Super League

Country	England
Other club(s) from	France
Founded	1996
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Championship
Domestic cup(s)	Challenge Cup
International cup(s)	World Club Series
Current champions	Leeds Rhinos (7th title)
Most championships	Leeds Rhinos (7 titles)
TV partners	Sky Sports (live matches) BBC (highlights)
Website	championship
Super League XXI

Super League, officially the First Utility Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top-level professional rugby league club competition in Europe. The league has twelve teams: eleven from England and one from France. The current champions are Leeds Rhinos.

Super League began in 1996, replacing the Rugby Football League Championship and switching from a winter to a summer season. Each team plays 23 games between February and July: 11 home games, 11 away games and a Magic Weekend game at a neutral venue. At the end of the season, the top eight teams enter a Super 8 stage, playing each other once more. The top four then enter the play-off series leading to the Grand Final (formerly Championship Final) which determines the champions.

The Super League champions play the National Rugby League (NRL) champions from Australasia in the World Club Challenge.

History[edit]

1996–2001: Establishment[edit]

The competition was first mooted during the Australian Super League war as a way for Rupert Murdoch to gain the upper hand during the battle for broadcasting supremacy with the Australian Rugby League. Murdoch also approached the British clubs to form Super League. A large sum of money aided the decision, and the competition got under way in 1996. Part of the deal saw rugby league switch from a winter to a summer season. The 12 founding teams of Super League were:

• Bradford Bulls
• Castleford Tigers
• Halifax RLFC
• Leeds Rhinos
• London Broncos
• Oldham Roughyeds
• Paris Saint-Germain
• Sheffield Eagles
• St Helens
• Warrington Wolves
• Wigan Warriors
• Workington Town

Initially, several mergers between existing clubs were proposed:

• Castleford, Wakefield Trinity and Featherstone Rovers would form Calder
• Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers would form Hull
• Salford and Oldham were to form Manchester
• Sheffield Eagles and Doncaster were to form South Yorkshire
• Warrington and Widnes were to form Cheshire
• Whitehaven, Workington Town, Barrow and Carlisle would form Cumbria

They were to be included with the following stand-alone clubs: Bradford Northern, Halifax, Leeds, London Broncos, Paris Saint-Germain, St. Helens and Wigan.

However this proved so unpopular that only existing clubs were selected for the competition. The clubs finishing below 10th in the existing top flight were excluded, which meant Featherstone Rovers, Hull, Wakefield Trinity and Widnes were left out, as were pioneering club Keighley who had just won the Second Division Championship. London Broncos, who had come fourth in the Second Division, were "fast-tracked" in on commercial grounds. A new team, Paris Saint-Germain, was created to give a French dimension. Between 1998 and 2000 there was no relegation from Super League.

2002–2008: Promotion and relegation[edit]

After two years Paris were dropped from the competition. Promotion and relegation between Super League and the Rugby League National Leagues was re-introduced, and in 2002 the Super League Europe (SLE) governing body re-integrated fully into the Rugby Football League (RFL). In 2006, French side Catalans Dragons (also known as UTC or Les Catalans) from Perpignan joined the league, becoming the second non-English team to compete. To facilitate this move, two clubs were relegated from Super League at the end of the 2005 season: Leigh who finished bottom of the league were replaced by the one club coming up from the National Leagues and Widnes who finished 11th (and would have stayed up any other year) were dropped for Les Catalans, thus the number of clubs in Super League remained at 12.

2009–2014: Licensing[edit]

Super League licences were announced in May 2005 by the RFL as the new determinant of the Super League competition's participants from 2009 in place of promotion and relegation. The licences were awarded after consideration of more factors than just the on-the-field performance of a club.^[1] After 2007 automatic promotion and relegation was suspended for Super League with new teams to be admitted on a licence basis with the term of the licence to start in 2009.^[1]

The RFL stated that clubs applying to compete in Super League would be assessed by criteria in four areas (stadium facilities, finance and business performance, commercial and marketing and playing strength, including junior production and development) with the final evaluations and decisions being taken by the RFL board of directors.^[2]

Successful applicants were licenced for three years of Super League competition and^[3] three-yearly reviews of Super League membership took place to ensure ambitious clubs lower down the leagues can still be successful.^[2]

Points attained by each club's application are translated into licence grades A, B or C. Clubs who achieved an A or B Licence would be automatically awarded a place in Super League, while those who achieved a C Licence underwent further scrutiny before the RFL decided who made the final cut.^[4]

First licensing period[edit]

In June 2008, the RFL confirmed that Super League would be expanded from 12 teams to 14 in 2009,^[5][6] and on 22 July 2008 the RFL confirmed the teams awarded licences.^[7] The teams announced were the 12 existing Super League teams along with National League 1 teams, Celtic Crusaders and Salford. Celtic Crusaders becoming the first Welsh team to play in Super League and the only team to be awarded a licence who had never played in the Super League previously.

Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Leigh and Widnes all failed to attain a licence. Leigh and Widnes, especially, were disappointed with their exclusions with Leigh's chairman being extremely critical of the RFL.^[8]

Second licensing period[edit]

For the 2012–14 seasons Championship sides Batley, Barrow, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax and Widnes all met the on-field criteria needed to submit an application,^[9] but despite this only Barrow, Halifax and Widnes decided to submit an application.^[10] On 31 March 2011 Widnes were awarded a Super League licence; Barrow, did not meet the criteria and were refused a licence; and Halifax's application was to be further considered alongside the other Super League clubs.^[11]

The Rugby Football League's final decision was announced on 26 July 2011, Widnes would be joining thirteen existing Super League teams with Crusaders RL having withdrawn their application and Halifax not meeting the criteria.^[12] Crusaders CEO Rod Findlay stated that the club's finances were not in a good enough condition to justify their place in Super League.^[13] Halifax chairman Mark Steele was critical of the decision to award Wakefield a licence over themselves, saying "If you compare Belle Vue with the Shay, it's no contest; if you compare playing records, it's no contest; and if you compare the financial position, we have kept our head above water and they haven't."^[13] Wakefield had been favourites to lose their licence before Crusaders' withdrawal.^[13]

2015-Onwards: Super 8s[edit]

At the 2013 Annual General Meeting at Bradford, the Super League clubs agreed to reduce the number of clubs to 12 from 2015, and also for a return of Promotion and Relegation with a 12 club Championship.^[14]

The 12 First Utility Super League and 12 Kingstone Press Championship clubs will play each other home and away over 22 "rounds", including a Magic Weekend for both divisions. Following the conclusion of their regular league seasons, the 24 clubs will then compete in a play-off series where they split into 3 leagues of 8 based upon league position:^[15][16]

• The top 8 Super League clubs will continue to compete in the Super 8s. After playing each other once (either home or away), the top 4 clubs will progress to the semi-finals to determine who will compete in the Grand Final and be crowned champions.
• The remaining (bottom 4) Super League clubs and the top 4 Championship clubs will compete in The Qualifiers. They will play each other once (either home or away) to determine which four of the clubs will compete in Super League the following year.
• The remaining (bottom 8) Championship clubs will compete for the Championship Shield and to avoid relegation to Kingstone Press League 1. Two clubs will be relegated each year.

Funding for clubs will be tiered in both leagues to prevent relegation related financial difficulties.

In June 2015 8 of the 12 Super League clubs voted to allow a Marquee Player that can exceed a clubs salary cap as long as they can afford their wages. The marquee player rule comes into force for the 2016 Super League season.

Clubs[edit]

Current clubs[edit]

Super League clubs
Colours	Club	Established	City	Stadium	Capacity*	Titles (Last)
	Castleford Tigers	1925	Castleford, West Yorkshire	Wheldon Road	12,000	0 (N/A)
	Catalans Dragons	2000	Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France	Stade Gilbert Brutus	13,000	0 (N/A)
	Huddersfield Giants	1864	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire	John Smith's Stadium	24,500	7 (1962)
	Hull F.C.	1865	Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire	KC Stadium	25,404	6 (1983)
	Hull Kingston Rovers	1882	Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire	Craven Park	12,000	5 (1985)
	Leeds Rhinos	1864	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Headingley	20,500	10 (2015)
	Salford Red Devils	1873	Salford, Greater Manchester	AJ Bell Stadium	12,000	6 (1976)
	St Helens	1873	St. Helens, Merseyside	Langtree Park	18,000	13 (2014)
	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	1873	Wakefield, West Yorkshire	Belle Vue	12,000	2 (1968)
	Warrington Wolves	1876	Warrington, Cheshire	Halliwell Jones Stadium	15,500	3 (1955)
	Widnes Vikings	1875	Widnes, Cheshire	Naughton Park	13,500	3 (1989)
	Wigan Warriors	1872	Wigan, Greater Manchester	DW Stadium	24,057	20 (2013)

• *capacity for Rugby League games may differ from official stadium capacity.
• *Gold - current Super League Champions
• *Bold - Played in all 20 Super League Seasons (1996-2015)

Former Super League Clubs[edit]

Previous Super League clubs
Colours	Club	Established	City	Stadium	Capacity*	Number of Seasons
	Bradford Bulls	1907	Bradford, West Yorkshire	Odsal	27,491	19
	Crusaders RL	2005	Wrexham, Wales	Racecourse Ground	15,500	3
	Newcastle Thunder	1999	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear	Kingston Park	11,800	1
	Halifax RLFC	1873	Halifax, West Yorkshire	The Shay	14,000	8
	Leigh Centurions	1878	Leigh, Greater Manchester	Leigh Sports Village	12,005	1
	London Broncos	1980	Barnet	The Hive	5,176	19
	Oldham	1876	Oldham, Greater Manchester	Whitebank Stadium	1,500	2
	Paris Saint-Germain	1995	Paris, France	Stade Sébastien Charléty	20,000	2
	Sheffield Eagles	1984	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Don Valley Stadium	25,000	4
	Workington Town	1945	Workington, Cumbria	Derwent Park	10,000	1

*capacity for Rugby League games may differ from official stadium capacity.

• Grey- Club defunct
• Table shows current locations and stadiums only

Non English Teams[edit]

 France
In 1996 Paris Saint-Germain were chosen to compete in the first season of the newly formed Super League, making them the first team outside England to compete in the top flight of English rugby league. They played in the first ever Super League game against Sheffield Eagles in Paris winning 30-24 in front of a crowd of over 17,000. After a poor debut season French clubs refused to loan players to PSG which resulted in bringing Australians over from the NRL which turned out to be very costly as attendances plummeted and the cost of traveling to England became too much PSG were dissolved in 1997 after two seasons in Super League

In 2005 the new franchise was awarded to Catalans Dragons to play in the 2006 Super League. To help make sure the franchise did not fail as the PSG franchise did, the RFL allowed the Dragons to sign players from other French teams for no transfer fee. They were also promised to be exempted from relegation for 3 years. In their first season they finished bottom of the league but Castleford Tigers were the team relegated. Over the next few years they continually improved and in 2007 they became the first French team to reach a Challenge Cup Final.

