Super League
| Super League (Europe) |
|---|
| Super League XIII |
| File:Engage Super League Logo.jpg |
| Founded |
| 1996 |
| Nations |
 England France
|
| Relegation To |
| National League 1 |
| Number of Teams |
| 12 |
| Cups |
| Challenge Cup World Club Challenge |
| Current Champions |
| Leeds Rhinos |
| Official Website |
| superleague.co.uk |
Super League is the only full-time professional rugby league football club competition operating in the northern hemisphere. Most of the teams are based in Great Britain, though there has been French involvement with Paris Saint Germain at the birth of the Super League and French club Union Treiziste Catalane, known as Les Catalans Dragons, who joined for the 2006 season. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Rugby Super League.
Super League (Europe) (SLE) began in March 1996 and saw the season switch from winter to summer. During the league's regular season, each team plays 27 games over 27 rounds from February to September. At the end of the regular season, the top six teams in Super League play in the playoffs, which finishes with the Grand Final.
Each year the competition winners play a game against the premiers of the Australasian National Rugby League competition in the World Club Challenge.
Each English team is allowed to have three quota players. Harlequins Rugby League are permitted four quota players as they are considered to be a non-heartland team. French side Catalans Dragons are allowed six non-French players.
Teams
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 (Europe) (SLE). 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.
Initially, several mergers between existing clubs were proposed:
- Castleford, Wakefield and Featherstone Rovers would form Calder
- Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers would form Humberside
- Whitehaven RLFC, Workington Town, Barrow and Carlisle would form Cumbria
- Warrington and Widnes were to form Cheshire
- Salford and Oldham were to form Manchester
- Sheffield and Doncaster were to form South Yorkshire
They were to be included with the following stand-alone clubs:
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 Hull FC, Wakefield and Widnes were left out, as were pioneering club Keighley Cougars who had just won the Second Division Championship. London Broncos, now known as Harlequins Rugby League, 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 somewhat otiose; it was however retained. 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 is now simply a re-titled first division of British rugby league. However, in 2006, French side Catalans Dragons (also known as UTC or Les Catalans) from Perpignan joined the league (giving more credence to the Super League (Europe) name). 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.
The Future
After 2007 there will be no automatic promotion or relegation from Super League and new teams will be admitted on a franchise basis, with the franchise starting in 2009.[1] Three-yearly reviews of franchises will take place to ensure ambitious clubs lower down the leagues can still be successful[2].
The criteria are calculated as follows:
Facilities
Teams will get one point for having a stadium with a capacity of 12,000 or more. Another point will be awarded if the ground meets the standards of a premier competition in the 21st century.
Attendances
A point will be awarded to clubs with an average attendance of around 10,000 spectators. Another point will be awarded if stadiums are operating at 40 per cent capacity.
Finances
Teams will receive a point if they are solvent. Another point will be awarded if their turnover is more than £4 million.
Player Strength
Teams earn one point if they are considered to have made a contribution to the competition - that means averaging a place in the top eight over each of the last three seasons. Another point is available to clubs who make a contribution to home-grown player development. That means at least eight members of a first-team squad of 25 should be discovered, trained and developed in the team's home country (United Kingdom or France).
Salary Cap
One point is on offer to teams who have not committed a major breach of the salary cap in the last three seasons.
Geographical Expansion
The final point goes to clubs who do not have another rugby league club within a 20-mile radius.
Total Score
- 8 or more points - A Licence
- 5 or more points - B Licence
- Less than 5 points - C Licence
It is thought teams who achieve an A or B Licence will 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.
Structure
Currently, 12 teams compete in Super League. They play each other twice on a home-and-away basis, interrupted by the Millennium Magic round. An additional four fixtures are then 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 then used to determine the two teams who will meet in the Super League Grand Final to decide the championship. Currently the top six teams enter the play-offs. The structure is designed to reward the teams finishing nearer the top with easier routes to the Grand Final, which is played at Old Trafford. The system works like this:
Week One
- Elimination Semi-final A: 3rd vs 6th
- Elimination Semi-final B: 4th vs 5th
Week Two
- Elimination Final: Winners of Elimination Semi-final A vs Winners of Elimination Semi-final B
- Qualification Match: 1st vs 2nd
Week Three
- Final Qualifier: Losers of Qualification Match vs Winners of Elimination Final
Week Four
- Grand Final: Winners of Qualification Match vs Winners of Final Qualifier
Results
See Rugby League Championship for full list of championship winners (1895-date).
| Year | Grand Final winner | Runner up | League leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | n/a | n/a | St Helens |
| 1997 | n/a | n/a | Bradford Northern |
| 1998 | Wigan (1st) | Leeds (2nd) | Wigan |
| 1999 | St Helens (2nd) | Bradford Northern (1st) | Bradford Northern |
| 2000 | St Helens (2nd) | Wigan (1st) | Wigan |
| 2001 | Bradford Northern (1st) | Wigan (2nd) | Bradford Northern |
| 2002 | St Helens (1st) | Bradford Northern (2nd) | St Helens |
| 2003 | Bradford Northern (1st) | Wigan (3rd) | Bradford Northern |
| 2004 | Leeds (1st) | Bradford Northern (2nd) | Leeds |
| 2005 | Bradford Northern (3rd) | Leeds (2nd) | St Helens |
| 2006 | St Helens (1st) | Hull (2nd) | St Helens |
| 2007 | Leeds (2nd) | St Helens (1st) | St Helens |
NB. Brackets denote Super League regular season finishing position.
Trophies
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.
The winner of the Grand Final is given the engage Super League Trophy. This is considered more prestigious than a minor premiership.
The Man of Steel Award is an annual award for the best player of the season in Super League.
Television coverage
BBC Sport own the rights to broadcast a highlights package called the Super League Show but choose to only broadcast this to the North West, Yorkshire & North Midlands, North East & Cumbria, and East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regions. It can also be viewed over the internet or downloaded using BBC iPlayer in the UK. End of season play-offs are shown across the whole country in a highlights package. However, coverage will be extended from the 17th of February 2008 in the form of a repeat of the show on Sunday nights which will be available across all parts of the country. BBC Director of Sport Richard Moseley said 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 want to watch it elsewhere in the UK.
Sky has the rights to show live Super League games; two live matches are broadcast each week, fronted by Mike Stephenson and Eddie Hemmings. 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.[3]. Highlights are shown on Boots N' All which is shown on Sky Sports and is rebroadcast on the Internet.
Canal+ have the French rights to Super League games.
Teams that have played in the Super League
- Bradford Northern
- Castleford
- Catalans Dragons
- Gateshead Thunder
- Halifax
- Harlequins RL (formerly London Broncos)
- Huddersfield
- Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants
- Hull Sharks
- Hull FC
- Hull KR
- Leeds
- Leigh
- Oldham
- Paris Saint Germain
- Salford
- Sheffield Eagles
- St Helens
- Wakefield Trinity
- Warrington
- Widnes
- Wigan
- Workington Town
See also
- Super League war
- British rugby league system
- Rugby League Challenge Cup
- World Club Challenge
- Rugby League National Leagues
- List of sports attendance figures
- Super League Dream Team
- Super League Ultimate 13: Grand Final Team
References
Super League - the first ten years, Phil Caplan and Jonathan R. Doidge, ISBN 0-7524-3698-8
- ^ BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Super League | Super League set for 2009 changes
- ^ The Rugby Football League
- ^ "Triline Sports". Triline Sports. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
External links
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