Champ Rugby
Champ Rugby is an English rugby union competition among fourteen clubs. It is the second level of English [rugby union system|men's English rugby] and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when English clubs were first organised into leagues.
Format
The fourteen teams each play one another twice, the results of the matches contribute points to the league table with points awarded as follows: 4 for a win, 2 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, although a team can earn 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer and another for scoring 4 or more tries in a match. The top six teams enter the play-offs to determine the league champion, with 1st and 2nd earning home semi-finals and 3rd to 6th contesting quarter-finals; the winner then faces the bottom team in the 2025–26 Premiership for a chance at promotion. The teams finishing 12th and 13th play a one-leg match, with the loser then facing the National League 1 runner-up to decide who remains in the Championship. The 14th-placed team is automatically relegated to National League 1 and replaced by that league's champion.Current league table
Current teams
History
Precursor competitions (1987–2009)
The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England's other two principal team sports.The RFU's reluctance to allow leagues was based on a perceived threat to the sport's amateurism regulations: competitive leagues were seen as making clubs more likely to use incentives to attract and retain the best players.
When formalised leagues were finally permitted in the 1987–88 [Courage League National Division Two|1987–88 season], the second level was known as 'Courage League National Division Two'. The league has since had several different names before becoming the RFU Championship in the 2009–10 season.
| Name of second-level competition | First season | Last season |
| Courage League National Division Two | 1987–88 | 1996–97 |
| Allied Dunbar Premiership Two | 1997–98 | 1999–2000 |
| National Division One | 2000–01 | 2008–09 |
Origins (2008)
In November 2008, the Rugby Football Union published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership. The 12-team Championship replaced the 16-team National Division One.| Level of men's rugby | Name of competition in 2008–09 | Name of competition in 2009–10 | Number of teams in 2008–09 | Number of teams in 2009–10 |
| Level 1 | Guinness Premiership | Guinness Premiership | 12 | 12 |
| Level 2 | National Division One | RFU Championship | 16 | 12 |
| Level 3 | National Division 2 | National League 1 | 14 | 16 |
To enable Level 2 to transition from 16 teams to 12, the RFU proposal called for five teams to be relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. The relegated teams would play in the third level of rugby, known as 'National Division 2' in 2008–09 and to be known as 'National League 1' in 2009–10.
Additionally, one team would be relegated from the Premiership, one team would be promoted to the Premiership, and one team would be promoted from National Division 2.
The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.
RFU Championship (2009–2025)
Promotion to the Premiership
Automatic promotion to the Premiership has not been a consistent feature of the RFU Championship. A playoff tournament was used to decide promotion between the 2009–10 and 2016–17 seasons, as well as in the 2020–21 season.In seasons without a promotion playoff, the team at the top of the league was automatically promoted to the Premiership.
| Season | Number of playoff teams |
| 2009–10 | 8 |
| 2010–11 | 8 |
| 2011–12 | 8 |
| 2012–13 | 4 |
| 2013–14 | 4 |
| 2014–15 | 4 |
| 2015–16 | 4 |
| 2016–17 | 4 |
| 2017–18 | No play-offs |
| 2018–19 | No play-offs |
| 2019–20 | No play-offs |
| 2020–21 | 2 |
| 2021–22 | No play-offs |
| 2022–23 | No play-offs |
| 2023–24 | No play-offs |
| 2024–25 | 2 |
The RFU plans to reintroduce possible promotion at the end of the 2023–24 season, by means of a play-off between the top placed team in the Championship and the bottom placed side in the Premiership.
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 season to be prematurely ended. Final standings were based on a "best playing record formula" and promotion and relegation remained for the 1st and 12th placed clubs respectively.The 2020–21 season was impacted by the aforementioned pandemic and as a consequence, a shorter season kicked off in spring 2021. The reduced season saw each team play each other once only with the top two teams entering a two-legged promotion playoff. There was no relegation due to cancellation of National League 1.
In February 2021, a moratorium on relegation from the Premiership into the Championship was approved and it was confirmed that the RFU were working on a review of the minimum standards criteria for promotion and the league structure from 2021–22. The moratorium was extended for a further two years in June 2021 and also could include promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season if there was promotion in the previous season. There was also no relegation from the Championship in 2021–22.