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Super League

Current season or competition: Super League XXIII
Sport	Rugby league
Inaugural season	1996
Chair	Robert Elstone
Number of teams	12
Countries	England (11 teams)  France (1 team)
Champions	Leeds Rhinos (8th title) (2017)
Most titles	Leeds Rhinos (8 titles)
Website	rugby-league.com/superleague
Broadcast partner	Sky Sports (live matches) BBC (highlights only)
Related competitions	Domestic Cup: Challenge Cup International Cup(s): World Club Series World Club Challenge
Relegation to	Championship

Super League (currently known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons) is the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern hemisphere. The league has twelve teams: eleven from England and one from France. Canadian (none, to 2018) and Welsh (one, from from 2009 to 2011) clubs that compete in the Rugby Football League can also qualify. Colloquially known in the UK as the Super League it is referred to internationally as the English Super League (ESL).

Super League began in 1996, replacing the RFL 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. After 23 games, teams enter a Super 8 stage, the top eight play each other once more. The top four then enter the play-off series leading to the Grand Final (formerly the Championship Final) which determines the champions. The bottom four teams go on to play the top four Championship teams in The Qualifiers to determine who will play in Super League the following season.

Leeds Rhinos are the most successful club in the Super League era, having won 8 titles. Wigan Warriors are the most successful club in the previous era, having won 21 British Championships.

The Super League champions play the National Rugby League champions from Australasia in the World Club Challenge at the start of the season.

History

1996–2001: Establishment

A "super league" 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
  


• 
  Leeds Rhinos
  


• 
  London Broncos
  


• 
  Oldham Bears
  


• 
  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

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

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 licensed 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

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

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–Present: Super 8s

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", plus a Magic Weekend for both divisions, making a 23 game regular season. 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.

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 came into force for the 2016 Super League season.

Structure

World Club Series

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.

Super League regular season

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. The team finishing bottom after 23 rounds collects the Super League Wooden Spoon. 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

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 has been held since 2014 at St James' Park in Newcastle.

Super 8s

After 23 games the league table is frozen and the teams are split into "Super 8's". Teams finishing in the top 8 compete for a place in the play-offs, and all retain a place in Super League for the next season. Teams finishing in the bottom four (9-12) compete alongside the top 4 teams from the Championship, in "The Qualifiers" Super 8 group. These teams will reset their season standings and also play 7 extra games, as they attempt to earn a place in the following year's Super League competition.

• 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 play offs to play in the Grand Final.

• 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 year's Super League competition. Teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in a Promotion Play-off, dubbed the "Million Pound Game", at the home of the 4th placed team. This game will see the winner earn a place in the next Super League season, whilst the loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will be relegated to the next year's Championship competition.

Play-offs

The play-offs have had various formats. Since 2015 the play-offs have been contested by the four sides finishing highest in the league after the Super Eights.

St Helens are the only team to take part in every playoff series since the inaugural series in 1998

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

Grand Final

Leeds Rhinos celebrating following their 2008 Grand Final victory

The Grand Final is the championship-deciding game and showpiece event of the Super League season. It is held annually at Old Trafford.

City	Stadium	Years
Manchester	Old Trafford	1998–present

Largest attendance

Year	City	Stadium	Attendance
2015	Manchester	Old Trafford	73,512

Other competitions

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup is a separate cup competition, involving clubs from Super League and all levels of rugby league in Britain. It has been held annually since 1896 and has been expanded so teams in Russia, France, Scotland and Wales can take part. The cup runs throughout the season, and the final is usually played on the August bank holiday at Wembley Stadium.

Clubs

Current clubs

Super League clubs
Colours	Club	Established	City	Stadium	Capacity*	Titles (Last)**
	Castleford Tigersa	1925	Castleford, West Yorkshire	Wheldon Road	12,000	0 (N/A)
	Catalans Dragons	2000	Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales	Gilbert Brutus Stadium	13,000	0 (N/A)
	Huddersfield Giantsc	1864	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire	Kirklees Stadium	24,500	7 (1962)
	Hullc	1865	Hull, East Yorkshire	KCOM Stadium	25,404	6 (1983)
	Hull Kingston Rovers	1882	Hull, East Yorkshire	Craven Park	12,000	5 (1985)
	Leeds Rhinosabc	1864	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Headingley Stadium	20,500	11 (2017)
	Salford Red Devils	1873	Salford, Greater Manchester	Salford City Stadium	12,000	6 (1976)
	St. Helensabc	1873	St. Helens, Merseyside	Totally Wicked Stadium	18,000	13 (2014)
	Wakefield Trinityc	1873	Wakefield, West Yorkshire	Belle Vue	12,600	2 (1968)
	Warrington Wolvesab	1876	Warrington, Cheshire	Halliwell Jones Stadium	15,500	3 (1955)
	Widnes Vikingsc	1875	Widnes, Cheshire	Halton Stadium	13,500	3 (1989)
	Wigan Warriorsabc	1872	Wigan, Greater Manchester	DW Stadium	24,057	21 (2016)

