2021 Betfred League 1
LeagueLeague 1
Duration8 May 2021 – 10 October 2021
Teams10
Matches played92
Points scored5,075
Highest attendance2,997 (Workington v Doncaster, 10 October 2021)
Lowest attendance100 (West Wales Raiders vs Hunslet, 26 June 2021)
Champions Barrow Raiders (2nd title)
Top point-scorer(s)Jack Miller (Keighley) 240
Top try-scorer(s)Tee Ritson (Barrow) 22
Rob Massam (North Wales) 22

The 2021 RFL League 1 is a professional rugby league football competition played in the United Kingdom and is the third tier of the sport for Rugby Football League (RFL) affiliated clubs. The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers, Betfred and the league will continue to be known as the Betfred League 1.

Teams

The 2020 season was declared null and void due to the COVID-19 pandemic as was the 2020 Championship season, there was therefore no teams relegated to League 1 for 2021. Due to restructuring in the Championship and Super League, Newcastle Thunder were promoted to the Championship and with the planned entry of Ottawa Aces to the league deferred until 2022,[1][2] the number of teams to compete in League 1 for 2021 was reduced to 10.[3]

Stadiums and locations

Team Location Stadium Capacity Coach Captain Chairman
Barrow Raiders Barrow-in-Furness Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium 6,000 England Paul Crarey Australia Jarrad Stack Steve Neale
Coventry Bears Coventry Butts Park Arena 4,000 England Rich Squires England Liam Welham Alan Robinson
Doncaster Doncaster Keepmoat Stadium 15,231 England Richard Horne England Brad Foster Gavin Baldwin
Hunslet Leeds South Leeds Stadium 4,000 England Alan Kilshaw England Duane Straugheir Kenny Sykes
Keighley Cougars Keighley Cougar Park 7,800 Australia Rhys Lovegrove England Kyle Kesik Michael O'Neill
London Skolars Haringey, London New River Stadium 2,000 England Jermaine Coleman England Iliess Macani Adrian Fraine
North Wales Crusaders Colwyn Bay Stadiwm Zip World 5,500 England Anthony Murray Ian Edwards
Rochdale Hornets Rochdale Crown Oil Arena 10,249 England Matt Calland Wales Sean Penkywicz Andrew Mazey
West Wales Raiders Llanelli Stebonheath Park 3,700 Australia Aaron Wood Wales Morgan Evans Andrew Thorne
Workington Town Workington Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000 England Chris Thorman England Carl Forber Les Smallwood

Fixtures and results

The season consisted of 18 rounds with each of the 10 teams playing each other home and away. Promotion and play-off details together with the fixture list were originally due to be announced early in 2021 but this announcement was delayed after a meeting on 13 January 2021 at which the start of the season was delayed to at least Spring.[3][4] On 22 January it was announced that the proposed start date for the competition is the weekend of 8–9 May.[5]

Anticipating that the continuing COVID-19 situation may affect the season, the RFL decided that league position would be based from the outset on win percentage (number of wins divided by number of games played) rather than by competition points as is normal in the league.[3] Postponements were allowed if a team had seven or more players unavailable due to COVID-19 related reasons (e.g. having returned a positive test result or required to isolate following contact with an infected person). In the event of a postponement the clubs were to try and find a new date to play the match otherwise it would be cancelled.[6] Golden point extra time was not used during this season except in the play-offs.[6] The fixture list was released on 14 February and the promotion arrangements on 4 March.[7]

Regular season table

The team finishing top of the league after the regular season was automatically promoted to the Championship for 2022 with the teams finishing 2nd to 6th taking part in a five-team play-off structure culminating in the promotion play-off final, the winner of which would also be promoted to the Championship.[7] Teams had to complete 70% of their league fixtures to qualify for the play-offs.[7]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PP Pts PCT Qualification
1 Barrow Raiders 17 13 1 3 596 275 216.7 27 79.41 Champions & promoted to Championship
2 Workington Town 15 10 1 4 471 310 151.9 21 70.00 Advance to qualifying semi-final
3 North Wales Crusaders 17 11 0 6 539 410 131.5 22 64.71 Advance to qualifying play-off
4 Keighley Cougars 18 11 1 6 612 385 159.0 23 63.89
5 Doncaster 17 9 3 5 472 392 120.4 21 61.76 Advance to elimination play-off
6 Hunslet 18 9 3 6 564 435 129.7 21 58.33
7 Rochdale Hornets 17 8 1 8 505 488 103.5 17 50.00
8 Coventry Bears 17 6 0 11 405 532 76.1 12 35.29
9 London Skolars 18 3 1 14 372 605 61.5 7 19.44
10 West Wales Raiders 18 0 1 17 238 942 25.3 1 2.78
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) win percentage; 2) points scored percentage (points scored divided by points conceded).

Play-offs

The play-off structure and dates were confirmed on 20 August and used the same five-team play-off structure used in 2019. Matches were played on four consecutive weekends commencing 17 September.[8]

Team bracket

Awards

The end of year awards for the 2021 League 1 season were announced on 29 September 2021.[9]

Award Winner
Betfred League 1 Player of the Year Wales Rob Massam (North Wales Crusaders)
Betfred League 1 Young Player of the Year Samoa Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e (Keighley Cougars)
Betfred League 1 Coach of the Year England Anthony Murray (North Wales Crusaders)
Betfred League 1 Club of the Year Barrow Raiders

References

  1. ↑ "Thunder awarded Championship place". BBC Sport. 10 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Ottawa Aces: Canadian club defer League One entry until 2022". BBC Sport. 5 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Betfred Championship scheduled for February return". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. ↑ Shaw, Matthew (14 January 2021). "Championship and League 1 delay confirmed". Total Rugby League. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Championship and League 1 clubs target March 21 return date". Love Rugby League. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Easter return for the Betfred Championship". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 14 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "Play-Off Structures for Betfred Championship and League 1". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "Sky Sports to televise Betfred Championship Play-offs". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  9. ↑ "Betfred Championship and League 1 Awards – winners announced".
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