 Wales
Celtic Crusaders became the first Welsh team to play in Super League in 2009 after they were promoted via license but finished bottom of the league. The next season they reach the playoffs for the first time in their second season but failed to beat Huddersfield in the first round. In 2011 they were deducted 6 points for entering administration and finished bottom of the league for a second time. They initially applied for a licence in 2011 but pulled out. They were turned down when they requested to play in the Championship and folded in 2012. The club was replaced by North Wales Crusaders in 2012 who entered League 1.

All Time Super League table[edit]

• Correct up to end of 2015 season.

Rank	Name	Seasons	Playoff App	Games	Win	Draw	Loss	Pts For	Pts Agn	Pts Diff	Total Pts
1	St Helens RFC*	20	18	539	380	14	145	16940	10636	6304	772
2	Wigan Warriors*	20	16	539	363	21	155	15988	9700	6288	741
3	Leeds Rhinos	20	18	539	355	15	169	15872	10985	4887	725
4	Bradford Bulls*	19	11	509	308	17	184	14620	11253	3367	617
5	Warrington Wolves	20	9	539	281	9	249	14205	13080	1114	571
6	Hull FC*	18	10	495	239	20	236	11528	11297	231	496
7	Huddersfield Giants	17	8	467	207	10	250	10875	11420	1279	424
8	Castleford Tigers	18	5	484	202	18	264	10995	12878	-1899	422
9	London Broncos	19	2	509	185	20	304	10793	14229	-3436	390
10	Wakefield Wildcats*	17	3	464	163	6	295	9557	12478	-3435	326
11	Salford Red Devils*	17	1	455	142	8	305	8131	12593	-4632	290
12	Catalans Dragons	10	6	274	126	9	139	6479	6889	-410	261
13	Hull KR	9	4	239	108	7	124	5093	5430	-225	223
14	Widnes Vikings	8	1	216	77	7	132	4132	5989	-1904	161
15	Halifax*	8	1	209	76	4	129	4646	5908	-1262	154
16	Sheffield Eagles	4	0	97	37	3	57	2027	2663	-636	77
17	Newcastle Thunder	1	0	30	19	1	10	775	576	199	39
18	Crusaders RL*	3	1	81	21	0	60	1431	2463	-1032	38
19	Oldham Roughyeds	2	0	44	13	2	29	934	1312	-378	28
20	Paris Saint-Germain	2	0	44	9	1	34	760	1367	-607	5
21	Workington Town	1	0	22	2	1	19	325	1021	-696	5
22	Leigh Centurions	1	0	28	2	1	25	445	1210	-765	5

• Gold - Currently playing in Super League
• Grey - Team now defunct

Point deductions[edit]

• 2001 - Wakefield Trinity - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2003 - Halifax - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2003 - Hull - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2003 - St Helens - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2006 - Bradford - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2006 - Wigan - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2007 - Bradford - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2007 - Wigan - Salary Cap Breach - 4 points
• 2011 - Wakefield Trinity - Administration - 4 points
• 2011 - Crusaders - Administration - 4 points
• 2012 - Bradford - Administration - 6 points
• 2013 - Salford - Fielding Extra Man - 2 points
• 2014 - Bradford - Administration - 6 points

Venues[edit]

Derbies[edit]

Hull Derby[edit]

The Hull Derby is contested by Hull F.C. from the west side of Hull and Hull KR from the east side of Hull. The two teams are separated by the River Hull. In the late 1990s a merge was proposed between the two clubs to form Humberside or just Hull but this was later rejected. The rivalry was at its highest during the 1980s when both Hull sides were the dominant forces in the league.

Good Friday Derby[edit]

The Good Friday Derby is contested between Wigan Warriors and St Helens RFC. The two clubs have been the most successful clubs in England winning 31 Challenge Cups and 33 league titles between them. They have also met in three Grand Finals in the Super League era.

Cheshire Derby[edit]

The Cheshire Derby is a local derby between Warrington Wolves and Widnes Vikings. Both teams struck up a rivalry in the mid and late 20th Century being local rivals and being somewhat dominant forces in the Challenge Cup, Widnes were known as the Cup Kings during the late 1970s and 80s. In recent years the rivalry hasn't been as strong since Widnes were relegated in 2005 and promoted back to Super League in 2011 and Warrington became bigger rivals on the field with Leeds, Wigan and St Helens.

Coaches[edit]

Nat.	Name	Club	Appointed
England !	Wenger, ArseneDaryl Powell	Castleford Tigers	2013
France !	Frayssinous, LaurentLaurent Frayssinous	Catalan Dragons	2012
England !	Anderson, PaulPaul Anderson	Huddersfield Giants	2012
England !	Radford, LeeLee Radford	Hull F.C.	2014
England !	Chester, ChrisChris Chester	Hull KR	2012
England !	McDermott, BrianBrian McDermott	Leeds Rhinos	2011
	Available	Salford Red Devils	-
England !	Cunningham, KeironKeiron Cunningham	St Helens RLFC	2014
Australia !	Brian Smith	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	2015
Australia !	Smith, TonyTony Smith	Warrington Wolves	2009
England !	Betts, DenisDenis Betts	Widnes Vikings	2011
England !	Wane, ShaunShaun Wane	Wigan Warriors	2011

Head Coaches with multiple Super League titles[edit]

	Head Coach	Wins	Winning years
1	Brian Noble	3	2001, 2003, 2005
2	Brian McDermott	3	2011, 2012, 2015
3	Ian Millward	2	2000, 2002
4	Tony Smith	2	2004, 2007
5	Brian McClennan	2	2008, 2009

Players[edit]

Appearances[edit]

• Note that appearances from the bench are also included in this list.

