Most successful newly-promoted teams in Championship history

For the 2009 season the RFL revamped the leagues and the Championship was born. 

Formerly known as the National Leagues, they changed it to the Championship and Championship 1, before the latter became League 1 in 2015.

Here, we take a look at the highest points from the promoted teams from 2009 to the 2020 season. 

 2009 – Barrow – 44 points 

The first season of the revamped leagues actually saw the promoted team Barrow top the table after winning 13 of their 20 games. Unfortunately as there was no promotion to the Super League they still spent the next season in the Championship.  

2010 – Dewsbury – 25 points

A respectable first season for the Rams as they managed to pick up six wins. What perhaps impressed more was the fact that when they lost they didn’t lose by much – their points difference only ended up being -49. 

2011 – Hunslet – 20 points  

A tough season for Hunslet saw them finish in seventh place after picking up four wins and only earning one more point than the other promoted team that year, York City Knights. 

2012 – Keighley – 31 points 

Managing to get into the play offs in their first season was a good achievement for the club, though they unfortunately lost in the first play-off round to Halifax. The Cougars picked up eight wins.  

2013 – Doncaster – 44 points 

The joint highest points tally achieved by a promoted team in the Championship, Doncaster managed to earn a play-off spot but lost in the elimination round. The Dons registered 12 wins as the second-tier expanded to 14 teams. 

2014 – North Wales Crusaders – 31 points

A difficult season for the Crusaders as they finished in 11th place, picking up seven wins along the way. Any other season would have seen them stay up, but once again the leagues were reshuffled and the Championship was reduced to 12 teams, meaning the Welsh side was relegated. 

2015 – Hunslet – 10 points 

An awful season for the West Yorkshire side as Hunslet were easily relegated after only picking up five wins and finishing in 11th place. 

2016 – Swinton – 15 points 

A season which saw the Lions struggle throughout, Swinton finished a mere four points off the relegation zone. In their 23 games, they won just seven games and drew one with 15 losses. 

2017 – Toulouse – 30 points 

The first time a non British side has been in the Championship and Toulouse ended the season in a respectable fifth place. Indeed, the French side just missed out of the play-offs by two points.

2018 – Toronto – 41 points 

Dropping only five points all season, this was the best Toronto could’ve asked for. Despite such a dominant season, the Wolfpack lost to London in the Million Pound Game, meaning the Wolfpack had to endure another campaign in the second tier.. 

2019 – York – 39 points 

A campaign in which York finished in third place, winning 19 of their games could well have seen them earn promotion to Super League at the first time of asking. However, the City Knights fell at the semi-final stages of the play-offs. 

2020 – Oldham – 2 points 

A season that was null and void after only eight games played, Oldham could hardly have started the season much worse, winning only won one of those fixtures. That left the Roughyeds in 12th.