2017 League 1
LeagueLeague 1
Duration22 matches
Teams16
Highest attendance8,546 (Toronto v Doncaster
Super 8s round 7)
Lowest attendance65 (Oxford v South Wales Ironmen
Shield round 4)
2017 Season
Champions Toronto Wolfpack
Runners-up Barrow Raiders
Biggest home win92–6 Keighley Cougars v Oxford
Regular season, round 15
Biggest away win6–82 Doncaster v Toronto Wolfpack
Regular season, round 4
Top point-scorer(s)Craig Hall
(Toronto Wolfpack) 436
Top try-scorer(s)Liam Kay
(Toronto Wolfpack) 27

The 2017 League 1, known as the Kingstone Press League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was a professional rugby league football competition played in England, Wales and Canada, the third tier of the sport for RFL affiliated clubs.

The 2017 League 1 season was expanded to 16 teams with the first professional Canadian team Toronto Wolfpack joining the British game.

The fixture list was first issued in October 2016 when the inclusion of York City Knights in the league was in doubt so the Knights were omitted from the fixture list.[1] York's inclusion in the league was confirmed at the beginning of December and the fixture list was re-issued to include the club.[2]

The format of the season was a regular season of 15 games where every team played each other once. After 15 games the top eight teams played each other once more in the League 1 Super 8s. The team finishing top of the Super 8s won automatic promotion to the 2018 Championship and named league champions for 2017. The teams finishing second to fifth met in two play-off semi-finals with the semi-final winners meeting in the promotion play-off final.

The league title was won by Toronto who only dropped three points all season (a defeat to York and a draw with Keighley in the Super 8s) and had a 100% winning record at home. The other promotion place was taken by Barrow Raiders who defeated Cumbrian rivals, Whitehaven in the promotion play-off final.

The clubs finishing in the lower half of the table after the regular season played in the League 1 Shield Super 8s with the top two clubs competing in the League 1 Shield final. The shield was won by Hunslet.

Teams

Locations of the 2017 RFL League 1 teams
Colors Club City Stadium Capacity*
Barrow Raiders Barrow, Cumbria Craven Park 7,600
Coventry Bears Coventry, West Midlands Butts Park Arena 4,000
Doncaster Doncaster, South Yorkshire Keepmoat Stadium 15,231
Gloucestershire All Golds Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Prince of Wales Stadium 2,000
Hemel Stags Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Pennine Way 2,000
Hunslet Leeds, West Yorkshire South Leeds Stadium 4,000
Keighley Cougars Keighley, West Yorkshire Cougar Park 7,800
London Skolars Haringey, London New River Stadium 2,000
Newcastle Thunder Newcastle, Tyne and Wear Kingston Park 10,200
North Wales Crusaders Wrexham, Wales Queensway Stadium 2,000
Oxford Abingdon, Oxfordshire Tilsley Park 2,000
South Wales Ironmen Merthyr Tydfil, Wales The Wern 4,500
to July 2017
Llanelli, Wales Stebonheath Park 3,700
from July 2017[3]
Toronto Wolfpack Toronto, Ontario, Canada Lamport Stadium 9,600
Whitehaven Whitehaven, Cumbria Recreation Ground 7,500
Workington Town Workington, Cumbria Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000
York City Knights York, North Yorkshire Bootham Crescent 8,256

*capacity for rugby league games may differ from official stadium capacity.

Regular season

The regular season was dominated by new club, Toronto, who won all 15 of its games, amassing over 900 points while only conceding 150. The Cumbrian clubs, Whitehaven and Barrow finished second and third respectively. Whitehaven put a run of 12 straight wins together while Barrow who had been second for a long time lost two games towards the end of the season. York whose existence was in doubt before the season started finished fourth with Doncaster and Newcastle behind them. The last two places in the Super 8s were contested right up until the last fixture of the season with five clubs; Workington, Keighley, North Wales Crusaders, Hunslet and London Skolars all in contention. In the end the places were taken by Keighley and Workington while North Wales lost out on points difference.