Rank	Player	Years	Appearances
1	Kevin Sinfield	1997–2015	452
2	Paul Wellens	1998–2015	439
3	Jamie Peacock	1998–2015	436
4	Keith Senior	1994– 2011	413
5	Lee Gilmour	1997–2014	407
6	Danny McGuire	2001–present	400
7	Adrian Morley	1995–2015	316
8	Gareth Carvell	1997–2015	293
9	Ade Gardner	2002–2014	266
10	Chev Walker	1999–2015	258

Tries[edit]

Rank	Player	Years	Tries
1	Danny McGuire	2001–present	215
2	Keith Senior	1994– 2011	199

Points[edit]

Rank	Player	Years	Points
1	Kevin Sinfield	1997-2015	3,204
2	Paul Deacon	1997-2011	2,410

Structure[edit]

World Club Series[edit]

The World Club Series consists of three games, the first two being a series between 2 NRL teams and the Super League League Leaders and Challenge Cup winners. The third game is the World Club Challenge between the NRL and Super League Champions.

Regular Super League season[edit]

12 teams compete in Super League. They play each other twice on a home-and-away basis, interrupted by the Magic Weekend round in May. After the 23 rounds, the top eight teams carry their points forward and play each other once (home or away) in the Super Eights. A play-off series is used to determine the two teams who will meet in the Super League Grand Final to compete for the championship.

Magic Weekend[edit]

In an attempt to expand out of the traditional rugby league "heartlands", and market the game to a wider audience, the RFL has staged games in large stadia, in places without a strong rugby league presence. The "Magic Weekend" concept, which involves staging an entire round of Super League in such a stadium, was first staged in Cardiff in 2007. Dubbed "Millennium Magic", and played in the Millennium Stadium, the concept was held in Cardiff again in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, the event was held in Edinburgh at the Scottish national rugby union stadium, giving rise to the name changing to "Murrayfield Magic". Generally held during the May Day weekend, 2011 saw the Magic Weekend return to Cardiff, and was held during the weekend 12–13 February, and serving as the season opener. It has since returned to its traditional mid-season slot and is currently held at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
St James' Park	Newcastle	England	40,871	30,000

Challenge Cup[edit]

The Challenge Cup domestic cup in Super League and all levels of rugby legue in Britain And is usually played on August bank holiday. It has been held annually since 1896 and has been expanded so teams in Russia, France, Scotland and Wales can take part. The current winners are Leeds.

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
Wembley	London	England	99,801	77,000

Super 8s[edit]

• Top 8

The top 8 sees the top eight teams in Super League play each other once more home or away with the points they earn in the regular season being carried forward. The further up the table a team finishes, the more home games they will play. Once the teams have played each other once home or away the top team is awarded the League Leaders Shield and the top four teams enter the Super League Play Offs to play in the Grand Final.

Position	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points
1	Playoff/ League Leader	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Playoff	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Playoff	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Playoff	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8		0	0	0	0	0	0	0

• Qualifiers

The Qualifiers Super 8s sees the bottom 4 teams from the original Super League table mixed with the top 4 teams from the Championship. The points totals are reset to 0 and each team plays 7 games each, playing every other team once. After 7 games each the teams finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd will gain qualification to the next years Super League season. Teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in a Promotion Play-off, dubbed the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team. This one game fixture will see the winner earn a place in the next year Super League season, whilst the loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will be relegated to the next years Championship competition.

Position	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points
1	Automatic Super League Place	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Automatic Super League Place	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Automatic Super League Place	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Promotion Play-Off	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Promotion Play-Off	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Championship Place	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Championship Place	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Championship Place	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Play-offs[edit]

In 2015, the First Utility Super League play-offs will be contested by the four sides finishing highest in the league after the Super Eights. The structure is designed to reward the teams finishing nearer the top and the most consistent teams. The Grand Final is played at Old Trafford.

The current First Utility Super League Play-off structure:^[17][18]

• Top four play-offs

These matches involve the teams who finish in the top four.

They are:

• 1st v 4th
• 2nd v 3rd

The winners play in the Grand Final.

Grand Final[edit]

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
Old Trafford	Trafford, Greater Manchester	England	73,581	63,352

Awards[edit]

League Leader's Shield[edit]

The League Leader's Shield is awarded to the team finishing the regular season top of Super League; this is also known as a minor premiership. The League Leader's Shield was introduced only in 2003, previously no prize was awarded to the team finishing top following the introduction of the Grand Final.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	St Helens	7	1996, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014
2	Wigan Warriors	4	1998, 2000, 2010, 2012
3	Bradford Bulls	4	1997, 1999, 2001, 2003
4	Leeds Rhinos	3	2004, 2009, 2015
5	Huddersfield Giants	1	2013
6	Warrington Wolves	1	2011

• Bold - Winners were Super League champions

Super League Trophy[edit]

The winner of the Grand Final is given the Super League Trophy as Super League Champions. This is considered more prestigious than the minor premiership. Each year, the year of a champion team's triumph, team name and team captain are engraved.

The record for most Super League titles won is held by Leeds with seven titles. Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after captaining Leeds to all 7 of their grand final successes. St Helens contested the final 6 years in a row (from 2006 until 2011) during which time they succeeded only once in lifting the trophy against Hull in 2006; after which they suffered consecutive defeats against Leeds in 2007, 2008, 2009, Wigan in 2010 and Leeds once again in 2011.

Steve Prescott Man of Steel Award[edit]

The Man of Steel Award is an annual award for the best player of the season in Super League. It has continued from pre-Super League times, with the first such award given in 1977. It was renamed in honour of Steve Prescott in 2014.

Super League Dream Team[edit]

Each season a "Dream Team" is also named. The best thirteen players in their respective positions are voted for by members of the sports press.

