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Timeline of rugby league on UK television

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This is a timeline of the history of rugby league on television in the UK.

1940s and 1950s

[edit]
  • 1948
    • 1 May – The BBC broadcasts the Rugby League Challenge Cup final for the first time, although this can only be seen in the London area. It shows the event again in 1952 by which time it can be seen in the north of England.
  • 1949 to 1954
    • No events.
  • 1955
    • October–November – The newly launched ITV creates a rugby league tournament called the Independent Television Floodlit Trophy. Played under floodlights at various London football grounds, the tournament is shown live in the London area only because ITV had not launched in the sport's north of England heartlands. The second halves of the matches are shown live. The competition was a one-off and did not return the following year.
  • 1956
    • No events.
  • 1957
    • No events.
  • 1958
    • 10 May – The BBC broadcasts the Challenge Cup final for the third time and this marks the start of annual coverage of the final.
  • 1959
    • No events.

1960s

[edit]
  • 1960 to 1964
    • No events although during this period, Grandstand shows coverage of earlier rounds from the Challenge Cup for the first time.
  • 1965
    • 6 October – The first edition of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy is broadcast, bringing rugby league to television screens on a regular basis for the first time. The competition is designed specifically for television.

1970s

[edit]
  • No events.

1980s

[edit]
  • 1980
    • 11 June – A new TV deal is agreed with the BBC, but they no longer hold exclusive rights to rugby league coverage, and any games not shown by the BBC could be offered to Independent Television instead.[1] The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy is also scrapped due to financial cutbacks by the broadcaster.[2]
  • 1982
    • 19 May – For the only time since 1958, the BBC does not show live coverage of the final of the Challenge Cup. It had shown the original game live 18 days earlier but opted to show the replay in highlights form only, as part of that week's edition of Sportsnight.[4]
  • 1983
    • No events.
  • 1984
    • No events.
  • 1985
    • No events.
  • 1986
    • No events.
  • 1987
    • For a brief period, Yorkshire Television broadcasts a late night rugby league highlights programme called Scrumdown.[3]
  • 1988
    • No events.
  • 1989
    • No events.

1990s

[edit]
  • 1990
    • 1 April – British Satellite Broadcasting televises its first rugby league match.[5]
    • August – The RFL agrees a deal with British Aerospace for their new TV service, Sportscast, a TV channel shown exclusively in pubs and clubs.[6] The service was short-lived, collapsing 18 months later.[7]
  • 1991
    • No events.
  • 1993
    • No events.
  • 1994
    • No events.
  • 1995
    • 7–28 October – L!VE TV broadcasts many of the matches from the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. It shows many of them exclusively because apart from the opening game, the BBC does not show any live matches apart from the semi-final and final.
  • 1996
    • Following an approach by Rupert Murdoch to British rugby league clubs to form a new Super League, the sport agrees to the proposals, which amongst other things sees the sport move from a winter to a summer season. Consequently, all live league coverage is shown exclusively on Sky Sports.
  • 1997
    • No events.
  • 1998
    • No events.

2000s

[edit]
  • 2001
    • No events.
  • 2002
    • No events.
  • 2003
    • No events.
  • 2005
    • No events.
  • 2006
    • Manchester local television station Channel M launches a rugby league magazine called Code XIII. Whilst its main focus is on teams playing in the Greater Manchester area, it also touched upon the progress of other teams in the region including Warrington and Widnes. A spin-off series, Code XIII: Grassroots, focused on local amateur rugby league highlights. The programme ran for three seasons, ending in 2008 after management at Channel M decided that they were not willing to go forward with another series that did not contain game action, and that the asking price for buying in the footage was more than Guardian Media Group could afford.
  • 2008
    • February – Having previously only been broadcast as a regional programme, The Super League Show is broadcast nationally for the first time when it is given a Tuesday lunchtime slot on BBC Two.[13]
    • 22 November – Sky Sports' coverage of the Rugby League World Cup ends as the rights for future tournaments move to Premier Sports.
  • 2009
    • 25 September – ESPN brings National Rugby League to the UK when it broadcasts the first Preliminary Final live on 25 September, the second Preliminary Final and on 4 October it shows the Grand Final.[14]