^a: Founding member of the Super League
^b: Appeared in every Super League season since 1996
^c: One of the original 22 RFL teams

• **includes Rugby Football League Championship titles won prior to the inaugural Super League season in 1996, which are officially considered to be part of the Super League lineage

Former Super League clubs

Previous Super League clubs
Colours	Club	Seasons in Super League	First season in Super League	Last season in Super League	Last top division title**
	Bradford Bulls §*	19	1996	2014	2005
	London Broncos	19	1996	2014	N/A
	Halifax	8	1996	2003	1985-86
	Sheffield Eagles §*	4	1996	1999	N/A
	Crusaders §*	3	2009	2011	N/A
	Leigh Centurions	2	2005	2017	1981-82
	Oldham	2	1996	1997	1956-57
	Paris Saint-Germain §	2	1996	1997	N/A
	Gateshead Thunder §*	1	1999	1999	N/A
	Workington Town	1	1996	1996	1950-51

• § Denotes club now defunct


• * Denotes new club has since been set up to replace the former, now defunct club.


• **includes Rugby Football League Championship titles won prior to the inaugural Super League season in 1996, which are officially considered to be part of the Super League lineage

All Time Super League table

• Correct up to end of 2017 season
  


• Does not include games in The Qualifiers
  

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Playoffs	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Relegated
1	St. Helens*	22	20	599	416	15	168	18,214	11,940	6,274	845
2	Wigan*	22	17	599	398	24	177	17,348	10,948	6,400	814
3	Leeds	22	19	592	383	15	194	17,025	12,579	4,446	781
4	Warrington	22	10	592	311	12	269	15,483	14,178	1,305	634
5	Bradford	19	11	509	308	17	184	14620	11253	3367	617	1
6	Hull*	20	12	555	276	21	258	12,991	12,531	460	571
7	Castleford	21	6	544	237	19	281	12,577	14,054	−1,477	493	2
8	Huddersfield	19	8	520	224	13	283	12,049	12,669	620	461	1
9	London	19	2	509	185	20	304	10793	14229	−3436	390	1
10	Wakefield*	19	3	524	189	6	329	10,842	14,059	−3,217	346
11	Salford*	19	1	508	166	8	334	9,371	13,890	−4,519	332	1
12	Catalans	12	6	327	148	10	169	7,671	8,294	−623	306
13	Hull KR	10	4	262	114	9	138	5,579	6,040	−461	237	1
14	Widnes	10	1	269	94	8	166	5068	7,224	−2,156	196	1
15	Halifax*	8	1	209	76	4	129	4646	5908	−1262	154	1
16	Sheffield	4	0	97	37	3	57	2027	2663	−636	77	1
17	Gateshead §	1	0	30	19	1	10	775	576	199	39
18	Crusaders* §	3	1	81	21	0	60	1431	2463	−1032	38
19	Oldham	2	0	44	13	2	29	934	1312	−378	28	1
20	Paris §	2	0	44	9	1	34	760	1367	−607	19
21	Leigh	2	0	45	8	1	42	954	1144	−190	17	2
22	Workington	1	0	22	2	1	19	325	1021	−696	5	1

Points deductions

• 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


• 2016 - Salford - Salary Cap Breach - 6 points

Academies

Reserve league

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 first teams. 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 first team. A reserve league was set up in 2016 with a mixture of Super League, Championship and League 1 teams.