Current- 2015

Number	Nationality	Player	Position	2015 Club
1		Zak Hardaker	Fullback	Leeds Rhinos
2		Jermaine McGillvary	Wing	Huddersfield Giants
3		Kallum Watkins	Centre	Leeds Rhinos
4		Michael Shenton	Centre	Castleford Tigers
5		Joe Burgess	Wing	Wigan Warriors
6		Danny Brough	Stand-off	Huddersfield Giants
7		Luke Gale	Scrum-half	Castleford Tigers
8		Alex Walmsley	Prop	St Helens
9		James Roby	Hooker	St Helens
10		Jamie Peacock	Prop	Leeds Rhinos
11		Zeb Taia	Second-row	Catalan Dragons
12		Liam Farrell	Second-row	Wigan Warriors
13		Adam Cuthbertson	Loose forward	Leeds Rhinos

^[19]

Champions[edit]

See Rugby Football League Championship for the all-time list of champions since 1895.

The league format changed in 1998 and the championship became a play-off series to determine the Super League champions. This meant a reintroduction of a final to determine the European champions, the first since the 1972–73 season.

Season	Grand Finals			League Leaders
	Champions	Score	Runners-up
1996	N/A	N/A	N/A	St Helens
1997	N/A	N/A	N/A	Bradford Bulls
1998	Wigan Warriors	10–4	Leeds Rhinos	Wigan Warriors
1999	St Helens	8–6	Bradford Bulls	Bradford Bulls
2000	St Helens	29–16	Wigan Warriors	Wigan Warriors
2001	Bradford Bulls	37–6	Wigan Warriors	Bradford Bulls
2002	St Helens	19–18	Bradford Bulls	St Helens
2003	Bradford Bulls	25–12	Wigan Warriors	Bradford Bulls
2004	Leeds Rhinos	16–8	Bradford Bulls	Leeds Rhinos
2005	Bradford Bulls	15–6	Leeds Rhinos	St Helens
2006	St Helens	26–4	Hull F.C.	St Helens
2007	Leeds Rhinos	33–6	St Helens	St Helens
2008	Leeds Rhinos	24–16	St Helens	St Helens
2009	Leeds Rhinos	18–10	St Helens	Leeds Rhinos
2010	Wigan Warriors	22–10	St Helens	Wigan Warriors
2011	Leeds Rhinos	32–16	St Helens	Warrington Wolves
2012	Leeds Rhinos	26–18	Warrington Wolves	Wigan Warriors
2013	Wigan Warriors	30–16	Warrington Wolves	Huddersfield Giants
2014	St Helens	14–6	Wigan Warriors	St Helens
2015	Leeds Rhinos	22–20	Wigan Warriors	Leeds Rhinos

Winners[edit]

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Leeds Rhinos	7	2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015
2	St Helens	6	1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014
3	Bradford Bulls	4	1997, 2001, 2003, 2005
4	Wigan Warriors	3	1998, 2010, 2013

• Bold - Winners were League Leaders

The Double[edit]

In rugby league, the term 'the Double' is referring to the achievement of a club that wins the top division and Challenge Cup in the same season. To date, this has been achieved by a total ten different clubs but by only four different clubs during the Super League era.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Wigan Warriors	7	1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2013
2	St Helens	3	1965–66, 1996, 2006
3	Huddersfield Giants	2	1912–13, 1914–15
4	Broughton Rangers	1	1901–02
5	Halifax	1	1902–03
6	Hunslet Hawks	1	1907–08
7	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
8	Warrington Wolves	1	1953–54
9	Bradford Bulls	1	2003
10	Leeds Rhinos	1	2015

The Treble[edit]

The Treble refers to the team who wins all three domestic honours on offer during the season; Grand Final, League Leaders Shield and Challenge Cup. To date seven teams have won the treble, only Bradford Bulls, St Helens RFC and Leeds Rhinos have won the treble in the Super League era.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Wigan Warriors	3	1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
2	Huddersfield Giants	2	1912–13, 1914–15
3	St Helens RFC	2	1965–66, 2006
4	Hunslet Hawks	1	1907–08
5	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
6	Bradford Bulls	1	2003
7	Leeds Rhinos	1	2015

All Four Cups[edit]

Winning all Four Cups refers to winning the Super League, League Leaders Shield, Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge in one season. Not all of these cups were available in the past but have replaced over cups that could be won.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Hunslet Hawks	1	1907–08
2	Huddersfield Giants	1	1914–15
3	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
4	Wigan Warriors	1	1994–95
5	Bradford Bulls	1	2003–04
6	St Helens	1	2006–07

Sponsorship[edit]

Super League has been sponsored since its formation, apart from the 2013 season.

The title sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. There have been six different title sponsors since the league's formation:

Period	Sponsor	Name
1996–1997	Stones Bitter	Stones Super League
1998–1999	JJB Sports	JJB Super League
2000–2004	Tetley's Bitter	Tetley's Super League
2005–2011	Engage Mutual Assurance	Engage Super League
2012	Stobart Group	Stobart Super League
2013	None	Super League
2014–2016	First Utility	First Utility Super League

As well as title sponsorship, Super League has a number of official partners and suppliers.^[20] For the 2014 season these include Alcatel One Touch, Brut, Foxy Bingo, Irn-Bru, Isuzu and Specsavers. The official ball supplier is Rhino Rugby, who have held the contract since the 2013 season when they took over from Steeden.^[21]

Competition rules[edit]

Club trained players[edit]

The 'club trained player' rule stipulates that each club must have a minimum number of players who are aged under 21 years or are graduates from their own academy system in their 25-man first team squad. Clubs are also required to have a minimum number of UK-trained players (or in the case of the Catalans Dragons, France-trained players) in their squads, and also are limited to a maximum number of "overseas" trained players.

