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Revision as of 09:40, 18 February 2011

Engage Super League
Current season or competition:
Super League XVI
The Engage Super League competition logo
SportRugby league
Formerly known asRugby Football League season
Instituted1996
Inaugural season1996
ChairmanRichard Lewis
Number of teams14
Countries England
 France
 Wales
ChampionsWigan Warriors (2011)
Most titles
Websitesuperleague.co.uk
Broadcast partner
Related competition

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition of Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: Thirteen from the United Kingdom (twelve from England, one from Wales), and one from France, which compete from February to October. The current champions are Wigan Warriors who won both the League Leaders Shield and Super League Grand Final in 2010.

Super League began in March 1996 and saw the British season switch from winter to summer for the first time in over 100 years. Most of the teams are based in Great Britain, though initially the league was intended to be European, and indeed French club Paris Saint Germain contested the first ever Super League match. Following their departure after the completion of the 1997 season, the league became a totally British venture, with all teams being located in Northern England except for the London-based Harlequins (formerly the Broncos). In the 2006 season the Catalans Dragons of Perpignan in southern France were admitted to the competition, and in 2009 the Crusaders, based in Wrexham in North Wales, entered the competition.

During the league's regular season, each team plays 27 games over 27 rounds from February to September. These consist of 13 home games, 13 away games and a Magic Weekend game at a neutral venue, currently Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. At the end of the regular season, the top eight teams in the League play in the play-offs, which culminates with the Grand Final to determine the champions. As well as this the side that finishes top of the ladder during the regular season wins the League Leaders Shield meaning that there are two trophies to be won just by competing in Super League.

In 2009, for the first time in its history, Super League games were played in five different countries in a single season: England, Wales, Scotland, France and Spain.

St Helens, Leeds, Bradford and Wigan Warriors have been the four dominant teams in the Super League since its arrival in 1996. Each year the competition winners play a game against the premiers of the Australasian National Rugby League competition in the World Club Challenge.

Teams

This map indicates the locations of teams that compete in Super League as of 2010.

Super League
Team Stadium Capacity City/Area Est. Current season
Bradford Bulls Odsal Stadium 27,491 Bradford, West Yorkshire 1907 2010 team and results
Castleford Tigers Probiz Coliseum 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire 1926 2010 team and results
Catalans Dragons Stade Gilbert Brutus 13,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France 1935 2010 team and results
Crusaders Racecourse Ground 15,500 Wrexham, Clwyd, Wales 2005 2010 team and results
Harlequins Twickenham Stoop 14,816 Twickenham, London 1980 2010 team and results
Huddersfield Giants Galpharm Stadium 24,500 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire 1864 2010 team and results
Hull FC Kingston Communications Stadium 25,404 Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire 1865 2010 team and results
Hull Kingston Rovers "New" Craven Park 10,000 Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire 1882 2010 team and results
Leeds Rhinos Headingley Carnegie Stadium 20,500 Leeds, West Yorkshire 1864 2010 team and results
Salford City Reds The Willows 11,363 Salford, Greater Manchester 1873 2010 team and results
St Helens Stobart Stadium Halton 13,350 Widnes, Cheshire 1873 2010 team and results
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Belle Vue 12,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire 1873 2010 team and results
Warrington Wolves Halliwell Jones Stadium 13,024 Warrington, Cheshire 1879 2010 team and results
Wigan Warriors DW Stadium 25,135 Wigan, Greater Manchester 1872 2010 team and results

History

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.

Harlequins RL vs St Helens in 2006

"Supporters will see a better game in better surroundings, and the deal will see their sport receive a greater profile nationally and internationally."
Rodney Walker, RFL chairman, welcomes Super League, 5 April 1995[1]

Initially, several mergers between existing clubs were proposed:

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

File:Tetley's Super League logo.jpg
From 2001 to 2005 Super League's major sponsor was Tetley's.

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, Hull, Wakefield Trinity and Widnes were left out, as were pioneering club Keighley Cougars 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.

After two years Paris were dropped from the competition, thus the 'Europe' in 'Super League (Europe)', became redundant. Promotion and relegation between Super League and the Rugby League National Leagues was re-introduced, and in 2002 the SLE governing body re-integrated fully into the Rugby Football League. For most intents and purposes, Super League became a re-titled first division of British rugby league. 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. In order 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.