Dual registration

Dual registration refers to an arrangement between clubs whereby a player continues to be registered to his current Super League club and is also registered to play for a club in the 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.^[19]

• Only Super League players can be dual registered and the receiving club must be a club in the 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 Super League club on a Thursday and in a 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

In 2017 the following teams will run in each of the Senior Academy divisions:^[20]Super League Academy – U19s:

• Bradford Bulls


• Castleford Tigers


• Catalans Dragons


• Huddersfield Giants


• City of Hull Academy


• Leeds Rhinos


• London Broncos


• Newcastle Thunder


• St. Helens


• Wakefield Trinity


• Warrington Wolves


• Widnes Vikings


• Wigan Warriors

Champions

Main article: List of Super League seasons

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	Champions	Score	Runners-up	League Leaders
I	St. Helens	N/A	Wigan Warriors	N/A
II	Bradford Bulls	N/A	London Broncos	N/A
III	Wigan Warriors	10–4	Leeds Rhinos	Wigan Warriors
IV	St. Helens	8–6	Bradford Bulls	Bradford Bulls
V	St. Helens	29–16	Wigan Warriors	Wigan Warriors
VI	Bradford Bulls	37–6	Wigan Warriors	Bradford Bulls
VII	St. Helens	19–18	Bradford Bulls	St. Helens
VIII	Bradford Bulls	25–12	Wigan Warriors	Bradford Bulls
IX	Leeds Rhinos	16–8	Bradford Bulls	Leeds Rhinos
X	Bradford Bulls	15–6	Leeds Rhinos	St. Helens
XI	St. Helens	26–4	Hull	St. Helens
XII	Leeds Rhinos	33–6	St. Helens	St. Helens
XIII	Leeds Rhinos	24–16	St. Helens	St. Helens
XIV	Leeds Rhinos	18–10	St. Helens	Leeds Rhinos
XV	Wigan Warriors	22–10	St. Helens	Wigan Warriors
XVI	Leeds Rhinos	32–16	St. Helens	Warrington Wolves
XVII	Leeds Rhinos	26–18	Warrington Wolves	Wigan Warriors
XVIII	Wigan Warriors	30–16	Warrington Wolves	Huddersfield Giants
XIX	St. Helens	14–6	Wigan Warriors	St. Helens
XX	Leeds Rhinos	22–20	Wigan Warriors	Leeds Rhinos
XXI	Wigan Warriors	12-6	Warrington Wolves	Warrington Wolves
XXII	Leeds Rhinos	24-6	Castleford Tigers	Castleford Tigers
XXIII	TBD	-	TBD	TBD

Results

	Club	Wins	Runners up	League Leaders	Winning Years
1	Leeds Rhinos	8	2	3	2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017
2	St. Helens	6	5	7	1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014
3	Wigan Warriors	4	6	4	1998, 2010, 2013, 2016
4	Bradford Bulls	4	3	4	1997, 2001, 2003, 2005
5	Warrington Wolves	0	3	2	N/A
6	Castleford Tigers	0	1	1	N/A
7	Hull	0	1	0	N/A
	London Broncos	0	1	0	N/A
9	Huddersfield Giants	0	0	1	N/A

The Double

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 F.C. §	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

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 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	2	1965–66, 2006
4	Hunslet F.C. §	1	1907–08
5	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
6	Bradford Bulls	1	2003
7	Leeds Rhinos	1	2015

All Four Cups

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 other cups that could be won.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Hunslet F.C. §	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

Teams relegated

Year	Club
1996	Workington Town
1997	Oldham Bears
1998–2000 no relegation
2001	Huddersfield Giants
2002	Salford City Reds
2003	Halifax
2004	Castleford Tigers
2005	Widnes Vikings Leigh Centurions
2006	Castleford Tigers
2007	Salford City Reds
2008–2013 no relegation
2014	London Broncos Bradford Bulls
2015	None
2016	Hull Kingston Rovers
2017	Leigh Centurions

Awards

League Leaders' Shield

The League Leaders' 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	Warrington Wolves	2	2011, 2016
6	Huddersfield Giants	1	2013
7	Castleford Tigers	1	2017

Super League Trophy

Super League Trophy

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 eight titles. Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after captaining Leeds to their first 7 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. However, St. Helens made a victorious return in 2014, defeating rivals, Wigan 14–6.

Following their 2014 and 2015 defeats to St. Helens and Leeds respectively, Wigan have now equalled St Helens's record of losing five Grand Finals.

Steve Prescott Man of Steel award

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.

Albert Goldthorpe Medal

The Albert Goldthorpe Medal is an award voted for be members of the press who cast a vote after every game of the regular season. The three players who, in the opinion of the reporter, have been the three 'best and fairest' players in the game will receive three points, two points and one point respectively. To be eligible for a vote, a player must not have been suspended from the competition at any stage during the season.

