Northern Rail Cup
| Championship Cup | |
|---|---|
Current season or competition:: 2013 National League Cup
|
|
 |
|
| Sport | Rugby league |
| Instituted | 2002 |
| Ceased | 2013 |
| Replaced by | League 1 Cup |
| Number of teams | 26 |
| Country |
 England (RFL)
|
| Holders |
 Leigh Centurions (4th title) |
| Most titles |
Leigh Centurions (4 titles)
|
The Championship Cup, (known as the Northern Rail Cup due to sponsorship by Northern Rail), previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships. Although the French club Toulouse Olympique competed in the Championship from 2009 through 2011, they never participated in the cup until 2012 after they had left the Championship. The Cup's last season was 2013, after which it was replaced by the League 1 Cup.
The Trans-Pennine Cup was a short-lived competition for professional British rugby league clubs outside Super League. It was played for during the period in which all non-Super League professional clubs were grouped into a single competition, the Northern Ford Premiership.
As part of the redevelopment of the Northern Ford Premiership competition; the National League cup was first held in 2002. It was known as the Buddies Cup, after its sponsors, a soft drinks manufacturer. Eighteen teams took part divided into three groups of six (East, West and Central).
The Northern Ford Premiership was replaced by National Leagues One and Two in 2003. The competition was known as the Arriva Trains Cup after sponsors Arriva Trains Northern). The twenty National League teams were divided into four groups (North, East, West and Central) of five teams each, while in 2004 there were five groups (North, East, West, Pennine, Yorkshire) of four teams each.
Northern Rail became the competitions sponsors in 2005 and the name Northern Rail Cup was adopted. Four teams from the then National League Three also entered the competition. There were no cross-group games in the 2005 competition; each team therefore played only six games in the group stages, with the top team from each of the first five groups progressing to the quarter-final directly. The second-placed team in each of these groups, plus the top team from group six (the group of teams from National League 3) played an additional round to determine the remaining three spots in the quarter-finals.
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