2010s

[edit]
  • 2010
    • No events.
  • 2011
    • No events.
  • 2013
    • 26 October-30 November – Premier Sports broadcasts its first major international sporting event when it is joint broadcaster with the BBC of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.[17] The channel also provides live coverage of the 2017 event.
  • 2015
    • November – After over 20 seasons on air, the final edition of Sky Sports’ rugby league magazine Boots 'N' All is broadcast.
  • 2017
    • 3 November – The BBC announces that it has signed deals with a number of different sports to bring 1,000 extra hours of live sports coverage each year. The increase in free-to-air sport includes coverage of the entire Rugby League Challenge Cup.[19]
  • 2019
    • 26 October-16 November – BBC Sport broadcasts live coverage of rugby league's British Lions tour to New Zealand.[21]

2020s

[edit]
  • 2020
    • No events.
  • 2021
    • 7 May – Sky Sports ends a decade of coverage of the Challenge Cup when it shows two quarter-finals from the 2021 Challenge Cup.[22]
  • 2022
    • 12 February – Live Super League matches are broadcast on free-to-air television for the first time when Channel 4 shows the first of ten matches each season for the next two years. This is the first time in its 40-year history that channel 4has broadcast rugby league.[23]
    • Premier Sports broadcasts the RFL Championship. Coverage includes the regular season, the Play-Offs in the autumn culminating in the Million Pound Game and every match of the Summer Bash featuring all 14 clubs in a single venue on the same weekend. The deal also includes the 2023 season.
    • 28 February – Premier Sports replaces Sky Sports as the secondary rights holder of the Challenge Cup. It shows five games from the competition - one match from rounds 4, 5 and 6 and two quarter-finals.
    • 15 October-19 November – The BBC broadcasts live coverage of all 61 games from the men's, women's and wheelchair tournaments of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.[24]
  • 2023
    • No events.
  • 2024
    • 17 February - The BBC shows a live Super League rugby league match for the first time when it broadcasts the first of 15 Super League games that the BBC will show for the next three seasons.[25]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Floodlit Trophy goes in TV deal". The Guardian. London. 12 June 1980. p. 24. ProQuest 186238475.
  2. ^ Collins, Tony (27 September 2006). Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain: A Social and Cultural History by Tony Collins. Routledge. ISBN 9781134221455.
  3. ^ a b Willacy, Gavin (27 May 2020). "A short history of rugby league on TV: from Richard Madeley to multiscreen". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  4. ^ BBC Genome Project - BBC1 listings 19 May 1982
  5. ^ Fitzpatrick, Paul (3 April 1990). "French doubt for Hanley". The Guardian. London. p. 15. ProQuest 187034966.
  6. ^ "League signs new TV deal". Liverpool Echo. 6 August 1990. p. 24 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Legacy of Sportscast". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 14 March 1992. p. 32 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ Hadfield, Dave (27 August 1992). "Rugby League: New dish on the menu". The Independent. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  9. ^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1992). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7472-7906-8.
  10. ^ BBC Genome Project - BBC One listings 24 October 1992
  11. ^ "Rugby League Raw". BBC Sport. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  12. ^ "S4C to screen live coverage of Celtic Crusaders" (Press release). S4C. 30 May 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  13. ^ "Super League Show to get repeat". BBC Sport. 11 February 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  14. ^ "ESPN to show NRL Grand Final". National Rugby League. 9 September 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009.
  15. ^ "Premier Sports land Championship deal". Love Rugby League. 18 October 2011.
  16. ^ BBC extends Challenge Cup deal to 2016
  17. ^ "Rugby League World Cup to be screened live on BBC". Evening Standard. 10 April 2013.
  18. ^ Four Nations 2014 live on BBC and Premier Sports
  19. ^ BBC fights back with 1,000 extra hours of live sports coverage
  20. ^ Freesports serves up live NCL rugby league coverage
  21. ^ BBC to broadcast 2019 Great Britain Lions tour
  22. ^ "St Helens to face Leigh or Huddersfield in Challenge Cup quarter-final after win over Leeds". Sky Sports. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  23. ^ Channel 4 to broadcast live Bettered Super League
  24. ^ BBC to broadcast every Rugby League World Cup game
  25. ^ BBC Sport secures historic Super League TV rights deal and expands Challenge Cup Digital offering
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