Super League Dream Team

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. The 2017 dream team is as follows:

	Player	Team	Appearance
1	Zak Hardaker	Castleford Tigers	3
2	Greg Eden	Castleford Tigers	1
3	Michael Shenton	Castleford Tigers	3
4	Mark Percival	St Helens	1
5	Mahe Fonua	Hull	2
6	Albert Kelly	Hull	1
7	Luke Gale	Castleford Tigers	3
8	Grant Millington	Castleford Tigers	1
9	Matt Parcell	Leeds Rhinos	1
10	Sebastine Ikahihifo	Huddersfield Giants	1
11	Ben Murdoch-Masila	Salford Red Devils	1
12	Mike McMeeken	Castleford Tigers	1
13	Sean O'Loughlin	Wigan Warriors	6

Coaches

Nat.	Name	Club	Appointed	Time as head coach
	Daryl Powell	Castleford Tigers	7 May 2013	7003192100000000000♠5 years, 95 days
	Steve McNamara	Catalans Dragons	19 June 2017	7002417000000000000♠1 year, 52 days
	Simon Woolford	Huddersfield Giants	29 April 2018	7002103000000000000♠103 days
	Lee Radford	Hull	25 September 2013	7003178000000000000♠4 years, 319 days
	Tim Sheens	Hull Kingston Rovers	1 September 2016	7002708000000000000♠1 year, 343 days
	James Lowes	Leeds Rhinos	6 July 2018	7001350000000000000♠35 days
	Ian Watson	Salford Red Devils	3 September 2015	7003107200000000000♠2 years, 341 days
	Justin Holbrook	St. Helens	4 May 2017	7002463000000000000♠1 year, 98 days
	Chris Chester	Wakefield Trinity	16 March 2016	7002877000000000000♠2 years, 147 days
	Steve Price	Warrington Wolves	6 October 2017	7002308000000000000♠308 days
	Francis Cummins	Widnes Vikings	31 May 2018	7001710000000000000♠71 days *
	Shaun Wane	Wigan Warriors	9 October 2011	7003249700000000000♠6 years, 305 days

• Interim coach

Head coaches with Super League titles

The Super League has been won by 13 different coaches, 8 from Australia, 4 from England and 1 from New Zealand.

	Head Coach	Wins	Winning years
1	Brian McDermott	4	2011, 2012, 2015, 2017
2	Brian Noble	3	2001, 2003, 2005
3	Shaun Wane	2	2013, 2016
4	Ian Millward	2	2000, 2002
5	Tony Smith	2	2004, 2007
6	Brian McClennan	2	2008, 2009
7	Shaun McRae	1	1996
8	Matthew Elliott	1	1997
9	John Monie	1	1998
10	Ellery Hanley	1	1999
11	Daniel Anderson	1	2006
12	Michael Maguire	1	2010
13	Nathan Brown	1	2014

Players

• Statistics are correct as of the start of July 2018.

Players to have made over 350 Super League Appearances

Kevin Sinfield made 454 Super League appearances for Leeds Rhinos between 1997 and 2015

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

Rank	Player	Years	Club(s)	Appearances
1	Kevin Sinfield	1997–2015	Leeds	454
2	Andy Lynch	1999–2017	Castleford, Bradford, Hull, Castleford	452
3	Paul Wellens	1998–2015	St Helens	443
4	Jamie Peacock	1998–2015	Bradford, Leeds	438
5=	Rob Burrow	2001–2017	Leeds	431
5=	Leon Pryce	1998–2016	Bradford, St Helens, Hull, Catalans	431
7	Danny Tickle	2000–present	Halifax, Wigan, Hull, Widnes, Castleford, Leigh, Hull KR	417
8	Keith Senior	1996– 2011	Sheffield, Leeds	413
9	Lee Gilmour	1997–2014	Wigan, Bradford, St Helens, Huddersfield, Castleford, Wakefield	412
10	Ben Westwood	1999–present	Wakefield, Warrington	411
11	Lee Briers	1997–2013	St Helens, Warrington	402
12	Danny Brough	2005–present	Hull, Castleford, Wakefield, Huddersfield	391
13	Danny McGuire	2001–present	Leeds, Hull KR	385
14	Paul Deacon	1997–2011	Oldham, Bradford, Wigan	384
15	Keiron Cunningham	1996–2010	St Helens	382
16	Danny Orr	1997–2012	Castleford, Wigan, Harlequins RL, Castleford	381
17	James Roby	2004–present	St Helens	377
18	Sean O'Loughlin	2002–present	Wigan	372
19	Jon Wilkin	2003–present	St Helens	370
20	Jon Clarke	1997–2014	Wigan, London, Warrington, Widnes	360
21	Stuart Fielden	1998–2013	Bradford, Wigan, Huddersfield	359
22	Jamie Jones-Buchanan	1999–present	Leeds	358
23	Richard Horne	1999–2014	Hull	353
24	Mickey Higham	2001–2017	St Helens, Wigan, Warrington, Leigh	352

