Super League

Super League

Country	England
Other club(s) from	France
Founded	1996
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Championship
Domestic cup(s)	Challenge Cup
International cup(s)	World Club Series World Club Challenge
Current champions	Wigan Warriors (4th title)
Most championships	Leeds Rhinos (7 titles)
TV partners	Sky Sports (live matches) BBC (highlights)
Website	superleague.co.uk
Super League XXII

Super League (known officially as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship by Betfred) is the top-level professional rugby league club competition in Europe. The league has twelve teams: eleven from England and one from France. The current champions are Wigan Warriors.

Super League began in 1996, replacing the RFL Championship and switching from a winter to a summer season. Each team plays 23 games between February and July: 11 home games, 11 away games and a Magic Weekend game at a neutral venue. At the end of the season, the top eight teams enter a Super 8 stage, playing each other once more. The top four then enter the play-off series leading to the Grand Final (formerly Championship Final) which determines the champions.

Leeds Rhinos are the most successful club in the Super League era, having won 7 titles. However, Wigan Warriors are the most successful club overall, having won 21 British Championships.

The Super League champions play the National Rugby League champions from Australasia in the World Club Challenge at the start of the season.

History

1996–2001: Establishment

A "super league" competition was first mooted during the Australian Super League war as a way for Rupert Murdoch to gain the upper hand during the battle for broadcasting supremacy with the Australian Rugby League. Murdoch also approached the British clubs to form Super League. A large sum of money aided the decision, and the competition got under way in 1996. Part of the deal saw rugby league switch from a winter to a summer season. The 12 founding teams of Super League were:

• Bradford Bulls
• Castleford Tigers
• Halifax
• Leeds Rhinos
• London Broncos
• Oldham Roughyeds
• Paris Saint-Germain
• Sheffield Eagles
• St Helens
• Warrington Wolves
• Wigan Warriors
• Workington Town

Initially, several mergers between existing clubs were proposed:

• Castleford, Wakefield Trinity and Featherstone Rovers would form Calder
• Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers would form Hull
• Salford and Oldham were to form Manchester
• Sheffield Eagles and Doncaster were to form South Yorkshire
• Warrington and Widnes were to form Cheshire
• Whitehaven, Workington Town, Barrow and Carlisle would form Cumbria

They were to be included with the following stand-alone clubs: Bradford Northern, Halifax, Leeds, London Broncos, Paris Saint-Germain, St. Helens and Wigan.

However this proved so unpopular that only existing clubs were selected for the competition. The clubs finishing below 10th in the existing top flight were excluded, which meant Featherstone Rovers, Hull, Wakefield Trinity and Widnes were left out, as were pioneering club Keighley who had just won the Second Division Championship. London Broncos, who had come fourth in the Second Division, were "fast-tracked" in on commercial grounds. A new team, Paris Saint-Germain, was created to give a French dimension. Between 1998 and 2000 there was no relegation from Super League.

2002–2008: Promotion and relegation

After two years Paris were dropped from the competition. Promotion and relegation between Super League and the Rugby League National Leagues was re-introduced, and in 2002 the Super League Europe (SLE) governing body re-integrated fully into the Rugby Football League (RFL). In 2006, French side Catalans Dragons (also known as UTC or Les Catalans) from Perpignan joined the league, becoming the second non-English team to compete. To facilitate this move, two clubs were relegated from Super League at the end of the 2005 season: Leigh who finished bottom of the league were replaced by the one club coming up from the National Leagues and Widnes who finished 11th (and would have stayed up any other year) were dropped for Les Catalans, thus the number of clubs in Super League remained at 12.

2009–2014: Licensing

Super League licences were announced in May 2005 by the RFL as the new determinant of the Super League competition's participants from 2009 in place of promotion and relegation. The licences were awarded after consideration of more factors than just the on-the-field performance of a club.^[1] After 2007 automatic promotion and relegation was suspended for Super League with new teams to be admitted on a licence basis with the term of the licence to start in 2009.^[1]

The RFL stated that clubs applying to compete in Super League would be assessed by criteria in four areas (stadium facilities, finance and business performance, commercial and marketing and playing strength, including junior production and development) with the final evaluations and decisions being taken by the RFL board of directors.^[2]

