three games, also in July, at their original ground Borough Park (now the home of soccer club Workington A.F.C.).

The division was won by Whitehaven who secured the title and the automatic promotion place to the Championship with a 72–0 win over Coventry Bears in the last round of the regular season. Whitehaven were joined in the Championship for 2020 by Oldham who won the play-offs beating Newcastle Thunder 18–14 in the play-off final.

 

 

Coventry

 

Doncaster

 

Hunslet

 

Keighley

 

London

 

Newcastle

 

North Wales

 

Oldham

 

West Wales

 

Whitehaven

 

Workington

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Locations of the 2019 RFL League 1 teams

Colours	Club	City	Stadium	Capacity*
	Coventry Bears	Coventry, West Midlands	Butts Park Arena Ivor Preece Field Webb Ellis Ground	4,000 1,500 1,000
	Doncaster	Doncaster, South Yorkshire	Keepmoat Stadium	15,231
	Hunslet	Leeds, West Yorkshire	South Leeds Stadium	4,000
	Keighley Cougars	Keighley, West Yorkshire	Cougar Park	7,800
	London Skolars	Haringey, London	New River Stadium	2,000
	Newcastle Thunder	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear	Kingston Park	10,200
	North Wales Crusaders	Wrexham, Wales	Queensway Stadium	2,000
	Oldham	Oldham, Greater Manchester	Whitebank Stadium	1,500
	West Wales Raiders	Llanelli, Wales	Stebonheath Park	3,700
	Whitehaven	Whitehaven, Cumbria	Recreation Ground	7,500
	Workington Town	Workington, Cumbria	Zebra Claims Stadium	10,000

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