Super League XXII

Super League XXII

League	Super League
Duration	30 Rounds (Followed by 1 round of relevant playoffs)
Number of teams	12
Broadcast partners	Sky Sports BBC Sport SLTV Fox Sports (Australia) beIN Sport Fox Soccer Plus Sport Klub
2017 season
< 2016 Seasons 2018 >

The 2017 Super League season, known as the Betfred Super League XXII for sponsor reasons,^[1] is the 22nd season of Super League and 123rd season of rugby league in Britain. Twelve teams compete over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend, after which the eight highest enter the Super League play-offs for a place in the Super League Grand Final. The four lowest teams then enter the qualifying play-offs, along with the four highest teams from the Championship, to determine which teams will play again in Super League XXIII.

Super League XXII features twelve teams, the third year in which this number has taken part. This is also the third year since promotion and relegation was reintroduced into the competition, seeing Leigh Centurions promoted and Hull KR relegated from last season.

Teams

Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England: Six teams, Warrington, St Helens, Salford, Wigan Leigh and Widnes west of the Pennines in the historic county of Lancashire and five teams, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Leeds, Castleford and Hull , to the east in Yorkshire. Catalans Dragons, in Perpignan, France, are the only team outside the North of England. St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos as the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.

	Team	2016 position	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
	Castleford Tigers (2017 season)	5th	The Mend-O-Hose Jungle	11,750	Castleford, West Yorkshire
	Catalans Dragons (2017 season)	6th	Stade Gilbert Brutus	14,000	Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
	Huddersfield Giants (2017 season)	12th	John Smith's Stadium	24,544	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
	Hull F.C. (2017 season)	3rd	Kingston Communications Stadium	25,404	Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
	Leigh Centurions (2017 season)	Promoted	Leigh Sports Village	12,700	Leigh, Greater Manchester
	Leeds Rhinos (2017 season)	9th	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	22,250	Leeds, West Yorkshire
	Salford Red Devils (2017 season)	10th	AJ Bell Stadium	12,000	Salford, Greater Manchester
	St Helens R.F.C. (2017 season)	4th	Totally Wicked Stadium	18,000	St Helens, Merseyside
	Wakefield Trinity R. (2017 season)	8th	Rapid Solicitors Stadium	11,000	Wakefield, West Yorkshire
	Warrington Wolves (2017 season)	1st	Halliwell Jones Stadium	15,500	Warrington, Cheshire
	Widnes Vikings (2017 season)	7th	The Select Security Stadium	13,500	Widnes, Cheshire
	Wigan Warriors (2017 season)	2nd (Champions)	DW Stadium	25,138	Wigan, Greater Manchester

Table

Position	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Points	Qualification
1	Castleford Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Super 8s
2	Catalans Dragons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Huddersfield Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Hull FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Leeds Rhinos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Leigh Centurions	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Salford Red Devils	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	St Helens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Wakefield Trinity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	The Qualifiers
10	Warrington Wolves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Widnes Vikings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Wigan Warriors	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Super 8s

After 23 Games

After 23 games the league table is frozen and the teams are split up into 2 of the 3 "Super 8's". Teams finishing in the top 8 will go on to contest "Super League" and will all retain a place in the competition for the next season, as they go on to play 7 more games each, as they compete for a place in the Grand Final. Teams finishing in the bottom four (9-12) will be put alongside the top 4 teams from the Championship, in "The Qualifiers" Super 8 group. Where these teams will reset their season standings to 0 and also play 7 extra games each, as they attempt to earn a place in the following Super League competition.

Playoffs

The Qualifiers

The Qualifiers

The Qualifiers sees the bottom 4 teams from Super League table join the top 4 teams from the Championship. The points totals are reset to 0 and each team plays 7 games each, playing every other team once. After 7 games each the teams finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will gain qualification to the 2017 Super League season. The teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team which will earn the winner a place in the 2017 Super League. The loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th, will be relegated to the Championship.

End of season awards

Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:^[2]

• Man of Steel:
• Coach of the year:
• Super League club of the year:
• Young player of the year:
• Foundation of the year:
• Rhino "Top Gun":
• Metre-maker:
• Top Try Scorer:
• Hit Man:

Media

Television

2017 is the first of a five year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.^[3]

Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.^[4]

Regular commentators will be Eddie Hemmings with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Sky will broadcast highlights on Sunday nights on Super League - Full Time at 10 p.m.

BBC Sport will broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme, the first to the BBC North West, Yorkshire, North East and Cumbria, and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 11:35 p.m. on BBC One,^[5] while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30 p.m. The Super League Show is also available for one week after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only.^[6] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.^[7]

Internationally, Super League is shown live or delayed on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), TV 2 Sport (Norway), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Fox Sports (Australia) and Sportsnet World (Canada).

Radio

BBC Coverage:

• BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (National DAB Digital Radio) will carry two Super League commentaries each week on Thursday and Friday nights (both kick off 8pm); this will be through the 5 Live Rugby League programme which is presented by Dave Woods with a guest summariser (usually a Super League player or coach) and also includes interviews and debate..
• BBC Radio Humberside will have full match commentary of all Hull FC matches.
• BBC Radio Leeds carry commentaries featuring Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
• BBC Radio Manchester will carry commentary of Leigh, Wigan and Salford whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Merseyside.
• BBC Radio Merseyside (will have commentary on St Helens and Widnes matches whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Manchester.

Commercial Radio Coverage:

• 102.4 Wish FM will carry commentaries of Wigan & St Helens matches.
• 107.2 Wire FM will carry commentaries on Warrington Home and Away.
• Radio Yorkshire will launch in March carrying Super League commentaries.
• Radio Warrington (Online Station) all Warrington home games and some away games.
• Grand Sud FM covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French).
• Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).

All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.

References

External links

• Official Site
• BBC Rugby League