Rugby Football League Championship First Division

The Rugby Football League Championship First Division was the top division of rugby league in Great Britain from 1895 until 1996, when Super League replaced it. The first season of rugby league, 1895-96, saw all the breakaway clubs play in a single league competition, but travel problems led to a split into the Yorkshire League and the Lancashire League for the following season, and the top clubs resigned from both in 1901-02 to form a new single competition with a second division beneath it. From 1905-06 the divisions were combined again, clubs played the teams of their own county home and away, and a top-four play-off series decided the Championship, later widened to the top 16 teams with the Harry Sunderland Trophy for the man of the match in the decider. Two divisions returned in 1973-74 together with the new Premiership play-offs. The final Championship, in 1995-96, was a shortened eleven-team season known as the Stone's Centenary Championship, won by Wigan, who were awarded the old trophy permanently.