Some of the famous Super League club rivalries include:

Licensing

Super League licences were announced in May 2005 by the Rugby Football League (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.[2] After 2007 automatic promotion and relegation was suspended for Super League with new teams admitted on a licence basis with the term of the licence to start in 2009.[2]

The RFL stated that clubs applying to compete in Super League XIV in 2009 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.[3]

Successful applicants would be licensed for three years of Super League competition.[4] Three-yearly reviews of Super League membership will take place to ensure ambitious clubs lower down the leagues can still be successful.[3]

Points attained by each club's application would be translated into a license grades A, B or C. Clubs who achieved an A or B Licence would be awarded a place in Super League, while those who achieve a C Licence will undergo further scrutiny before the RFL decide who makes the final cut.[5]

In June 2008, the RFL confirmed that Super League would be expanded from 12 teams to 14 in 2009.[6][7]

The RFL announced the 14 clubs to be licenced at 1000 BST on 22 July 2008.[8] The teams announced were the 12 existing Super League teams; Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Harlequins RL, Huddersfield Giants, Hull F.C., Hull Kingston Rovers, Leeds Rhinos, St Helens, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors along with National League 1 teams, Celtic Crusaders (meaning the league expands into Wales for the first time) and Salford City Reds. Celtic Crusaders become the only Super League franchise never to have played in the Super League previously.

Leigh Centurions, Widnes Vikings and Halifax had all played in Super League previously, but failed to attain a licence. Leigh and Widnes, especially, were disappointed with their exclusions with Leigh's chairman being extremely critical of the RFL.[9]

The RFL released the grading of each of the 14 clubs on 23 July 2008.[10]

A licence B licence C licence
Hull FC
Leeds Rhinos
Warrington Wolves
Bradford Bulls
St Helens
Wigan Warriors
Castleford Tigers
Catalans Dragons
Celtic Crusaders
Harlequins
Hull KR
Huddersfield Giants
Salford City Reds
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Rules

Below are some of the rules used in Super League

Club Trained Player

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 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[11].

Club Trained Players
Year Home Grown Players UK Trained Players Overseas Trained Players
2008 5 10 10
2009 6 11 8
2010 7 12 6
2011 8 12 5

Dual Registration

Clubs in both the Engage Super League and The Co-operative Championships are to benefit from the new dual registration system which has been introduced for the 2010 season[12].

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 or Championship One.

The dual registration 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 Engage 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.
  • The player must be under 23 on August 31 in the year preceding the season in which the proposed dual registration will apply so for 2010, players who were not yet 23 on August 31, 2009 can be dual registered.
  • 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 in a Championships fixture on a Thursday and for his Super League club at the weekend.

The new ‘dual registration’ system is intended to complement the existing player loan system.

The current limit on the number of players a receiving club can utilise will also apply to ‘dual registered’ players. Therefore a receiving club will be limited to a total of four loaned and/or dual registered players, and no more than three loaned and/or dual registered players from the same club.

Salary Cap

The Super League operates under a salary cap system that will calculate a club’s salary cap position at the start of and throughout the season[11].

  • The combined earnings of the Top 25 players must not exceed £1.6 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 eleventh and subsequent seasons. This is subject to a maximum of £50,000 for any one club.

Squad Announcement System

Before each Super League and Challenge Cup fixture, each club must announce the squad of players it will choose from for that match in line with the agreed timetable set out below[11].

Day of Match Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
20 by 2.00pm on this day Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
18 by 2.00pm on this day Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Season structure

From 2009, 14 teams compete in Super League. They play each other twice on a home-and-away basis, interrupted by the Magic Weekend round. Prior to the expansion from 12 teams, an additional four fixtures were played (prior to the introduction of Millennium Magic in 2007, an additional six fixtures were added). After the 27 rounds, a play-off structure is used to determine the two teams who will meet in the Super League Grand Final to decide the championship. The Super League play-offs are now competed by the eight sides finishing highest. The structure is designed to reward the teams finishing nearer the top. From 2009, the winning team from Week One with the highest League placing will be allowed to select their next opponents in Week Three.[13][14] The Grand Final is played at Old Trafford.

