RFL Women's Super League
Current season, competition or edition: 2020 RFL Women's Super League | |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country |  England |
| Most recent champion(s) |  Leeds Rhinos (1st title) |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | RFL Women's Challenge Cup |
| Official website | [/Women's Super League] |
The Rugby Football League Women's Super League (known as the Betfred Women's Super League due to sponsorship) is the elite women's rugby league club competition in England. Originally competed between four teams in the 2017 season,[1] the league has developed with the 2018 season being contested by seven teams playing home and away against each other with subsequent play-offs and a grand final.[2]
History
2014–2016: Background
The first women's competition that was set up was the Women's Rugby League Championship, set up in 2014. It was mostly made up of community clubs with only Hunslet, Featherstone Rovers and Rochdale Hornets being professional clubs with a women's team. The league had a very low profile and only ran for three years until the Women's Super League was formed in 2017.
2017–2019: Foundations
To give the sport a bigger profile, the Super League name used by the men's game was adopted in 2017. The new league was still made up of community clubs but more professional clubs entered a women's team, notably Bradford Bulls took over the Bradford Thunderbirds team. The four founding clubs were Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Featherstone Rovers and Thatto Heath Crusaders.
The league expanded the following year with Leeds, York and Wigan joining while St. Helens took over from Thatto Heath Crusaders. The league was expanded again to eight clubs for 2019 with the addition of Wakefield Trinity Ladies.[3]
2020-present: Expansion
The league continued to grow with Warrington Wolves being elevated from the Championship for the 2020 season.[4] The structure was also slightly changed with the addition of the Shield Final for the bottom 6 clubs to play for.
Clubs
| Super League clubs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Colours | Club | Debut Season | Location |
|
Bradford Bulls | 2017 | Bradford, West Yorkshire |
|
Castleford Tigers | 2017 | Castleford, West Yorkshire |
|
Featherstone Rovers | 2017 | Featherstone, West Yorkshire |
|
Huddersfield Giants | 2020 | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire |
|
|
Leeds Rhinos | 2018[5] | Leeds, West Yorkshire |
|
St Helens | 2017[6] | St Helens, Merseyside |
|
Wakefield Trinity | 2019 | Wakefield, West Yorkshire |
|
Wigan Warriors | 2018[7] | Wigan, Greater Manchester |
|
Warrington Wolves | 2020 | Warrington, Cheshire |
|
York City Knights | 2018 | York, North Yorkshire |
Season structure
Ten teams play each other once, home or away over nine rounds. At the end if the regular season the team finishing top is awarded the League Leaders Shield. The top 4 then playoff for a place in the Grand Final while the bottom six playoff for a place in the Shield Final.
Play-off structure
At the end of the regular season the top four teams play off in two semi-finals (1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd) with the winners of these matches qualifying for the Grand Final match. The winner of this match is the competition's winner.
| City | Stadium | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester | Manchester Regional Arena | 2017-2018 |
| St Helens | Totally Wicked Stadium | 2019 |
| Leeds | Headingley | 2020–present |
Champions
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up | League Leaders |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Bradford Bulls
|
36–6 | Featherstone Rovers
|
Bradford Bulls
|
| 2018 | Wigan Warriors
|
18–16 | Leeds Rhinos
|
Leeds Rhinos
|
| 2019 | Leeds Rhinos
|
20–12 | Castleford Tigers
|
Castleford Tigers
|
Results
| Club | Wins | Runners up |
Winning Years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradford Bulls |
1 | 0 | 2017 |
| 2 | Wigan Warriors |
1 | 0 | 2018 |
| 3 | Leeds Rhinos |
1 | 1 | 2019 |
| 4 | Featherstone Rovers |
0 | 1 | |
| 5 | Castleford Tigers |
0 | 1 |
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.
| Club | Wins | Winning years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Helens |
1 | 2016 |
| 2 | Bradford Bulls |
1 | 2017 |
| 3 | Leeds Rhinos |
1 | 2019 |
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. Only St Helens had achieved this feat by the end of 2019 winning all three trophies in 2016
Awards
League Leaders
The League Leaders is awarded to the team finishing the regular season top of Super League.
| Club | Wins | Winning years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradford Bulls |
1 | 2017 |
| 2 | Leeds Rhinos |
1 | 2018 |
| 3 | Castleford Tigers |
1 | 2019 |
Woman of Steel award
The Woman of Steel is an annual award for the best player of the season in Super League. It was formed in 2018 to become a part of the Man of Steel Awards at the end of the men's Super League season.
Sponsorship
In August 2019 a sponsorship deal with bookmakers Betfred was announced to start immediately and which will run until the end of the 2021 season (concurrent with Betfred's sponsorship of Super League).[8]
See also
References
- ^ "Women's Super League kicks off..." Rugby Football League. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
- ^ "Women's Super League fixtures announced". Rugby Football League. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
- ^ "Wakefield Trinty join Women's Super League for 2019 season". BBC Sport. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Heppenstall, Ross (8 November 2019). "Women's Super League expands again as Warrington Wolves and Huddersfield Giants sign up". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
- ^ "Leeds Rhinos launch women's rugby league team". Yorkshire Evening Post. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "Saints and Thatto Heath Crusaders sign unique partnership". St Helens Reporter. 25 November 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "Women's Super League: Wigan Warriors to set up women's rugby league team". BBC Sport. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "Betfred sponsor Women's Super League as Grand Final brought forward". Love Rugby League. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.