2012 Championship fixtures released
Northern Rail Cup winners Leigh Centurions will get the 2012 Co-operative Championship season underway on Thursday, March 8, when they welcome Batley Bulldogs to Leigh Sports Village in what will be the first Championship game to be broadcast live on Premier Sports.
Premier Sports will broadcast 32 live games this season, including 25 Co-operative Championship fixtures, four Northern Rail Cup games and four additional matches, details of which will be confirmed in the new year, and Leigh will make their second appearance in Round 2, when Premier will broadcast their clash against last season’s Co-operative Championship winners Featherstone Rovers.
“We are very pleased to welcome Premier Sports on board for what will no doubt be another highly fascinating season of Co-operative Championships Rugby League,” said RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood. “The Championships have provided us with some highly dramatic fixtures over the past few season and both the Northern Rail Cup final and Championships Finals day are two of the stand out dates in the Ruby League calendar.”
The opening weekend of Championship action will also see beaten Grand Finalists Sheffield Eagles play host to recently promoted Swinton Lions and Featherstone begin their title defence at Keighley, while newcomers North Wales Crusaders will be at home to relegated Barrow Raiders in their opening match in Co-operative Championship One.
Before the Championships competition gets underway, the early part of the season will once again be dominated by action from the Northern Rail Cup which begins on the weekend of February 12. Leigh, who will be hoping to successfully defend their Northern Rail title, begin their defence at home to Barrow Raiders in one of ten games to be played that weekend.
The opening round of cup competition will also see last year’s defeated finalists, Halifax, begin their campaign with an away trip to Dewsbury Rams while Co-operative Championship winners Featherstone travel to face Oldham Roughyeds in their first game of the season.
The Northern Rail Cup quarter-final and semi-final fixtures will be played on the weekends of June 17 and July 8 respectively with the competition climaxing on Saturday, July 29 while the Co-operative Championships Grand Finals day will be on Saturday October 30 and Premier Sports will be there to broadcast all the drama as both league competitions come to a close.
“We are delighted to add the Co-operative Championships to our extensive coverage of Rugby League,” said Director of Operations at Premier Sports, Richard Webb. “The Championships have proved to be one of Rugby League’s the most exciting competitions in recent years and over our first season viewers will have the chance to see games from London to North Wales as well as across the North of England.”
Premier Sports Executive Producer Neal Coupland added, “We are looking forward to some thrilling games, we have assembled a very strong and passionate team to deliver the coverage to UK fans. The journey starts at the magnificent Leigh Sports Village on March 8 and I’m already looking forward to broadcasting finals day at the end of September.”
As in previous year’s, the Northern Rail Cup group stages will be played in two pools with all clubs playing two home games and two away games against teams in their pool. The top four teams in each pool following the conclusion of the group stage fixtures will then progress into an open, unseeded draw for the knock-out quarter-final stage
The pools are as follows:
Pool A:
Batley Bulldogs, Dewsbury Rams, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Keighley Cougars, London Skolars, Oldham Roughyeds, Rochdale Hornets, South Wales Scorpions, Toulouse Olympique,
Pool B:
Barrow Raiders, Doncaster, Gateshead Thunder, Hunslet Hawks, Leigh Centurions, Sheffield Eagles, Swinton Lions, Whitehaven, Workington Town, York City Knights
Fans of Championship Rugby League cam find details of how to subscribe to Premier Sports at www.premiersports.tv where they can book a season ticket offer for all the action which will see £10 of each subscription going back to the club chosen by the viewer.