Successful applicants were licensed for three years of Super League competition and^[3] three-yearly reviews of Super League membership took place to ensure ambitious clubs lower down the leagues can still be successful.^[2]

Points attained by each club's application are translated into licence grades A, B or C. Clubs who achieved an A or B Licence would be automatically awarded a place in Super League, while those who achieved a C Licence underwent further scrutiny before the RFL decided who made the final cut.^[4]

First licensing period

In June 2008, the RFL confirmed that Super League would be expanded from 12 teams to 14 in 2009,^[5][6] and on 22 July 2008 the RFL confirmed the teams awarded licences.^[7] The teams announced were the 12 existing Super League teams along with National League 1 teams, Celtic Crusaders and Salford. Celtic Crusaders becoming the first Welsh team to play in Super League and the only team to be awarded a licence who had never played in the Super League previously.

Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Leigh and Widnes all failed to attain a licence. Leigh and Widnes, especially, were disappointed with their exclusions with Leigh's chairman being extremely critical of the RFL.^[8]

Second licensing period

For the 2012–14 seasons Championship sides Batley, Barrow, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax and Widnes all met the on-field criteria needed to submit an application,^[9] but despite this only Barrow, Halifax and Widnes decided to submit an application.^[10] On 31 March 2011 Widnes were awarded a Super League licence; Barrow, did not meet the criteria and were refused a licence; and Halifax's application was to be further considered alongside the other Super League clubs.^[11]

The Rugby Football League's final decision was announced on 26 July 2011, Widnes would be joining thirteen existing Super League teams with Crusaders RL having withdrawn their application and Halifax not meeting the criteria.^[12] Crusaders CEO Rod Findlay stated that the club's finances were not in a good enough condition to justify their place in Super League.^[13] Halifax chairman Mark Steele was critical of the decision to award Wakefield a licence over themselves, saying "If you compare Belle Vue with the Shay, it's no contest; if you compare playing records, it's no contest; and if you compare the financial position, we have kept our head above water and they haven't."^[13] Wakefield had been favourites to lose their licence before Crusaders' withdrawal.^[13]

2015–Present: Super 8s

At the 2013 Annual General Meeting at Bradford, the Super League clubs agreed to reduce the number of clubs to 12 from 2015, and also for a return of Promotion and Relegation with a 12 club Championship.^[14]

The 12 First Utility Super League and 12 Kingstone Press Championship clubs will play each other home and away over 22 "rounds", including a Magic Weekend for both divisions. Following the conclusion of their regular league seasons, the 24 clubs will then compete in a play-off series where they split into 3 leagues of 8 based upon league position:^[15][16]

• The top 8 Super League clubs will continue to compete in the Super 8s. After playing each other once (either home or away), the top 4 clubs will progress to the semi-finals to determine who will compete in the Grand Final and be crowned champions.
• The remaining (bottom 4) Super League clubs and the top 4 Championship clubs will compete in The Qualifiers. They will play each other once (either home or away) to determine which four of the clubs will compete in Super League the following year.

Funding for clubs will be tiered in both leagues to prevent relegation related financial difficulties.

In June 2015 8 of the 12 Super League clubs voted to allow a Marquee Player that can exceed a clubs salary cap as long as they can afford their wages. The marquee player rule comes into force for the 2016 Super League season.

Clubs

Current clubs

Super League clubs
Colours	Club	Established	City	Stadium	Capacity*	Titles (Last)**
	Castleford Tigersa	1925	Castleford, West Yorkshire	Wheldon Road	12,000	0 (N/A)
	Catalans Dragons	2000	Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orient	Gilbert Brutus Stadium	13,000	0 (N/A)
	Huddersfield Giantsc	1864	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire	Kirklees Stadium	24,500	7 (1962)
	Hull FCc	1865	Hull, East Yorkshire	KCOM Stadium	25,404	6 (1983)
	Leeds Rhinosabc	1864	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Headingley Stadium	20,500	10 (2015)
	Leigh Centurionsc	1878	Leigh, Greater Manchester	Leigh Sports Village	12,000	2 (1982)
	Salford Red Devils	1873	Salford, Greater Manchester	Salford City Stadium	12,000	6 (1976)
	St Helensabc	1873	St. Helens, Merseyside	Totally Wicked Stadium	18,000	13 (2014)
	Wakefield Trinityc	1873	Wakefield, West Yorkshire	Belle Vue	12,600	2 (1968)
	Warrington Wolvesab	1876	Warrington, Cheshire	Halliwell Jones Stadium	15,500	3 (1955)
	Widnes Vikingsc	1875	Widnes, Cheshire	Halton Stadium	13,500	3 (1989)
	Wigan Warriorsabc	1872	Wigan, Lancashire	DW Stadium	24,057	21 (2016)

