RFL 1895 Cup


The 1895 Cup, is a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships.

History

There have been many cup competitions for the lower leagues of rugby league. In 2002 the Championship Cup was founded for Championship and League 1 clubs to compete in along with the Challenge Cup, with the aim to give the lower league clubs a competition they can realistically win.
The Championship Cup folded in 2013 in anticipation for the 2015 league restructuring. It was effectively replaced by the League 1 Cup in 2016 although the new competition was short lived and only lasted two seasons.
In late 2018 a new cup competition was put to the Championship and League 1 clubs. It would involve 12 British Championship clubs and four League 1 clubs. It was accepted by the clubs head of the 2019 season to be integrated with the new league structure. The Rugby Football League chief executive, Ralph Rimmer, described the new competition as making "that dream of Wembley much more realistic and achievable. We’ve seen in football, with the EFL Trophy that was introduced for teams for the third and fourth tiers of their professional structure as the Associate Members’ Cup in 1983, that the introduction of a realistic additional chance to reach Wembley can have a rejuvenating effect on clubs."
The finalised format of the inaugural 2019 competition was announced in December 2018. Eight of the 11 league 1 clubs entered and will compete against in each other in the first round. The winners of these four ties will join the 12 English Championship clubs in the second round. The quarter and semi-finals will be played by the end of July with the final taking place at Wembley on 24 August immediately after the 2019 Challenge Cup final.

Results

Team Performance

Sponsors

In June 2019 it was announced that the cup would be sponsored by AB Sundecks, owned by former Leigh Centurions chairman Derek Beaumont.