Wednesday, 23 October 2024

Featherstone Rovers League Placings : 2003-24

The club was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. Located in West Yorkshire, the population today is circa 15,000. It last played in the top flight in the 1994-95 season, crowds then averaging over 4,000. For the size of the town, that was amazing support and even more amazing they were even in Division 1.

The Championship (division two) is where they have almost exclusively been since and this division in its present form started in 2003, hence why we pick up the story from here. Featherstone was in the Championship from its inception but not doing that well and was soon relegated to League One in 2005. 

A couple of successful years below and it was back in the Championship where the club has stayed since then. The first two years post promotion were rebuilding and then from 2010 to 2023 Rovers consistently performed at a high level. 2024 was down in terms of where the club finished.

In 2009, licencing was introduced which meant performance alone didn't qualify promotion to Super League. This was at a time when Featherstone Rovers won the Championship four consecutive seasons but weren't granted a licence to gain entry to Super League in that period. In 2015, a new system of playoffs was introduced to determine promotion.

Rovers have consistently boxed above its weight but is it a club deemed the sort to be in the top flight? The new IMG grading system would say no, putting an end to the club attaining that status, if indeed it would want this anyway. The loyal fans have a side that competes well in the Championship. Hopefully the new system doesn't alienate supporters as they do have a club they can rightfully be proud of.   

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