1999 Super League season
| Super League IV | |
|---|---|
| League | Super League |
| Duration | 30 Rounds |
| Teams | 14 |
| Highest attendance | 24,020 Bradford Bulls vs Leeds Rhinos (3 Sept) |
| Lowest attendance | 1,580 Gateshead Thunder vs Hull Sharks (19 May) |
| Broadcast partners |  Sky Sports |
| 1999 Season | |
| Champions |  St Helens2nd Super League title 9th English title |
| League Leaders |  Bradford Bulls |
| Man of Steel Award |  Adrian Vowles |
| Top point-scorer(s) |  Iestyn Harris (325) |
| Top try-scorer(s) |  Toa Kohe-Love (25) |
| Left League | |
| Merger with Hull Merger with Huddersfield |  Gateshead Thunder;  Sheffield Eagles |
JJB Sports Super League IV was the official name for the year 1999's Super League championship season, the 105th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the fourth championship run by Super League. The start of Super League IV saw the emergence of a North East based Rugby League Club, Gateshead Thunder as well as newly promoted Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to expand the league to fourteen teams.
Rule changes
- The 40/20 rule was introduced to reward accurate kicking in general play.[1][2] The rule, which had been used in Australia since 1997, gave the head and feed at the resulting scrum to a team that kicked the ball from behind their 40-metre line so that it bounced in the field of play before going into touch behind their opponent's 20 metre line.[3][4]
Season summary
The season finished with a grand final between 1997 champions Bradford Bulls and the inaugural Super League champions St. Helens in which the Saints triumphed in a closely contested game.[5]
Super League IV Table
Regular Season Final Standings
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradford Bulls
|
30 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 897 | 445 | +452 | 51 |
| 2 | St Helens
|
30 | 23 | 0 | 7 | 1034 | 561 | +473 | 46 |
| 3 | Leeds Rhinos
|
30 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 910 | 558 | +352 | 45 |
| 4 |  Wigan Warriors
|
30 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 877 | 390 | +487 | 43 |
| 5 |  Castleford Tigers
|
30 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 712 | 451 | +261 | 41 |
| 6 | Gateshead Thunder
|
30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 775 | 576 | +199 | 39 |
| 7 | Warrington Wolves
|
30 | 15 | 1 | 14 | 700 | 717 | -17 | 31 |
| 8 |  London Broncos
|
30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 644 | 708 | -64 | 28 |
| 9 |  Halifax Blue Sox
|
30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 573 | 792 | -219 | 22 |
| 10 | Sheffield Eagles
|
30 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 518 | 818 | -300 | 21 |
| 11 |  Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
|
30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 608 | 795 | -187 | 20 |
| 12 |  Salford City Reds
|
30 | 6 | 1 | 23 | 526 | 916 | -390 | 13 |
| 13 |  Hull Sharks
|
30 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 422 | 921 | -499 | 10 |
| 14 |  Huddersfield Giants
|
30 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 463 | 1011 | -548 | 10 |
| Play-offs |
Play-offs
| Qualifying and elimination finals | Semi-finals | Preliminary final | Grand final | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
End of season mergers
Huddersfield managed to avoid relegation again despite finishing bottom due to the merger with Sheffield Eagles to form Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants. Also at the end of this season Gateshead Thunder and Hull Sharks were merged to form Hull F.C. with no attempt made to maintain any association with Gateshead, a new Gateshead Thunder would be formed for the 2001 Premiership season.
See also
References
- ^ Andy Wilson (2004-08-09). "Moran leaves Vikings with a sinking feeling". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
- ^ Dave Hadfield (1999-05-24). "Saints restore faith in game with emphasis on attack". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
- ^ de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009). Top ten: Rugby league rules. Brighouse, UK: League Publications (published August 2009). p. 61. ISSN 1466-0105.
{{cite book}}:|periodical=ignored (help) - ^ BBC Sport (2005-09-12). "The 40/20 kick". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ "St. Helens 8-6 Bradford". Rugby League World. 1999-10-09. Retrieved 2007-08-09.