Northern Rail Cup fixtures
Round 1
12/02/2012
London Skolars v Toulouse Olympique 1:00pm
Keighley Cougars v Batley Bulldogs 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Halifax 3:00pm
Gateshead Thunder v Doncaster 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Whitehaven 3:00pm
Leigh Centurions v Barrow Raiders 3:00pm
Oldham Roughyeds v Featherstone Rovers 3:00pm
Rochdale Hornets v South Wales Scorpions 3:00pm
Workington Town v Sheffield Eagles 3:00pm
York City Knights v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Round 2
18/02/2012
Toulouse Olympique v Keighley Cougars 7:00pm
19/02/2012
Barrow Raiders v Workington Town 2:00pm
Swinton Lions v Hunslet Hawks 2:00pm
Batley Bulldogs v London Skolars 3:00pm
Doncaster v York City Knights 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Dewsbury Rams 3:00pm
Halifax v Rochdale Hornets 3:00pm
Sheffield Eagles v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
South Wales Scorpions v Oldham Roughyeds 3:00pm
Whitehaven v Gateshead Thunder 3:00pm
Round 3
25/02/2012
Batley Bulldogs v Toulouse Olympique 6:00pm
26/02/2012
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions 2:00pm
Doncaster v Sheffield Eagles 3:00pm
Halifax v Featherstone Rovers 3:00pm
Leigh Centurions v Hunslet Hawks 3:00pm
Oldham Roughyeds v Dewsbury Rams 3:00pm
Rochdale Hornets v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
South Wales Scorpions v London Skolars 3:00pm
Workington Town v Whitehaven 3:00pm
York City Knights v Gateshead Thunder 3:00pm
Round 4
02/03/2012
Sheffield Eagles v York City Knights 7:30pm
03/03/2012
Toulouse Olympique v South Wales Scorpions 7:00pm
04/03/2012
Keighley Cougars v Oldham Roughyeds 2:00pm
Swinton Lions v Workington Town 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Rochdale Hornets 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Batley Bulldogs 3:00pm
Gateshead Thunder v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Doncaster 3:00pm
London Skolars v Halifax 3:00pm
Whitehaven v Barrow Raiders 3:00pm
Co-operative Championship fixtures
Round 1
08/03/2012
Leigh Centurions v Batley Bulldogs 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
11/03/2012
Keighley Cougars v Featherstone Rovers 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v York City Knights 3:00pm
Halifax v Hunslet Hawks 3:00pm
Sheffield Eagles v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Round 2
15/03/2012
Featherstone Rovers v Leigh Centurions 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
18/03/2012
Swinton Lions v Dewsbury Rams 2:00pm
Batley Bulldogs v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Sheffield Eagles 3:00pm
York City Knights v Halifax 3:00pm
Round 3
29/03/2012
Sheffield Eagles v Halifax 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
30/03/2012
Leigh Centurions v York City Knights 7:30pm
01/04/2012
Keighley Cougars v Hunslet Hawks 2:00pm
Swinton Lions v Batley Bulldogs 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Featherstone Rovers 3:00pm
Round 4
05/04/2012
Batley Bulldogs v Dewsbury Rams TBC PREMIER SPORTS
06/04/2012
Featherstone Rovers v Sheffield Eagles TBC
Halifax v Keighley Cougars TBC
Leigh Centurions v Swinton Lions TBC
Hunslet Hawks v York City Knights 3:00pm
Round 5
19/04/2012
Halifax v Leigh Centurions 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
22/04/2012
Keighley Cougars v Sheffield Eagles 2:00pm
Swinton Lions v Featherstone Rovers 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Hunslet Hawks 3:00pm
York City Knights v Batley Bulldogs 3:00pm
Round 6
03/05/2012
Swinton Lions v York City Knights 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
06/05/2012
Dewsbury Rams v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Halifax 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Batley Bulldogs 3:00pm
Sheffield Eagles v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
Round 7
10/05/2012
York City Knights v Sheffield Eagles 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
13/05/2012
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers 3:00pm