The table below shows how the figures for the ruling from 2008–2011.^[22]

club trained players
Year	home grown players (min)	UK trained players (min)	overseas trained players (max)
2008	5	10	10
2009	6	11	8
2010	7	12	6
2011	8	12	5

Salary cap[edit]

The Super League operates under a real-time salary cap system that will calculate a club’s salary cap position at the start of and throughout the season:^[22]

• The combined earnings of the top 25 players must not exceed £1.65 million.
• Clubs will only be allowed to sign a new player if they have room under the cap.
• Clubs are allowed to spend a maximum of £50,000 on players outside the top 25 earners who have made at least one first grade appearance for the club during the year.
• Costs for players outside of the top 25 earners who do not make a first team appearance will be unregulated.
• Any player who has played for the same club for at least 10 consecutive seasons will have half their salary excluded from the salary cap for his 11th and subsequent seasons. This is subject to a maximum of £50,000 for any one club.
• Clubs are allowed one Marquee Player who can exceed a clubs salary cap as long as they can afford the players wages.

Squad announcement system[edit]

Before each Super League and Tetley's Challenge Cup fixture, each club must announce the squad of 19 players it will choose from by 2.00pm on the second day before the match day.^[22]

Criticism[edit]

Big Four Dominance[edit]

Results of the 'Big Four'

Season	Bradford Bulls	Leeds Rhinos	St Helens	Wigan Warriors
1996	3	10	Champions	2
1997	Champions	5	3	4
1998	5	Runners up	4	Champions
1999	Runners up	3	Champions	4
2000	3	4	Champions	Runners up
2001	Champions	5	4	Runners up
2002	Runners up	4	Champions	3
2003	Champions	2	4	Runners up
2004	Runners up	Champions	5	4
2005	Champions	Runners up	1	7
2006	4	3	Champions	8
2007	3	Champions	Runners up	6
2008	5	Champions	Runners up	4
2009	9	Champions	Runners up	6
2010	10	4	Runners up	Champions
2011	10	Champions	Runners up	2
2012	9	Champions	3	1
2013	9	3	5	Champions
2014	13 (Relegated)	6	Champions	2
2015	-	Champions	4	Runners up
Titles	4	7	6	3

Since its formation in 1996 only four teams have won the Super League (Leeds Rhinos, Bradford Bulls, Wigan Warriors, St Helens RLFC) and a total of six have taken part in the Grand Final (Hull FC, Warrington Wolves being the other two). Six different teams have also been the league leaders, however only one of these (Huddersfield Giants) is a different team to those that have appeared in the grand final, meaning that only seven different teams have been involved in the grand final or topped the regular season table, however a total of 23 teams have taken part in Super League since its inception.

In comparison, in the same 20 year period, 10 different teams have won the Australasian National Rugby League competition and 13 different teams have appeared in the Grand Final.

Licensing[edit]

Between 2009 and 2014 teams had to apply for a license to play in Super League, this also meant there was no automatic promotion between Super League and the Championship. This was unpopular with Championship clubs because there was no fair and easy way for them to get promoted into Super League and it was seen as a closed shop.

Attendances in the lower divisions dropped as a result of this system because it was felt that there was little appeal in these leagues when there was no incentive for the clubs to win the Championship. Also the only time that lower division clubs got the chance to play Super League opposition was in the early rounds of the challenge cup. With no route to the Super League however, teams were unable to compete with top division opposition because there was no way that clubs could attract top talent when players would not be playing in top-level rugby league.

M62 Corridor[edit]

Another Criticism of the Super League is that most of the teams that have competed in it have been in its heartlands of the M62 Corridor between Yorkshire and Lancashire. Catalans Dragons are the only team currently playing in Super League who are outside its traditional headland in the North of England and are considered a success compared to teams such as London Broncos and Celtic Crusaders.

Expansion was a key policy of the RFL when Super League was created. Along with the above mentioned teams, Paris Saint-Germain RL competed from the beginning of the competition but departed after just two seasons due to a lack of interest and investment. Another team to fail from outside the heartlands was Gateshead Thunder who competed in the first season of Super League. After that first season they found themselves with debts of £700,000 and so accepted a grant of £1,250,000 to merge with Hull FC.

Expansion have taken place in the lower divisions and this is a continuing policy of the RFL. At present nine expansion clubs take part in the lower divisions with 1 in the Championship and 8 in the Championship 1. In 2015, it was announced that Toulouse Olympique had been granted entry into Championship 1; the team has previously competed in the Championship. This would bring the total number of expansion teams across the top 3 divisions to 11 (out of 39 clubs).

Match officials[edit]

All Super League matches are governed by the laws set out by the RFL; these laws are enforced by match officials. Former Super League and International Referee Steve Ganson is the current Acting Head of the Match Officials Department and Technical Director. Former Hull player and Huddersfield Head Coach Jon Sharp was the previous Head of the Match Officials Department of the RFL. Sharp was sacked in July 2015 and took up the role of Head Coach at Featherstone Rovers. He assumed his role at the RFL following Stuart Cummings' departure in March 2013 having previously held the role of Match Officials Coach & Technical Director.

