The Rugby Football League Championship First Division was the top division of rugby league in England between 1895 and 1996, when it was replaced by the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

History

1895–1904: Foundations

The first season of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

(1895–96) saw all the breakaway clubs play in a single league competition. The addition of new teams and the problems of travelling led to the league being split in two for the following season; into the Yorkshire League and the Lancashire League. This arrangement lasted until the 1901–02 season, when the top clubs from each league resigned and formed a single new competition. The following season the remaining clubs in the Yorkshire and Lancashire Leagues were re-organised to form a

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

1905–1970: Restructure

In 1905–06 the two divisions were re-combined into a single competition. Clubs played all the teams in their own county on a home-and-away basis, results counting towards the re-formed Yorkshire and Lancashire Leagues. They also organised inter-county fixtures on an individual basis; all results were collated into a single table for the Championship. In order to even up the competition a top-four play-off series was used to determine the Championship. Apart from the interventions of the two

world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s, this system was retained until the 1962–63 season, when the league briefly returned to a two divisional system. This lasted only two years, and in the 1964–65 season they returned to one large division subdivided into county leagues. The play-offs were expanded to the top 16 teams and the

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Troph ...

was introduced as the man-of-the-match award for the decider.

1970–1995: Premiership and reintroducing Second Division

In the 1973–74 season they once again went back to two divisions. The play-off and the Yorkshire and Lancashire League were abandoned, and a new play-off type competition, the Premiership, was introduced however the team finishing top of the Championship were crowned champions. During this period in the late 1980s and early 1990s

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

dominated both the Championship and

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involve ...

Champions

Winning records by club

{, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! ! style="width:18%;", Club ! Winners ! style="width:8%;", Runners-up ! Winning seasons , -align="center" , 1, ,

, , 17, , 9, , 1908/09, 1921/22, 1925/26, 1933/34, 1945/46, 1946/47, 1949/50, 1951/52, 1959/60, 1986/87, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96 , -align="center" , rowspan=2, 2, , St. Helens, , rowspan=2, 7, , 11, , 1931/32, 1952/53, 1958/59, 1965/66, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1974/75 , -align="center" ,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence i ...

, , 6, , 1911/12, 1912/13, 1914/15, 1928/29, 1929/30, 1948/49, 1961/62 , -align="center" , rowspan=3, 3, ,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, , rowspan=3, 6, , 5, , 1913/14, 1932/33, 1936/37, 1938/39, 1973/74, 1975/76 , -align="center" ,

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

, , 4, , 1919/20, 1920/21, 1935/36, 1955/56, 1957/58, 1982/83 , -align="center" , Swinton, , 2, , 1926/27, 1927/28, 1930/31, 1934/35, 1962/63, 1963/64 , -align="center" , 4, ,

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challen ...

, , 5, , 3, , 1922/23, 1924/25, 1978/79, 1983/84, 1984/85 , -align="center" , Rowspan=2, 5, ,

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...

, , rowspan=2, 4, , rowspan=2, 5, , 1904/05, 1909/10, 1910/11, 1956/57 , -align="center" , Halifax, , 1902/03, 1906/07, 1964/65, 1985/86 , -align="center" , Rowspan=3, 6, ,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, , rowspan=3, 3, , 10, , 1960/61, 1968/69, 1971/72 , -align="center" ,

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, , 7, , 1947/48, 1953/54, 1954/55 , -align="center" ,

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

, , 4, , 1977/78, 1987/88, 1988/89 , -align="center" , rowspan=4, 7, ,

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, , rowspan=4, 2, , 4, , 1979/80, 1980/81 , -align="center" , ''

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamenta ...

'' §, , rowspan=2, 2, , 1907/08, 1937/38 , -align="center" ,

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the ...

, , 1966/67, 1967/68 , -align="center" ,

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staff ...

, , 0, , 1905/06, 1981/82 , -align="center" , rowspan=7, 8, ,

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "smal ...

, , rowspan=7, 1, , 2, , 1976/77 , -align="center" , '' Bradford F.C.'' §, , rowspan=3, 1, , 1903/04 , -align="center" , Workington Town, , 1950/51 , -align="center" ,

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudd ...

, , 1972/73 , -align="center" , '' Manningham'' §, , rowspan=3, 0, , 1895/96 , -align="center" ,

Broughton Rangers Broughton Rangers were one of the twenty-one rugby clubs which met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, in 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. They were originally based in Broughton, Salford, but in 1933 moved to Gorton, Manchester ...

, , 1901/02 , -align="center" ,

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

, , 1923/24 , -align="center" , rowspan=2, 9, , {{leagueicon, Castleford, 16

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

, , rowspan=2, 0, , 2, , rowspan=2, - , -align="center" , '' St Helens Recs'' §, , 1 *''§ Denotes club now defunct'' Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom Professional sports leagues in the United Kingdom Sports leagues established in 1895 Sports leagues disestablished in 1996 1895 establishments in the United Kingdom