| Co-operative Championship 2010 | |
| League: | Co-operative Championship |
| Pixels: | 216px |
| Duration: | 22 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs) |
| No Of Teams: | 11 |
| Highest Attendance: | 3,686 Widnes vs. Halifax (18 Mar) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 835 Sheffield vs. Dewsbury (19 Mar) |
| Avg Attendance: | 1,771 |
| Attendance: | 53,130 |
| Tv: | Sky Sports |
| Season: | 2010 Season |
| Season Champs: | Halifax |
| League Leaders: | Featherstone Rovers |
| Relegate: | Whitehaven Keighley Cougars |
| Relegate To: | Championship 1 |
| Prevseason Link: | 2009 Co-operative Championship |
| Prevseason Year: | 2009 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2011 RFL Championship |
| Nextseason Year: | 2011 |
The 2010 Rugby Football League Championship is known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group.
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
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 |
The RFL announced two new rule interpretations intended to increase player safety in the tackle:[1]
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 Frontline Fair Play Index | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ||||||||||
| 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 | ||||
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 | |
| 31 March 2010 | Brendan Worth | B | Head butting in 20th minute. | 1 match | £50 | Report |
December 2009
February 2010
March 2010
May 2010
| 2010 Co-operative Championship | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ||||||||||
| 1 | Featherstone Rovers | 20 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 735 | 334 | +401 | 2 | 56 |
| 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 | 35 |
| 7 | 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 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 281 | 707 | −426 | 4 | 16 |
| 11 | Keighley Cougars | 20 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 362 | 703 | -341 | 5 | 10 |
| Teams qualifying for the Play-offs | ||
| Teams in relegation position |
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.
| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and time | width=19% | Venue | width=13% | Referee | width=7% | Attendance | |||
| align=left | Leigh Centurions | 24 – 26 | align=left | Sheffield Eagles | 2 September, 19:30 GMT | Leigh Sports Village | 1,516 | |||
| align=left | Barrow Raiders | 38 – 0 | align=left | Widnes Vikings | 5 September, 15:00 GMT | Craven Park | 2,434 | |||
| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and time | width=19% | Venue | width=13% | Referee | width=7% | Attendance | |||
| align=left | Featherstone Rovers | 46 – 16 | align=left | Halifax | 9 September, 19:30 BST | Post Office Road | Robert Hicks | 2,553 | ||
| align=left | Barrow Raiders | 14 – 21 | align=left | Sheffield Eagles | 10 September, 20:00 BST | Craven Park | Gareth Hewer | 2,231 | ||
| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and time | width=19% | Venue | width=13% | Referee | width=7% | Attendance | |||
| align=left | Halifax | 42 – 16 | align=left | Sheffield Eagles | 16 September 2010, 19:30 BST | The Shay | Robert Hicks | 1,490 | ||
| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and time | width=19% | Venue | width=13% | Referee | width=7% | Attendance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| align=left | Featherstone Rovers | 22 – 23* | align=left | Halifax | 26 September, 17:30 BST | Halliwell Jones Stadium | Robert Hicks | 9,443 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*Halifax won in extra time via the golden point rule. |- bgcolor=#F5FAFF!colspan="10"| |} Attendances
See also
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