Tries

Rank	Player	Years	Clubs	Tries
1	Danny McGuire	2001–present	Leeds Rhinos, Hull Kingston Rovers	243
2=	Paul Wellens	1998–2015	St Helens	199
2=	Keith Senior	1996–2011	Sheffield Eagles, Leeds Rhinos	199
4	Ryan Hall	2007–2018	Leeds Rhinos	196
5	Ryan Atkins	2005–present	Wakefield Wildcats, Warrington Wolves	178

See also: Super League players with 100 or more tries

Points

Rank	Player	Years	Clubs	Points
1	Kevin Sinfield	1997–2015	Leeds	3,443
2	Paul Deacon	1997–2011	Oldham, Bradford, Wigan	2,415
3	Andrew Farrell	1996–2004	Wigan	2,372
4	Pat Richards	2006–2013, 2016	Wigan, Catalans	2,280
5	Danny Brough	2005–present	Hull, Castleford, Wakefield, Huddersfield	2,253

Winning captains

10 players have captained teams to win the Super League.

	Captain	Wins	Winning years
1	Kevin Sinfield	7	2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015
2	Chris Joynt	3	1999, 2000, 2002
3	Sean O'Loughlin	3	2010, 2013, 2016
4	Robbie Paul	3	1997, 2001, 2003
5	Bobbie Goulding	1	1996
6	Andy Farrell	1	1998
7	Jamie Peacock	1	2005
8	Sean Long	1	2006
9	Paul Wellens	1	2014
10	Danny McGuire	1	2017

Top Try Scorer by season

Year	Player	Tries	Team
1996	Paul Newlove	28	St Helens
1997	Nigel Vagana	17	Warrington Wolves
1998	Anthony Sullivan	20	St Helens
1999	Toa Kohe-Love	25	Warrington Wolves
2000	Sean Long & Tommy Martyn	22	St Helens & St Helens
2001	Kris Radlinski	27	Wigan Warriors
2002	Dennis Moran	22	London Broncos
2003	Dennis Moran	24	London Broncos
2004	Lesley Vainikolo	36	Bradford Bulls
2005	Mark Calderwood	27	Leeds Rhinos
2006	Justin Murphy	25	Catalans Dragons
2007	Henry Fa'afili	21	Warrington Wolves
2008	Ade Gardner	26	St Helens
2009	Ryan Hall	29	Leeds Rhinos
2010	Pat Richards	29	Wigan Warriors
2011	Ryan Hall	28	Leeds Rhinos
2012	Josh Charnley	31	Wigan Warriors
2013	Josh Charnley	33	Wigan Warriors
2014	Joel Monaghan	28	Warrington Wolves
2015	Jermaine McGillvary	27	Huddersfield Giants
2016	Denny Solomona	40	Castleford Tigers
2017	Greg Eden	38	Castleford Tigers

Logo

Super League logo until 2016

The Super League has had two official logos. The first was used for the inaugural season in 1996 and until 2016. The logo had the Super League S with Super above it and League below it. The title sponsors name would appear above the logo until 2014 when title sponsors First Utility used their own personalised logos that appeared on player shirts and in the media. The reigning champions had a ribbon around the logo with champions on it until 2011.