^a: Founding member of the Super League
^b: Appeared in every Super League season since 1996
^c: One of the original 22 RFL teams

• **includes Rugby Football League Championship titles won prior to the inaugural Super League season in 1996, which are officially considered to be part of the Super League lineage
• *Gold - current Super League Champions

Former Super League Clubs

Previous Super League clubs
Colours	Club	Established	City	Stadium	Capacity*	Seasons
	Bradford Bulls	1907	Bradford, West Yorkshire	Odsal	27,491	19
	London Broncos	1980	Ealing, London	Trailfinders Sports Ground	3,020	19
	Hull Kingston Rovers	1882	Hull, East Yorkshire	Craven Park	12,000	10
	Halifax	1873	Halifax, West Yorkshire	The Shay	14,000	8
	Sheffield Eagles	1984	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Bawtry Road	3,000	4
	Crusaders RL	2005	Wrexham, Wales	Racecourse Ground	15,500	3
	Oldham Roughyeds	1876	Oldham, Greater Manchester	Bower Fold	6,500	2
	Paris Saint-Germain	1995	Paris, France	Stade Sébastien Charléty	20,000	2
	Newcastle Thunder	1999	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear	Kingston Park	10,000	1
	Workington Town	1945	Workington, Cumbria	Derwent Park	10,000	1

*capacity for Rugby League games may differ from official stadium capacity.

• Grey- Club defunct
• Table shows current locations and stadiums only

Non-English Teams

 France
In 1996 Paris Saint-Germain were chosen to compete in the first season of the newly formed Super League, making them the first team outside England to compete in the top flight of English rugby league. They played in the first ever Super League game against Sheffield Eagles in Paris, winning 30–24 in front of a crowd of over 17,000. After a poor debut season French clubs refused to loan players to PSG, which resulted in bringing Australians over from the NRL which turned out to be very costly as attendances plummeted and the cost of traveling to England became too much. PSG were dissolved in 1997 after two seasons in Super League

In 2005 the new franchise was awarded to Catalans Dragons to play in the 2006 Super League. To help make sure the franchise did not fail as the PSG franchise did, the RFL allowed the Dragons to sign players from other French teams for no transfer fee. They were also promised to be exempted from relegation for three years. In their first season they finished bottom of the league but Castleford Tigers were the team relegated. Over the next few years they continually improved and in 2007 they became the first French team to reach a Challenge Cup Final.

 Wales
Celtic Crusaders became the first Welsh team to play in Super League in 2009 after they were promoted via licence but finished bottom of the league. The next season they reach the playoffs for the first time in their second season but failed to beat Huddersfield in the first round. In 2011 they were deducted 6 points for entering administration and finished bottom of the league for a second time. They initially applied for a licence in 2011 but pulled out. They were turned down when they requested to play in the Championship and folded in 2012. The club was replaced by North Wales Crusaders in 2012 who entered League 1.

