| 2024 Betfred League One | |
| League: | League One |
| No Of Teams: | 9 |
| Season: | 2024 |
| Season Champs: | Oldham |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| Prevseason Link: | 2023 RFL League 1 |
| Prevseason Year: | 2023 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2025 RFL League One |
| Nextseason Year: | 2025 |
The 2024 RFL League One is a professional rugby league football competition played in the United Kingdom and the third tier of the sport for Rugby Football League (RFL) affiliated clubs. The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers, Betfred and the league continued to be known as the Betfred League One.
Nine teams compete in the league playing 20 matches each over 23 rounds in the regular season with the team finishing first being declared the champions and the teams finishing second to fifth taking part in the play-offs.
Oldham won the title and automatic promotion to the 2025 Championship with two matches to spare.[1]
The league has decreased in size from 2023 with nine teams competing, down from 10 in 2023. At the end of the 2023 season London Skolars announced that the club was reverting to amateur status and was resigning from the professional ranks. Dewsbury Rams and Doncaster were promoted to the Championship and are replaced by Keighley Cougars and Newcastle Thunder who finished bottom of the Championship. When the fixture list was issued on 3 December 2023 there remained some doubt about Newcastle's participation as that club also announced they were withdrawing from the league at the end of the 2023 season. However an attempt to revive the club started in October 2023 and an application to rejoin the league made.[2] Newcastle's application to rejoin the RFL was approved on 22 December when it was also confirmed that the club will continue to play at Kingston Park.[3] In May 2024 Newcastle announced that the club would be playing all remaining games at Gateshead International Stadium.[4]
Until this season promotion and relegation was on a 2-up, 2-down basis between the Championship and League 1 but was subject to a review of the league structure.[5]
In March 2024 the RFL completed the review and announced that the first steps will be taken to equalise the number of teams in the Championship and League 1 at 12 each by the start of the 2026 season. At the end of 2024 the Championship will reduce in size to 13 for 2025 while League 1 will increase to 10 in 2025. This means that at the end of the 2024 season, only the League 1 champions will automatically be promoted to the Championship while the bottom two teams in the Championship will be relegated. The team that wins the League 1 play-offs will play the team finishing third-bottom in the Championship for the 13th place in the 2025 Championship.[6]
As there are only nine teams in the division for 2024, playing the other clubs home and away only would give each team just 16 fixtures. To increase the number of fixtures for each team and make the season more financially sustainable, each club has four additional fixtures, known as loop fixtures, two home and two away.[7]
A number of changes have been introduced for 2024.[8]
The "six again" rule has been amended so that set restarts will only be awarded if the ball is in the defending team's half of the field. Infringements in the attacking team's half will result in a penalty to the attacking team.
The use of the 18th man will be allowed after two players (reduced from three) have failed head impact assessments or a player is 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 will be discontinued in the Championship.
A team awarded a penalty at a scrum will have the option to reset the scrum instead of taking the penalty.
For disciplinary processes a category of "reckless tackle" has been introduced.[9]
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornwall | Penryn | The Memorial Ground | 4,000 | |
| Hunslet | Leeds | South Leeds Stadium | 4,000 | |
| Keighley Cougars | Keighley | Cougar Park | 7,800 | |
| Midlands Hurricanes | Birmingham | Alexander Stadium | 2,000 | |
| Newcastle Thunder | Newcastle upon Tyne | Kingston Park | 10,200 | |
| Gateshead International Stadium | 11,800 | |||
| North Wales Crusaders | Colwyn Bay | Eirias Stadium | 5,500 | |
| Oldham | Oldham | Boundary Park | 13,513 | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale | Spotland Stadium | 10,249 | |
| Workington Town | Workington | Derwent Park | 10,000 |
See main article: 2024 RFL League One results.