Coaching & performance staff[edit]

• Steve Ganson – Acting Head of Match Officials & Technical Director
• Ian Smith – Match Officials Coach
• Dave Campbell - Match Officials Coach
• Tony Brown - Match Officials Coach
• Ray Tennant - Match Officials Coach

Academies[edit]

Reserve League[edit]

In 2014 and 2015 Super League clubs were unhappy with the Dual registration system and wanted to form a Under 23 reserve leagues between the Under 19s and 1st team. Wigan, Warrington and St Helens were the first teams to propose the return of the reserve league where players could move from the under 19s and play with professional players before playing in the 1st team. In 2015 Hull F.C. were the first team to announce that they would bring back a reserve team and form a reserve league.

Dual registration[edit]

Clubs in both the First Utility Super League and the Kingstone Press Championships benefit from the new dual registration system which was introduced for the 2013 season.^[23] The new system is intended to complement the existing player loan system.

Dual registration refers to an arrangement between clubs whereby a player continues to be registered to his current First Utility Super League club and is also registered to play for a club in the Kingstone Press Championship. The system is aimed at young Super League players who are thought to be not quite ready to make the step up to ‘week in, week out’ Super League first team duties but for whom first team match experience is likely to be beneficial for their development.

• Only First Utility Super League players can be dual registered and the receiving club must be a club in the Kingstone Press Championships, meaning that Super League to Super League club dual registrations are not available.
• A dual registered player will be eligible to play and train with both clubs in a format agreed between the clubs, subject to registration, salary cap and competition eligibility rules.
• The player is restricted to playing in one fixture per scheduled round of fixtures in any given week and would not be eligible to play for his First Utility Super League club on a Thursday and in a Kingstone Press Championship fixture at the weekend, for example.
• A receiving club will be limited to a total of five dual registered players per matchday squad.

Under 19s[edit]

In 2014 the following teams will run in each of the Senior Academy divisions:^[24]

Super League Academy – U19s: Bradford Castleford Huddersfield Hull Hull Kingston Rovers Leeds London Broncos Salford St. Helens Wakefield Trinity Warrington Widnes Wigan

Championship Academy – U20s: Cumbria Regional Academy Featherstone Rovers Halifax Keighley Leigh Midlands Regional Academy North East Regional Academy Oldham Sheffield University of Gloucestershire All Golds

NB:

• The Academy U19s competition is primarily for Super League clubs. Catalans Dragons does not currently have a teams in the league as they run their lower grade sides in the French league; however they will be joining the competition from 2015.
• The Academy U19s competition has a 6 team play-off with a Grand Final at the end of the play-off series.
• The Championships U20s have a 3 team play-off with a Grand Final at the end of the play-off series.
• Many Super League, Championship and Championship 1 sides also have Academy U16 teams. They compete in a small number of games throughout the season and all such games are seen as friendly matches.

Media coverage[edit]

Television[edit]

Sky Sports have been the primary broadcast partner of Super League since its inaugural season in 1996. The current deal lasts until 2021 and covers 80 matches per season, rising to 100 from 2015. They currently have the rights to show live Super League games in both Ireland and the United Kingdom; two live matches are broadcast each week – one on Thursday nights at 7:30pm (kick off 8pm) and another at 7:30pm on Friday nights (kick off 8pm). From 2014, they also simulcast all of Catalans Dragons' home games and from 2015, will broadcast regular Kingstone Press Championship matches.

Duration	Broadcaster
1996–2021	Sky Sports

Detailed Sky coverage

• Super League Thursday starts at 7:30 pm and consists of a preview of the weekends Super League fixtures before the first game of the weekend.
• Super League Friday includes one game with coverage starting at 7:30pm building up to the game.
• Super League Saturday usually shows Catalans Dragons games kicking off at 5:00pm with coverage starting from 4:55pm. When the Super 8s begging other teams are shown with coverage starting at 2:30pm for games kicking off at 5:00pm.

Highlights[edit]

In addition to Sky Sports' live coverage, BBC Sport broadcast a weekly highlights programme called the Super League Show, usually presented by Tanya Arnold. This is broadcast to the North West, Yorkshire & North Midlands, North East & Cumbria, and East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regions on BBC 1 on Monday nights (after 11pm) and is repeated nationally on BBC 2 on Tuesday afternoons.^[25] A national repeat was first broadcast overnight during the week since February 2008 when the then BBC Director of Sport, Roger Mosey, commented that this move was in response to the growing popularity and awareness of the sport, and the large number of requests from people who want to watch it elsewhere in the UK. The end of season play-off series is shown nationwide in a highlights package. The Super League Show is also available for streaming or download using the BBC iPlayer in the UK.

Highlights programme	Duration	Broadcaster
Super League Show	1999–Present	BBC

Magazines[edit]

Regular commentators are Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Live Super League broadcasts regularly rank amongst the top 10 most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports with in excess of 250,000 viewers.^[26] Sky Sports also run several supplementary magazine shows, including Super League Full Time and Boots N' All.

Premier Sports and Made in Leeds show a rugby league magazine program called Rugby AM hosted by Alex Simmons, Jamie Jones Buchanan and Keith Senior. It is aired on a Thursday night at 7 and is also repeated on Saturday. Rugby AM also has a radio show on All Star FM.

International[edit]

Internationally Super League is shown live by eight different broadcasters in eight different countries and regions.

Country/ Region	Broadcaster
Middle East	OSN
North Africa
France	BeIn Sport
New Zealand	Sky Sport
	Māori Television
United States	Fox Soccer Plus
Russia	NTV+
Eastern Europe	Sportklub
Australia	FOX Sports

Radio[edit]

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra covers more than 70 Super League games through 5 Live Rugby League each Thursday and Friday night.^[27] Each 3 hour programme is presented by Dave Woods with a guest summariser (usually a Super League player or coach) and in addition to live commentary also includes interviews and debate. A 5 Live Rugby League podcast is available to download each week from the BBC website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrtxd/episodes/downloads.

