2017 League 1

2017 League 1
League	League 1
Duration	22 matches
Teams	16
2017 Season
Champions	Toronto Wolfpack

The 2017 League 1, known as the Kingstone Press League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is a semi-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. At the end of 15 weekly rounds the top 8 teams will play each other once more in the League 1 Super 8s after which the top team will be promoted to the Championship with the teams finishing 2nd to 5th holding a play-off with the winner also being promoted to the Championship for 2018. The bottom 8 teams will play each other once more with the top two teams competing for the League 1 Shield.

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. York's inclusion in the league was confirmed at the beginning of December and the fixture list was re-issued to include the club.

Teams

Barrow

Coventry

Doncaster

Gloucestershire

Hemel

Hunslet

Keighley

London

Newcastle

North Wales

Oxford

South Wales

Toronto

Whitehaven

Workington

York

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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	3,000
	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
	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 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

Main article: 2017 League 1 regular season results

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.

Results

Main article: 2017 League 1 Super 8s results

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Startseite	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Barrow Raiders	-	Newcastle Thunder	24 September, 15:00	Craven Park
Whitehaven	-	York City Knights	24 September, 15:00	Kingston Park
Source:

Final

Startseite	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
	-		1 October, 15:00
Source:

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.

Results

Main article: 2017 League 1 Shield results

Final

Startseite	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Attendance
Hunslet	-	London Skolars	24 September, 15:00	South Leeds Stadium
Source:

External links

• Official Website