All Time Super League table

• Correct up to end of 2016 season

Rank	Name	Seasons	Playoffs	Games	Win	Draw	Loss	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
1	St Helens*	21	19	569	400	14	155	17,696	11,277	6,419	812
2	Wigan*	21	17	569	384	21	164	16,657	10,260	6,397	783
3	Leeds	21	18	562	363	15	184	16,276	11,561	4,715	741
4	Bradford*	19	11	509	308	17	184	14620	11253	3367	617
5	Warrington	21	10	569	302	10	257	15,057	13,621	1,436	614
6	Hull FC*	19	11	525	259	20	246	12,277	11,876	401	536
7	Castleford	20	5	514	212	19	276	11,612	13,518	−1,906	443
8	Huddersfield	18	8	490	213	10	267	11,386	11,989	603	436
9	London	19	2	509	185	20	304	10793	14229	−3436	390
10	Wakefield*	18	3	494	173	6	610	10,128	13,380	−3,252	346
11	Salford*	18	1	478	152	8	318	8,691	13,162	−4,471	304
12	Catalans	11	6	304	141	9	154	7,202	7,605	−403	291
13	Hull KR	10	4	262	114	9	138	5,579	6,040	−461	237
14	Widnes	9	1	246	89	7	149	4,709	6,592	−1,883	185
15	Halifax*	8	1	209	76	4	129	4646	5908	−1262	154
16	Sheffield	4	0	97	37	3	57	2027	2663	−636	77
17	Newcastle	1	0	30	19	1	10	775	576	199	39
18	Crusaders*	3	1	81	21	0	60	1431	2463	−1032	38
19	Oldham	2	0	44	13	2	29	934	1312	−378	28
20	Paris	2	0	44	9	1	34	760	1367	−607	5
21	Workington	1	0	22	2	1	19	325	1021	−696	5
22	Leigh	1	0	28	2	1	25	445	1210	−765	5

• Gold - Currently playing in Super League
• Grey - Team now defunct

Point deductions

• 2001 - Wakefield Trinity - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2003 - Halifax - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2003 - Hull - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2003 - St Helens - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2006 - Bradford - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2006 - Wigan - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2007 - Bradford - Salary Cap Breach - 2 points
• 2007 - Wigan - Salary Cap Breach - 4 points
• 2011 - Wakefield Trinity - Administration - 4 points
• 2011 - Crusaders - Administration - 4 points
• 2012 - Bradford - Administration - 6 points
• 2013 - Salford - Fielding Extra Man - 2 points
• 2014 - Bradford - Administration - 6 points
• 2016 - Salford - Salary Cap Breach - 6 points

Teams relegated

Year	Club
1996	Workington Town
1997	Oldham Bears
1998–2000 no relegation
2001	Huddersfield Giants
2002	Salford City Reds
2003	Halifax
2004	Castleford Tigers
2005	Widnes Vikings Leigh Centurions
2006	Castleford Tigers
2007	Salford City Reds
2008–2013 no relegation
2014	London Broncos Bradford Bulls
2015	None
2016	Hull KR

Venues

Derbies

Good Friday Derby

The Good Friday Derby is contested between Wigan Warriors and St Helens R.F.C. The two clubs have been the most successful clubs in England winning 31 Challenge Cups and 33 league titles between them. They have also met in three Grand Finals in the Super League era.

Cheshire Derby

The Cheshire Derby is a local derby between Warrington Wolves and Widnes Vikings. Both teams struck up a rivalry in the mid and late 20th Century being local rivals and being somewhat dominant forces in the Challenge Cup, Widnes were known as the Cup Kings during the late 1970s and 80s. In recent years the rivalry hasn't been as strong since Widnes were relegated in 2005 and promoted back to Super League in 2011 and Warrington became bigger rivals on the field with Leeds, Wigan and St Helens.

Calder Derby

The Calder Derby is the local debry between Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity. Wakefield have traditionally been the more successful side winning 2 Championships and 5 Challenge Cups compared to Castleford never winning a title and winning 4 Challenge Cups. Castleford have been relegated from Super League twice, the second time against Wakefield in a game dubbed the Battle of Belle Vue. In recent seasons Wakefield have had financial difficulties and were denied planning permission for a new stadium. Castleford however have climbed up the table and are currently building a new stadium.

