Jump to content

Super League Grand Final

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mn1548 (talk | contribs) at 14:14, 10 August 2020 (See also: Different sport). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Super League Grand Final
LocationEngland Manchester
Teams2
First meeting1998
Latest meeting2019
Next meeting2020
BroadcastersSky Sports
BBC
StadiumsOld Trafford
Statistics
Meetings total22
Most wins Leeds Rhinos (8 titles)
Most player appearancesEngland Jamie Peacock (11 appearances)

The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition.[1] It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series.[2]

The winning team receives the Super League Trophy and goes on to play the NRL champions in the World Club Challenge.

The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded to the man of the match in the Grand Final.

St. Helens are the current champions, after winning the 2019 Grand Final.

Only 4 clubs have won the Grand Final, as of 2019 - Leeds Rhinos (8 times), St. Helens (6), Wigan Warriors (5), and Bradford Bulls (3)

History

Use of a play-off system to decide the Championship brought back a rugby league tradition that had fallen out of use in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The Super League Premiership replaced the Championship final but it was to decide the Premiership winners, not the Championship winners. The Premiership was discontinued after the introduction of the Super League play-off series in 1998.

The Super League Grand Final was introduced for the 1998 season. The inaugural Grand Final match was played that year on Saturday 24 October, between Wigan and Leeds. The venue of every Super League Grand Final to date has been Old Trafford, Manchester.[3]

Venue

Leeds celebrating their 2008 Grand Final victory at Old Trafford

The Grand Final is, and has been held at Old Trafford, Manchester since it's inaugural edition in 1998. Old Trafford the largest capacity stadium in the North of England, and the third largest stadium in the UK.

Qualification for World Club Challenge

The winners of the Grand Final qualify to play the winners of the National Rugby League in the World Club Challenge. During its time as the World Club Series (2015–17), The Grand Final Runners-up would qualifying if the Grand Final champions also won the League Leaders' Shield.

Trophy

The winners of the Super League collect the Grand Final rings and the team's name, captain and year are engraved into the trophy. The winners also collect £100,000 with the runner up collecting £50,000.

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 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 F.C. in 2006; after which they suffered consecutive defeats against Leeds in 2007, 2008, 2009, Wigan in 2010 and Leeds once again in 2011.

Awards

The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Super League Grand Final by the Rugby League Writers' Association. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death.

Finals

The Super League Grand Final has been the championship-deciding game since Super League III in 1998:[4] These final were held at Old Trafford.

Year Winners Score Runner-up Attendance
1998 Wigan 10–4 Leeds 43,533
1999 St. Helens 8–6 Bradford Increase 50,717
2000 St. Helens 29–16 Wigan Increase 58,132
2001 Bradford 37–6 Wigan Increase 60,164
2002 St. Helens 19–18 Bradford Increase 61,138
2003 Bradford 25–12 Wigan Increase 65,537
2004 Leeds 16–8 Bradford Increase 65,547
2005 Bradford 15–6 Leeds Increase 65,728
2006 St. Helens 26–4 Hull Increase 72,575
2007 Leeds 33–6 St. Helens Decrease 71,352
2008 Leeds 24–16 St. Helens Decrease 68,810
2009 Leeds 18–10 St. Helens Decrease 63,259
2010 Wigan 22–10 St. Helens Increase 71,526
2011 Leeds 32–16 St. Helens Decrease 69,107
2012 Leeds 26–18 Warrington Increase 70,676
2013 Wigan 30–16 Warrington Decrease 66,281
2014 St. Helens 14–6 Wigan Increase 70,102
2015 Leeds 22–20 Wigan Increase 73,512
2016 Wigan 12–6 Warrington Decrease 70,202
2017 Leeds 24–6 Castleford Increase 72,827
2018 Wigan 12–4 Warrington Decrease 64,892
2019 St. Helens 23–6 Salford Decrease 64,102

Results

Grand Final winners and runners up
Club Winners Runners-up Years won Years runner-up
Leeds Rhinos 8 2 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 1998, 2005
St. Helens 6 5 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Wigan Warriors 5 5 1998, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018 2000, 2001, 2003, 2014, 2015
Bradford Bulls 3 3 2001, 2003, 2005 1999, 2002, 2004
Warrington Wolves 0 4 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018
Hull F.C. 0 1 2006
Castleford 0 1 2017
Salford 0 1 2019

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 7 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93,
1993–94, 1994–95, 2013
2 St. Helens 3 1965–66, 1996, 2006
3 Huddersfield 2 1912–13, 1914–15
4 Broughton Rangers 1 1901–02
5 Halifax 1 1902–03
6 Hunslet 1 1907–08
7 Swinton 1 1927–28
8 Warrington 1 1953–54
9 Bradford 1 2003
10 Leeds 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 3 1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
2 Huddersfield 2 1912–13, 1914–15
3 St. Helens 2 1965–66, 2006
4 Hunslet 1 1907–08
5 Swinton 1 1927–28
6 Bradford 1 2003
7 Leeds 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 1 1907–08
2 Huddersfield 1 1914–15
3 Swinton 1 1927–28
4 Wigan 1 1994–95
5 Bradford 1 2003–04
6 St. Helens 1 2006–07

Pre match Headliners

Year Act
1998-2003 none
2004 Heather Small
2005 Madness
2006 Deacon Blue
2007 The Kaiser Chiefs
2008 Scouting for Girls
2009 The Wombats
2010 Diana Vickers
2011 Feeder*
2012-2013 none
2014 James
2015 The Charlatans
2016 Feeder
2017 Razorlight
2018 Blossoms
2019 Shed Seven
  • 2011- Feeder were cancelled due to Manchester United not wanting a stage to be erected on the wet pitch

Records

Club Records

  • Biggest win:
Bradford 37-6 Wigan (at Old Trafford, 2001)
  • Highest all-time attendance:
73,512 Leeds v Wigan (at Old Trafford, 2015)

Player Records

  • Most Grand Final appearances:
  • 11:
Jamie Peacock (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015)
  • Most Grand Final appearances as captain:
  • 8:
Kevin Sinfield (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015)
  • Youngest finalist:
  • Youngest winner:
  • Oldest finalist (and winner):

See also

References