UK Championship History: 2000-2023

By having Super League above and League One below, it's inevitable that there will be a fair amount of annual change in participants. Green squares mean the club was promoted, purple relegated, orange ceased to exist in one of the three divisions or at all. The number shows where they finished in the league, fourteen being the highest and reducing one point per placing. 

Both Castleford and Salford have the distinction of twice being promoted immediately back up to Super League after one season in this lower divsion. Featherstone has been here longer than any other club over this period of time. 

Leigh went up to SL three times and came straight back down although it won't be happening a fourth time. Halifax's stretch in this division is nineteen consecutive years with a twentieth season guaranteed. There are plenty of other angles you may enjoy noting in the chart below. 

UK League 1 History: 2000-2023

The League 1 has been largely stable considering many clubs struggle to be financially self supporting. As the sport has recently been getting reduced media earnings at the top, this has adversely affected the trickle down funding for this league. Now its very existence is under threat but that story will be for another blog article.

So looking back on 21st century history, teams have been promoted to the Championship (purple square) or left the league system (orange square) to become part of a lower level league, or ceased existence altogether. The number is where they finished in a season, 16 meaning coming first, 15 second and so on.  

Some of the sides have made a home here, with the London Skolars going back continuously to 2003 but sadly ending that in 2023. Hunslet (south Leeds) is another that has spent much time here with a couple of brief spells in the higher level Championship. 

Footnote: To explain the marks next to some names, Chorley Lynx ++ is also Lancashire Lynx. Newcastle + Thunder are also listed here with the Gateshead Thunder due to proximity. The West Wales Raiders * are also listed with the South Wales Ironmen. Finally, The Midlands Hurricanes ** were also the Coventry Bears.

UK SL Honours Board : 2020-23

By allocating points as to what clubs have achieved on the Super League table, finals series and Challenge Cup, we can get a feel for how they have fared. So how have they gone?

No surprise that St Helens is top and that Wigan is next. The Catalan Dragons at third my be less obvious though. Hull KR ahead of Warrington? A fine 2023 for the Robins enabled that to happen. Maybe next year for the Wire. 

Wakefield has been in the Super League for each of the years below but didn't make the finals and had only one modest cup success. Even Leigh has already gone past them on the chart with fewer years in the big time. Castleford is another club without finals success during this four year period, the cup giving it marginal respectability. York made the list by virtue of a cup run in 2023.