Coaches

Nat.	Name	Club	Appointed	Time as head coach
England !	Wenger, ArseneDaryl Powell	Castleford Tigers	000000002013-05-07-00007 May 2013	7008113162400000000♠3 years, 214 days
France !	Frayssinous, LaurentLaurent Frayssinous	Catalan Dragons	000000002012-09-03-00003 September 2012	7008134438400000000♠4 years, 95 days
	Stone, RickRick Stone	Huddersfield Giants	000000002016-07-11-000011 July 2016	7007128736000000000♠149 days
England !	Radford, LeeLee Radford	Hull F.C.	000000002013-09-25-000025 September 2013	7008100980000000000♠3 years, 73 days
Australia !	Webster, JamesJames Webster (Interim)	Hull KR	000000002016-03-04-00004 March 2016	7007240192000000000♠278 days
England !	McDermott, BrianBrian McDermott	Leeds Rhinos	000000002010-10-25-000025 October 2010	7008193060800000000♠6 years, 43 days
England !	Ian Watson	Salford Red Devils	000000002015-09-03-00003 September 2015	7007397656000000000♠1 year, 95 days
England !	Cunningham, KeironKeiron Cunningham	St Helens	000000002014-10-20-000020 October 2014	7007672624000000000♠2 years, 48 days
England !	Chester, ChrisChris Chester	Wakefield Trinity	000000002016-03-16-000016 March 2016	7007229824000000000♠266 days
Australia !	Smith, TonyTony Smith	Warrington Wolves	000000002009-03-05-00005 March 2009	7008244836000000000♠7 years, 277 days
England !	Betts, DenisDenis Betts	Widnes Vikings	000000002010-11-11-000011 November 2010	7008191592000000000♠6 years, 26 days
England !	Wane, ShaunShaun Wane	Wigan Warriors	000000002011-10-09-00009 October 2011	7008162885600000000♠5 years, 59 days

Head Coaches with Super League titles

The Super League has been won by 12 different coaches, 8 from Australia, 3 from England and 1 from New Zealand.

	Head Coach	Wins	Winning years
1	Brian Noble	3	2001, 2003, 2005
2	Brian McDermott	3	2011, 2012, 2015
3	Shaun Wane	2	2013, 2016
4	Matthew Elliott	2	1997, 1999
5	Ian Millward	2	2000, 2002
6	Tony Smith	2	2004, 2007
7	Brian McClennan	2	2008, 2009
8	Shaun McRae	1	1996
9	John Monie	1	1998
10	Daniel Anderson	1	2006
11	Michael McGuire	1	2010
12	Nathan Brown	1	2014

Players

• Statistics are correct as of the start of the 2016 season.

Appearances

• Note that appearances from the bench are also included in this list.

Rank	Player	Years	Appearances
1	Kevin Sinfield	1997–2015	521
2	Paul Wellens	1998–2015	496
3	Jamie Peacock	1998–2015	475
4	Lee Gilmour	1997–2014	460
5	Keith Senior	1994– 2011	419
6	Lee Briers	1997–2013	402
7	Paul Deacon	1997–2011	384
8	Danny McGuire	2001–present	364
9	Gareth Carvell	1997–2014	328
10	Adrian Morley	1995–2015	316
11	Robbie Hunter-Paul	1996–2009	308
12	Ade Gardner	2002–2014	304
13	Gareth Carvell	1997–2015	293
14	Harrison Hansen	2004–2015	286
15=	Danny Brough	2005–present	275
	Ali Lauitiiti	2004–2015	275
16	Stuart Littler	1998–2010	269

Tries

Rank	Player	Years	Tries
1	Danny McGuire	2001–present	236
2	Keith Senior	1994–2011	210
3	Paul Wellens	1998–2015	199
4	Ryan Hall	2007–present	165
5	Ade Gardner	2002–2014	152

Points

Rank	Player	Years	Points
1	Kevin Sinfield	1997–2015	3,204
2	Andrew Farrell	1996–2004	2,517
3	Paul Deacon	1997–2011	2,415
4	Sean Long	1996–2011	2,248
5	Pat Richards	2006–2013, 2016	2,187

Winning captains

9 players have captained teams to win the Super League.

	Head Coach	Wins	Winning years
1	Kevin Sinfield	7	2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015
2	Chris Joynt	3	1999, 2000, 2002
3	Sean O'Loughlin	3	2010, 2013, 2016
4	Robbie Paul	3	1997, 2001, 2003
5	Bobbie Goulding	1	1996
6	Andy Farrell	1	1998
7	Jamie Peacock	1	2005
8	Sean Long	1	2006
9	Paul Wellens	1	2014

Structure

World Club Series

The World Club Series consists of three games, the first two being a series between 2 NRL teams and the Super League League Leaders and Challenge Cup winners. The third game is the World Club Challenge between the NRL and Super League Champions.

