The Summer Bash is an annual event organised by the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

. An entire round of

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

matches are played in a city to showcase the sport of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

. It was held at

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

from 2015 to 2019.

Concept

The Summer Bash was introduced in 2015 after the success of the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Magic Weekend The Magic Weekend (also known as the Betfred Magic Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is an annual event organised by the Rugby Football League in which an entire round of Super League matches is played over a weekend at a single stadium to promot ...

. It is an extra round for the Championship teams to compete in, usually a local derby. The event takes place over a single weekend in which three regular season games are played back-to-back on each day with an extra fourth game being played on the Saturday which is the final of the

League 1 Cup The League 1 Cup was a knockout cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League for the third division of rugby league in Britain. The cup was contested by the British League 1 teams, as well as two teams from the National Conference L ...

History

The games played were, when possible, 'local derby' matches in an attempt to maximise interest in the event. The "non-heartland" sides were paired against each other. An extra match on the Saturday, was the final of the inaugural

between

North Wales Crusaders The North Wales Crusaders () is a professional rugby league club based in Colwyn Bay, Wales. They are the successors to the former Super League club Crusaders Rugby League. Crusaders compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby leagu ...

and Swinton. After a successful inaugural Summer Bash in Blackpool in 2015 it returned to Blackpool in 2016 with mostly local derbies being played apart from

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

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, Staffor ...

and

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They play home games at the Olympic Legacy Park and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Sheffield's on ...

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

not being geographical derbies and were based on league positions. Once again, the League 1 Cup final took place as the opening game to the weekend. The event returned to Blackpool's

for a third consecutive year after the previous years record attendances. The Summer Bash once again opened with the League 1 Cup final. The event returned to Blackpool's

for a fourth consecutive year after the previous years record attendances. The Summer Bash this year opened with a Women's Super League fixture. The event returned to Blackpool's

for a fifth consecutive year. The 2020 Summer Bash was scheduled to return to Blackpool for a sixth consecutive year, however was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

. The 2021 Summer Bash was also cancelled due to the

. Fixtures were never released. In 2022, the Summer Bash was held at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

. In 2023, the Summer Bash was held at

York Community Stadium York Community Stadium (known for sponsorship purposes as the LNER Community Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Huntington, North Yorkshire, Huntington, York, England. It is owned by City of York Council, and is shared by York City F.C., Yo ...

Venues

Attendances

Highest single day attendance

Lowest single day attendance

Highest weekend attendance

Lowest weekend attendance

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Summer Bash, The Rugby Football League Championship Annual sporting events in the United Kingdom Sports leagues established in 2015 Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom 2015 in English rugby league Championship (rugby league)