The current Super League Play-off structure:[13][14]

The Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford

Week 1

Four matches will take place on Week One, effectively in two pools: the Qualifying Play-offs and the Elimination Play-offs

Qualifying Play-Offs

These matches involve the teams who finish in the top four. They are:

1st v 4th 2nd v 3rd

The winners of these two games will progress directly to Week 3. The highest ranked winning club will have Club Call, whereby they choose their opponents in Week 3

The losers of these two matches will have another chance in Week 2 when they will be at home to the winners of the Week 1 Elimination Play-Offs.

Elimination Play-Offs

5th v 8th 6th v 7th

• The winners of both matches will progress to Week 2, losers are eliminated.


Week 2

There are two matches in Week 2, called the Preliminary Semi-finals.

Preliminary Semi-Final One

Highest ranked Qualifying Play-off Loser (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) v lowest ranked Elimination Play-off Winner (5th, 6th, 7th or 8th)

• Winners to Club Call • Loser eliminated

Preliminary Semi-Final Two

Lowest ranked Qualifying Play-off Loser (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) v Highest ranked Elimination Play-off Winner (5th, 6th, 7th or 8th)

• Winners to Club Call • Loser eliminated

Club Call

Club Call will take place on the second weekend of the play-offs and will be hosted by the highest ranked winning club from Week 1.

The host club will select who they play in Week 3 and can only select from the winners of the two Preliminary Semi-finals (Week 2) – they cannot choose the other Qualifying Play-offs winner.

The highest ranked club from the Qualifying Play-offs (Week one) must choose their opponents – they cannot cede the responsibility to the other Qualifying Play-offs winner.

The team with Club Call and the other Qualifying Play-off winners from Week 1 are guaranteed home advantage in Week 3. For example, should the teams that ended the regular season in 1st and 2nd place lose their opening play-off match, they could still find themselves playing away to the 3rd or 4th placed teams in Week 3.

Week 3

Two matches again, losers eliminated from each, winners go through to contest the Grand Final.

Qualifying Semi-Final One Highest ranked QPO Winner v Club Call selected PSF winner

Qualifying Semi-Final Two Second ranked QPO Winner v Club Call Non Selected PSF Winner


Week 4

Super League Grand Final

FAQs

Can any team have Club Call?

No. The highest ranked winning club from Week 1 will have Club Call, whereby they choose their opponents in Week 3. Only a team that ended the regular season in 1st, 2nd or 3rd can win Club Call.

Will the teams who finished 1st or 2nd at the end of the regular season be guaranteed home advantage in Week 3 should they progress?

No. The two highest rank teams after Week 1 (the team with Club Call and the other Qualifying Play-off winners) are guaranteed home advantage in Week 3. For example, should the teams that ended the regular season in 1st and 2nd place lose their opening play-off match, they could still find themselves playing away to the 3rd or 4th placed teams in Week 3.

Does the Club Call team have to choose their opponents or can they relinquish the responsibility to the other Qualifying Play-offs winner?

The highest ranked club from the Qualifying Play-offs (Week 1) must choose their opponents – they cannot relinquish the responsibility to the other Qualifying Play-offs winner. In addition, they can only select from the winners of the two Preliminary Semi-finals (Week 2) – they cannot choose the other Qualifying Play-offs winner.

Super League Championships

See Rugby Football League Championship for the all-time list of champions since 1895.
Champions
Year Grand Final Winners Score Grand Final Runners-up League Leaders
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 FC 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

Trophies and awards

Luke Burgess with the Super League trophy in 2009 following the Leeds Rhinos becoming Super League champions for the third successive year.

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

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

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.

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

Key Players and Coaches

Below is a list of key players and coaches since the Super League began in 1996:

Media

Television

Sky Sports have been the primary broadcast partner of Super League since its inaugural season in 1996. Sky Sports continue to have the rights to show live Super League games in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland; two live matches are broadcast each week - one on Friday Night at 7:30pm and another at 6pm on Saturdays. Regular commentators are Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson with summarisers including Phil Clarke, 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.[15] Match highlights are shown on Boots N' All which is shown on Sky Sports and is rebroadcast on the Internet.

BBC Sport broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, usually presented by Harry Gration. The BBC have elected to broadcast this only to the North West, Yorkshire & North Midlands, North East & Cumbria, and East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regions on a Sunday. A national repeat has been broadcast overnight during the week since February 2008, the BBC Director of Sport, Richard Moseley, 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. End of season play-offs are shown across the whole country in a highlights package. Super League Show is available for streaming or downloaded using the BBC iPlayer in the UK.