2017 rebrand

The second official logo was introduced in 2017 as part of a radical rebrand across British rugby league. The design was similar to the RFL and England logos. It had a rectangular backdrop representing the George Hotel, where rugby league was founded, thirteen lines representing thirteen players, a chevron which are well known for appearing on rugby league shirts and the S which represents the ball and the Super League. The current champions have a gold logo.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship logo used in media and on players shirts

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 seven different title sponsors since the league's formation:

As well as title sponsorship, Super League has a number of official partners and suppliers.^[21] For the 2017 season these include Kingstone Press Cider, Dacia, Foxy Bingo, Batchelors and Specsavers. The official ball supplier is Rhino Rugby.^[22]

Competition rules

Overseas quota and Federation-trained players

An overseas quota restricting the maximum number of foreign players at each club has existed since the inception of the Super League in 1996.^[23] However, overseas players that hold a European Union passport or come under the Kolpak ruling do not count towards the quota. This resulted in the number of non-British players at some clubs greatly exceeding the quota.

In response to concerns over the growing number of foreign players in the league, in 2007, the RFL announced plans to introduce a "homegrown player" rule to encourage clubs to develop their own players.^[24] As of 2017, Super League clubs are permitted to register no more than five overseas players. Additionally, squads are also limited to a maximum of seven non-Federation trained players.^[25]

Salary cap

A salary cap was first introduced to the Super League in 1998, with clubs being allowed to spend up to 50 percent of their income on player wages. From the 2002 season onwards, the cap became a fixed ceiling of £1.8 million in order to increase parity within the league.^[26]

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:^[27]

• The combined earnings of the top 25 players must not exceed £1.825 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 club's salary cap as long as they can afford the players wages.

In 2017, Super League clubs approved proposals to increase the salary cap over the next three seasons, eventually rising to £2.1 million by 2020. Clubs will also be allowed to sign a second marquee player.^[28]

Squad announcement system

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.^[27]

Match officials

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 Head of Match Officials and Technical Director. Former Hull player and Huddersfield Head Coach Jon Sharp was the previous Head of Match Officials. 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.

Criticism

Big Four dominance

(1996-2009)

Results of the 'Big Four'

Season	Bradford Bulls	Leeds Rhinos	St. Helens	Wigan Warriors
1996	3	10	Champions	Runners up
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
Titles	4	4	5	1

(born 2010)

Results of the 'Big Four'

Season	Leeds Rhinos	St. Helens	Wigan Warriors	Warrington Wolves
2010	4	Runners up	Champions	3
2011	Champions	Runners up	2	1
2012	Champions	3	1	Runners up
2013	3	5	Champions	Runners up
2014	6	Champions	Runners up	5
2015	Champions	4	Runners up	6
2016	9	4	Champions	Runners up
2017	Champions	4	6	9
Titles	4	1	3	0

Since its formation in 1996 only four teams have won the Super League (Leeds Rhinos, Bradford Bulls, Wigan Warriors and St. Helens) and a total of seven have taken part in the Grand Final (Hull Castleford and Warrington Wolves being the other three). Seven different teams have also been the league leaders, however only one of these (Huddersfield Giants in 2013) is a different team to those that have appeared in the grand final, meaning that only eight 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 22-year period, 12 different teams have won the Australasian National Rugby League competition and 15 different teams have appeared in the Grand Final.

Licensing

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

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.

Expansion has 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 League 1, the third division of European rugby league; the team has previously competed in the Championship. This brought the total number of expansion teams across the top 3 divisions to 10 (out of 39 clubs). In 2016 it was announced that a team based in Toronto, Canada had also been granted access to League 1. Toronto Wolfpack will begin play in the 2017 season and will take the number of expansion clubs to 11 (out of 40 clubs). This also means that teams taking part in the top 3 divisions will come from 4 countries and 2 continents.

Media coverage

Television

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.

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

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.^[29] 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.

Magazines

Regular commentator is Eddie Hemmings and formerly 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.^[30] 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

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 Sports
New Zealand	Sky Sport
	Māori Television
United States	Fox Soccer Plus
Brazil	BandSports
Russia	NTV+
Balkans	Sportklub
Australia	Fox League

Radio

Talksport is an official broadcaster of Super League, broadcasting commentaries and magazine programming on Talksport 2. BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra covers more than 70 Super League games through 5 Live Rugby League each Thursday and Friday night.^[31] 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:

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

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.^[32] In 2016 Livestation shut down, however these 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

• Super League records


• List of sports attendance figures


• Super League Ultimate 13: Grand Final Team


• British rugby league system

References

Inline

General

• 
  Caplan, Phil; Doidge, Jonathan R. (2006). Super League – the first ten years. The History Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7524-3698-2. 
  

External links

• superleague.co.uk


• RFL Super League coverage


• Scores from Sky Sports


• Rugby League Fans Forum