Halifax v Dewsbury Rams 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Leigh Centurions v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
Round 8
17/05/2012
Keighley Cougars v Swinton Lions 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
18/05/2012
Sheffield Eagles v Dewsbury Rams 7:30pm
20/05/2012
Batley Bulldogs v Halifax 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v York City Knights 3:00pm
Leigh Centurions v Hunslet Hawks 3:00pm
Round 9
24/05/2012
Sheffield Eagles v Batley Bulldogs 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
27/05/2012
Swinton Lions v Halifax 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Featherstone Rovers 3:00pm
York City Knights v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
Round 10
07/06/2012
Leigh Centurions v Sheffield Eagles 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
10/06/2012
Keighley Cougars v Halifax 2:00pm
Batley Bulldogs v Hunslet Hawks 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Dewsbury Rams 3:00pm
York City Knights v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Round 11
21/06/2012
Dewsbury Rams v Halifax 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
22/06/2012
Sheffield Eagles v York City Knights 7:30pm
Leigh Centurions v Featherstone Rovers 7:30pm
24/06/2012
Keighley Cougars v Batley Bulldogs 2:00pm
Swinton Lions v Hunslet Hawks 2:00pm
Round 12
28/06/2012
Halifax v Featherstone Rovers 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
29/06/2012
York City Knights v Dewsbury Rams 8:00pm
01/07/2012
Swinton Lions v Sheffield Eagles 2:00pm
Batley Bulldogs v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
Round 13
12/07/2012
Featherstone Rovers v Hunslet Hawks 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
13/07/2012
Leigh Centurions v Dewsbury Rams 7:30pm
15/07/2012
Keighley Cougars v York City Knights 2:00pm
Batley Bulldogs v Sheffield Eagles 3:00pm
Halifax v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Round 14
19/07/2012
Hunslet Hawks v Halifax 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
20/07/2012
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars 7:30pm
22/07/2012
Dewsbury Rams v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Batley Bulldogs 3:00pm
York City Knights v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
Round 15
02/08/2012
Batley Bulldogs v Swinton Lions 7:30pm PREMIER SPORTS
03/08/2012
York City Knights v Featherstone Rovers 8:00pm
05/08/2012
Keighley Cougars v Dewsbury Rams 2:00pm
Halifax v Sheffield Eagles 3:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Leigh Centurions 3:00pm
Round 16
10/08/2012
Sheffield Eagles v Hunslet Hawks 7:30pm
12/08/2012
Keighley Cougars v Leigh Centurions 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Batley Bulldogs 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Swinton Lions 3:00pm
Halifax v York City Knights 3:00pm
Round 17
17/08/2012
Sheffield Eagles v Featherstone Rovers 7:30pm
Leigh Centurions v Halifax 7:30pm
19/08/2012
Swinton Lions v Keighley Cougars 2:00pm
Hunslet Hawks v Dewsbury Rams 3:00pm
Batley Bulldogs v York City Knights 3:00pm
Round 18
02/09/2012
Swinton Lions v Leigh Centurions 2:00pm
Dewsbury Rams v Sheffield Eagles 3:00pm
Featherstone Rovers v Keighley Cougars 3:00pm
Halifax v Batley Bulldogs 3:00pm
York City Knights v Hunslet Hawks 3:00pm
Co-operative Championship One Fixtures
Round 1
11/03/2012
North Wales Crusaders v Barrow Raiders 2:30pm
Doncaster v Whitehaven 3:00pm
Gateshead Thunder v South Wales Scorpions 3:00pm
Rochdale Hornets v London Skolars 3:00pm
Workington Town v Oldham Roughyeds 3:00pm
Round 2
18/03/2012
South Wales Scorpions v Workington Town 1:00pm
Barrow Raiders v Doncaster 3:00pm
London Skolars v North Wales Crusaders 3:00pm
Oldham Roughyeds v Gateshead Thunder 3:00pm
Whitehaven v Rochdale Hornets 3:00pm
Round 3
01/04/2012
North Wales Crusaders v Rochdale Hornets 2:30pm
Doncaster v South Wales Scorpions 3:00pm
Gateshead Thunder v Whitehaven 3:00pm
Oldham Roughyeds v Barrow Raiders 3:00pm
Workington Town v London Skolars 3:00pm
Round 4
06/04/2012