Orange Sport TV in France shows every Catalans Dragons home match live and also some other matches which are broadcast in the UK live on Sky.

Internationally Super League is shown live on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), NTV+ (Russia), Sportklub (Eastern Europe). In 2009, the Nine Network in Australia will show up to 70 live games.[16]. However in 2010, due to poor ratings the Super League games are now being screened after midnight very late on Sunday and Monday nights. The Super League matches are only broadcast in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory as all of these areas are places where Rugby League (coverage of the National Rugby League competition in particular) is a popular sport to play and watch on television. Previously, FOX Sports in Australia had shown the previous weekend's UK televised matches on Thursday nights.

In the United States America One showed live Super League games from 2010.[17]

Radio

Super League XV is covered extensively by BBC Local Radio:

  • BBC Radio Manchester cover Wigan, Salford and Warrington.
  • BBC Radio Humberside cover Hull KR and Hull FC.
  • BBC Radio Leeds cover Bradford, Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
  • BBC Radio Merseyside (AM/DAB only) cover St Helens and Warrington.
  • BBC Radio London covers Harlequins.

The competition is also covered on commercial radio coverage:

  • BCB 106.6 (Bradford Community Broadcasting) cover Bradford Bulls home and away.
  • KCFM cover Hull KR and Hull.
  • Radio Marseillette covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French).
  • Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).
  • Yorkshire Radio cover all seven Yorkshire clubs and have 50 commentaries per season.

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 on-line via Livestation everywhere in the world excluding the US, Puerto Rico, UK, Ireland, France, Monaco, Australia and New Zealand. List of Super League games available on Livestation.com

In the United Kingdom, BBC London 94.9, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Warrington cover Harlequins, Celtic Crusaders (home games) and Warrington (home games) respectively.

Teams that have played in Super League

Venues

As Super League has looked to expand out of its traditional areas at one time or another matches have been played in several venues across the country, the current example is the Millennium Magic weekend currently held in Edinburgh (previously held in Cardiff). In addition to the Magic Weekend other venues have hosted one-off games moving including 2009 seasons match between Catalans Dragons and Warrington Wolves held in Barcelona, Spain.

Academy

In 2010 the following teams will run in each of the Academy divisions:

Under-20s:

Under-18s:

Under-16s:

Under-15s:

NB:

  • The under-20s competition will be a full league with 20 rounds and top 6 play-offs. The under-18s, under-16s and under-15s will be non-competitive and feature eight rounds in under-18s and 6 in under-16s and under-15s.
  • The under-20s competition is strictly restricted to Super League clubs only (Championship and Championship 1 sides having their own reserve grade), the under-18s is only open to either Super League clubs or Championship sides that meet very stringent criteria. The under-16s and under-15s are open to all Super League, Championship and Championship 1 sides.
  • Catalans Dragons run their lower grade sides in the French league.
  • Crusaders run their under-18 team in the Gilette National Youth League and are unable to run an under-20 team.

See also

References

Inline

  1. ^ Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. London: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  2. ^ a b BBC Sport (2005-05-19). "Super League set for 2009 changes". BBC. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  3. ^ a b RFL. "Licensing". The Rugby Football League. Archived from the original on 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  4. ^ BBC Sport (2005-05-22). "Franchise system 'is way forward'". BBC. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  5. ^ Angela Powers. "Licence to thrill". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  6. ^ Gary Slater (2008-06-18). "Super League to expand to 14". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  7. ^ Sky Sports. "Super League set to expand". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  8. ^ BBC Sport (2008-07-16). "Clubs confident over franchises". BBC. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  9. ^ Ian Laybourn. "Leigh blast for Super League". Sporting Life. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  10. ^ BBC Sport (2008-07-23). "Three clubs given A grade licences". BBC. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  11. ^ a b c "Competition Structure". The RFL. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ "Clubs strengthened by dual registration". The RFL. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  13. ^ a b "New top eight play-off format for engage Super League". Super League (Europe). 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  14. ^ a b "Super League play-offs overhauled". BBC. 2008-11-30. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  15. ^ "Triline Sports". Triline Sports. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  16. ^ engage Super League (Press Release) (2008-11-15). "CHANNEL NINE TO SHOW ENGLISH SUPER LEAGUE AND CHALLENGE CUP". RLeague.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  17. ^ http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=16502

General

External links