Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Elite 1 Wheelchair Championship | |
Sport | Wheelchair rugby league |
---|---|
No. of teams | 6 |
Country | France |
Most recent champion(s) | Catalans Dragons |
Most titles | Catalans Dragons (8+ titles) |
Level on pyramid | 1 |
Relegation to | Elite 2 |
Official website |
The Elite 1 Wheelchair Championship is the highest level of wheelchair rugby league in France.
Starting in 2023, the previous year's league champions play the previous year's British Super League champions in the European Club Challenge.
Wheelchair rugby league was developed by French rugby league players and coaches, Robert Fassolette and Wally Salvan, in 2000. [1] [2] [3] The first competition was played by three teams, Vichy, Roanne and Beauvais, as part of a French Téléthon. [3] Meetings establishing the official rules of the sport took place in 2002 [4] and in the same year a Trophy of France tournament took place in Vichy with six teams taking part. [5] The sport spread to the south of France with the establishment of teams from Perpignan, Cahors, and Montauban in 2004, [3] and the inclusion of wheelchair rugby league in a national development program that provided equipment to numerous regional sports centres. [5] The French competition was the world's first thought it is unknown at what point the league became the Elite One Championship, named after the highest tier of the French running game. In the 2006–07 season, the three-team Championship was won by Vichy. [6] In the 2011–12 season, six teams competed in the Championship and six more took part in development tournaments. [7] The following season there were four teams in the Elite 1 competition and six in Elite 2. [8] In the 2013–14 season this was restructured as a single Championship of ten teams, [9] but the growth of the sport meant that the following season there were 15 teams divided between Elite 1 and 2 as well as several reserve teams. [10] For the 2023–24 season, it was announced that Elite 1 would have six teams below which would be the Elite 2 and National divisions. [11]
The competition runs as a double round robin finishing with playoffs and a grand final. [12]
As of 2023–24 the six teams are:
Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011–12 | Cahors / Cadurciens Devils | 47–38 | Catalans Dragons | [13] |
2012–13 | Catalans Dragons | 61–26 | Cahors / Cadurciens Devils | [14] |
2013–14 | Catalans Dragons | 44–40 | Cahors / Cadurciens Devils | [15] |
2014–15 | Catalans Dragons | 68–26 | Cahors / Cadurciens Devils | [16] |
2015–16 | Catalans Dragons | 29–26 | Toulouse Olympique / Saint Jory | [17] [18] |
2016–17 | Toulouse Olympique / Saint Jory | 52–34 | Catalans Dragons | [19] |
2017–18 | Catalans Dragons | 43–29 | SO Avignon | [20] |
2018–19 | Catalans Dragons | 58–42 | SO Avignon | [21] |
2019–20 | Did not occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic | [22] | ||
2020–21 | ||||
2021–22 | Catalans Dragons | 56–28 | Montauban Pandas | [23] |
2022–23 | Catalans Dragons | 56–33 | Montauban Pandas | [24] |
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