Results

Final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Toronto Wolfpack 15 15 0 0 916 157 +759 30 League 1 Super 8s
2 Whitehaven 15 13 1 1 469 236 +233 27
3 Barrow Raiders 15 12 1 2 576 264 +312 25
4 York City Knights 15 10 0 5 487 305 +182 20
5 Doncaster 15 9 2 4 449 327 +122 20
6 Newcastle Thunder 15 9 0 6 459 328 +131 18
7 Keighley Cougars 15 7 1 7 590 387 +203 15
8 Workington Town 15 7 1 7 436 370 +66 15
9 North Wales Crusaders 15 7 1 7 366 422 −56 15 League 1 Shield
10 Hunslet 15 7 0 8 418 377 +41 14
11 London Skolars 15 6 1 8 367 453 −86 13
12 Gloucestershire All Golds 15 6 0 9 310 530 −220 12
13 Oxford 15 4 0 11 275 629 −354 8
14 Coventry Bears 15 2 0 13 287 615 −328 4
15 South Wales Ironmen 15 1 0 14 212 654 −442 2
16 Hemel Stags 15 1 0 14 229 792 −563 2
Source:

Super 8s

The top eight teams after the regular season went forward to the Super 8s. Points gained in the regular season were carried forward to the Super 8s during which the clubs played each other once more. The top four clubs at entry to the Super 8s played four home fixtures and three away while the bottom four clubs had three home fixtures and four away.

After all seven rounds had been played, Toronto Wolfpack were named League Champions and were automatically promoted to the Championship for 2018. Barrow Raiders, Whitehaven, York City Knights and Newcastle Thunder made the play off semi-finals. Toronto secured the automatic promotion place after round six despite having suffered their first ever league defeat in round two at York and also dropping a point at Keighley in round three. Barrow and Whitehaven met in an all-Cumbrian play-off final with Barrow winning 10–6 to secure promotion to the Championship for 2018.

Results

Final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Promotion or qualification
1 Toronto Wolfpack 22 20 1 1 1164 243 +921 41 Promoted as Champions
2 Barrow Raiders 22 18 1 3 731 381 +350 37 Play-off semi-finals
3 Whitehaven 22 17 1 4 656 349 +307 35
4 York City Knights 22 12 1 9 641 460 +181 25
5 Newcastle Thunder 22 12 0 10 595 521 +74 24
6 Doncaster 22 10 3 9 593 492 +101 23 Eliminated
7 Keighley Cougars 22 10 2 10 728 565 +163 22
8 Workington Town 22 9 1 12 532 621 −89 19
Source:

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Barrow Raiders 60–0 Newcastle Thunder 24 September, 15:00 Craven Park G Dolan 1,090
Whitehaven 21–20[lower-alpha 1] York City Knights 24 September, 15:00 Recreation Ground J McMullen 853
Source:[4]
  1. ↑ After extra time

Final

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Barrow Raiders 10–6 Whitehaven 1 October, 15:00 Craven Park S Mikalauskas 3,128
Source:[5]

League 1 Shield

The teams finishing in the bottom eight at the end of the regular season competed for the League 1 Shield. Points gained in the regular season were carried forward to the Shield competition. The teams played each other once more and after the completion of the seven rounds the top two teams played for the League 1 Shield. The final was contested by Hunslet and London Skolars after both teams won six of their seven games in the qualifying section. Hunlset won the trophy beating London 32–12 in the final.

Results

Final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Hunslet 22 13 0 9 696 470 +226 26 League 1 Shield final
2 London Skolars 22 12 1 9 625 529 +96 25
3 North Wales Crusaders 22 11 1 10 556 574 −18 23
4 Gloucestershire All Golds 22 9 0 13 478 702 −224 18
5 Oxford 22 6 1 15 393 849 −456 13
6 Coventry Bears 22 5 0 17 472 837 −365 10
7 Hemel Stags 22 3 0 19 393 1033 −640 6
8 South Wales Ironmen 22 2 1 19 299 926 −627 5
Source:

Final

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Hunslet 32–12 London Skolars 24 September, 15:00 South Leeds Stadium N Bennett 516
Source:[6]

Awards

At the Kingstone Press Championship & League 1 awards, Toronto captain Craig Hall was named League 1 player of the year with the young player award going to Lewis Young of Newcastle Thunder while Carl Forster of Whitehaven was named coach of the year.[7] Hall was also the league's top goal kicker and points scorer kicking 170 goals and scoring 24 tries for a total of 436 points. His Toronto teammate, Liam Kay was the top try scorer with 27.

References

  1. ↑ "The 2017 season begins here". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3042. 24 October 2016. p. 13.
  2. ↑ "On the plane again! York City Knights' 2017 League One fixture list confirmed". The Press. 4 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "New owners for South Wales Ironmen". Wales Rugby League. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Kingstone Press League 1 Super 8s semi-finals". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3089. 25 September 2017. p. 39.
  5. ↑ "Kingstone Press League 1 Promotion final". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3090. 2 October 2017. p. 39.
  6. ↑ "Kingstone Press League 1 Shield final". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3089. 25 September 2017. p. 39.
  7. ↑ "Lunt picks up major prize at Kingstone Press awards evening". League Publications. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
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