Super League is also covered extensively by BBC Local Radio:

Station	Area
BBC Radio Humberside	Hull
BBC Radio Leeds	West Yorkshire
BBC Radio Manchester	Salford, Wigan and Warrington.
BBC Radio Merseyside	St Helens, Warrington and Widnes.

The competition is also covered on commercial radio stations:

• Radio Yorkshire cover two matches per round featuring Yorkshire clubs.
• BCB 106.6 (Bradford Community Broadcasting) have full match commentary on Bradford home and away.
• Wish FM have full match commentary on Wigan and St Helens matches home and away.
• Wire FM have full match commentary of Warrington amatches home and away.
• Grand Sud FM covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French).
• Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).

All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.

Internet[edit]

ESPN3, formerly ESPN360, has had worldwide broadband rights since 2007 when they broadcast the 2007 Grand Final.

Since 9 April 2009, all of the matches shown on Sky Sports have also been available live online via Livestation everywhere in the world excluding the US, Puerto Rico, UK, Ireland, France, Monaco, Australia and New Zealand.^[28] Theses matches are also available online for UK users only through Sky Go and Now TV.

In the United Kingdom, a number of commercial radio stations, along with BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the local BBC radio stations simulcast commentary of Super League games on the internet. Additionally, the 5 Live Rugby League podcast is available to download each week from the BBC website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrtxd/episodes/downloads.

See also[edit]

• Super League records
• List of sports attendance figures
• Super League Ultimate 13: Grand Final Team
• British rugby league system

References[edit]

Inline[edit]

General[edit]

• Caplan, Phil; Doidge, Jonathan R. (2006). Super League – the first ten years. The History Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0752436982. 

External links[edit]

• superleague.co.uk
• RFL Super League coverage
• Scores from Sky Sports
• Rugby League Fans Forum

Super League Current Teams Castleford Tigers Catalans Dragons Huddersfield Giants Hull Hull Kingston Rovers Leeds Rhinos Salford Red Devils St. Helens Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Warrington Wolves Widnes Vikings Wigan Warriors Former Teams Bradford Bulls Crusaders Gateshead Thunder Halifax Blue Sox Leigh Centurions London Broncos Oldham Bears Paris Saint Germain Sheffield Eagles Workington Town Seasons I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI Season results I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX Grand Finals I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX Major events World Club Series (World Club Challenge) Magic Weekend Play-offs Grand Final International Origin Awards Albert Goldthorpe Medal League Leader's Shield Man of Steel Award Harry Sunderland Trophy Super League Dream Team Fairplay Index Super League Ultimate 13: Grand Final Team Related articles Rugby Football League Championship Super League Records Super League war 2009–11 licences 2012–14 licences

Super League Venues Current AJ Bell Stadium Craven Park DW Stadium Halliwell Jones Stadium Headingley Carnegie John Smith's Stadium KC Stadium Langtree Park Rapid Solicitors Stadium Stade Gilbert Brutus Stobart Stadium Wish Communications Stadium Former Boundary Park Brewery Field Central Park Derwent Park Don Valley Stadium Knowsley Road Odsal Racecourse Ground Stade Sébastien Charléty The Boulevard The Colliseum The Hive The Shay The Willows Thrum Hall Thunderdome Twickenham Stoop Valley Parade Watersheddings Wilderspool Magic Weekend Millennium Stadium Murrayfield Stadium City of Manchester Stadium St James' Park Grand Final Old Trafford

Rugby league in Great Britain and Ireland Nations Rugby league in England Rugby league in Ireland Rugby league in Scotland Rugby league in Wales Federations Rugby Football League BARLA Rugby League Ireland Scotland Rugby League Wales Rugby League National teams Great Britain England Ireland Scotland Wales Women's national teams Great Britain England Ireland Scotland Wales Leagues Super League Championship League 1 National Conference League Conference League South Yorkshire Men's League Pennine League North West Men's League Cumberland League Midlands Rugby League North East Rugby League South West Rugby League West of England Rugby League East Men's League South Premier London & South East Men's League Scottish Conference League North Wales Conference South Wales Premiership Super 8 Cups Challenge Cup National League Cup BARLA National Cup Yorkshire County Cup Lancashire County Cup Cumbria County Cup Cumberland County Cup Former competitions RFL Championship Premiership Rugby League Conference Lancs/Yorks Cups Lancs/Yorks League Regal Trophy Charity Shield BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Trans-Pennine Cup

Rugby league in France Federation Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII National Team France les Chanteclairs (results) women's Club Competitions Super League Elite One Elite Two East Elite Two West Lord Derby Cup Super League Teams Paris Saint-Germain (defunct) Catalans Dragons Elite One Championship Teams (Former Teams) SO Avignon AS Carcassonne Lézignan Sangliers Limoux Grizzlies St Estève Catalans Toulouse Olympique Villeneuve Leopards Palau XIII Seasons I II III IV V VI

Rugby League European Federation Members Full England France Ireland Jamaica Lebanon Russia Scotland Serbia South Africa Ukraine Wales Associative Canada Czech Republic Germany Greece Italy Latvia Malta Norway Observers Bosnia Belgium Catalonia Denmark Hungary Morocco Netherlands Saudi Arabia Spain Sweden Trinidad & Tobago United Arab Emirates National teams Austria Bosnia Belgium Catalonia Czech Republic England Estonia France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lebanon Malta Moldova Morocco Netherlands Norway Portugal Russia Scotland Serbia Spain Sweden Ukraine Wales Competitions European Cup European Championship B (2nd tier) European Championship C (3rd tier) Euro Med Challenge (defunct)