Regular Super League season

12 teams compete in Super League. They play each other twice on a home-and-away basis, interrupted by the Magic Weekend round in May. The team finishing bottom after 23 rounds collects the Super League Wooden Spoon. After the 23 rounds, the top eight teams carry their points forward and play each other once (home or away) in the Super Eights. A play-off series is used to determine the two teams who will meet in the Super League Grand Final to compete for the championship.

Magic Weekend

In an attempt to expand out of the traditional rugby league "heartlands", and market the game to a wider audience, the RFL has staged games in large stadia, in places without a strong rugby league presence. The "Magic Weekend" concept, which involves staging an entire round of Super League in such a stadium, was first staged in Cardiff in 2007. Dubbed "Millennium Magic", and played in the Millennium Stadium, the concept was held in Cardiff again in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, the event was held in Edinburgh at the Scottish national rugby union stadium, giving rise to the name changing to "Murrayfield Magic". Generally held during the May Day weekend, 2011 saw the Magic Weekend return to Cardiff, and was held during the weekend 12–13 February, and serving as the season opener. It has since returned to its traditional mid-season slot and is currently held at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
St James' Park	Newcastle	England	40,871	30,000

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup domestic cup in Super League and all levels of rugby league in Britain And is usually played on August bank holiday. It has been held annually since 1896 and has been expanded so teams in Russia, France, Scotland and Wales can take part.

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
Wembley	London	England	99,801	77,000

Super 8s

• Top 8

The top 8 sees the top eight teams in Super League play each other once more home or away with the points they earn in the regular season being carried forward. The further up the table a team finishes, the more home games they will play. Once the teams have played each other once home or away the top team is awarded the League Leaders Shield and the top four teams enter the play offs to play in the Grand Final.

Position	Qualification
1	League Leaders/ Play-off Place
2	Play-off Place
3	Play-off Place
4	Play-off Place
5	Unable to qualify for play-offs
6	Unable to qualify for play-offs
7	Unable to qualify for play-offs
8	Unable to qualify for play-offs

• Qualifiers

The Qualifiers Super 8s sees the bottom 4 teams from the original Super League table mixed with 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 next years Super League season. Teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in a Promotion Play-off, dubbed the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team. This one game fixture will see the winner earn a place in the next year Super League season, whilst the loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will be relegated to the next years Championship competition.

Position	Qualification
1	Super League Place
2	Super League Place
3	Super League Place
4	Million Pound Game
5	Million Pound Game
6	Championship Place
7	Championship Place
8	Championship Place

Play-offs

From 2015 the play-offs have been contested by the four sides finishing highest in the league after the Super Eights. The structure is designed to reward the teams finishing nearer the top and the most consistent teams. The Grand Final is played at Old Trafford.

The current Super League Play-off structure:^[17][18]

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	1st
	4	4th
						Winner of Semi Final 1
						Winner of Semi Final 2
	2	2nd
	3	3rd

Grand Final

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
Old Trafford	Trafford, Greater Manchester	England	73,581	63,352

Awards

League Leader's Shield

The League Leader's Shield is awarded to the team finishing the regular season top of Super League; this is also known as a minor premiership. The League Leader's Shield was introduced only in 2003, previously no prize was awarded to the team finishing top following the introduction of the Grand Final.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	St Helens	7	1996, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014
2	Wigan Warriors	4	1998, 2000, 2010, 2012
3	Bradford Bulls	4	1997, 1999, 2001, 2003
4	Leeds Rhinos	3	2004, 2009, 2015
5	Warrington Wolves	2	2011, 2016
6	Huddersfield Giants	1	2013

• Bold - Winners were Super League champions

Super League Trophy

The winner of the Grand Final is given the Super League Trophy as Super League Champions. This is considered more prestigious than the minor premiership. Each year, the year of a champion team's triumph, team name and team captain are engraved.

The record for most Super League titles won is held by Leeds with seven titles. Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after captaining Leeds to all 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 in 2006; after which they suffered consecutive defeats against Leeds in 2007, 2008, 2009, Wigan in 2010 and Leeds once again in 2011. However, St Helens made a victorious return in 2014, defeating rivals, Wigan 14–6.

Following their 2014 and 2015 defeats to St Helens and Leeds respectively, Wigan have now equalled St Helens's record of losing five Grand Finals.

Steve Prescott Man of Steel Award

The Man of Steel Award is an annual award for the best player of the season in Super League. It has continued from pre-Super League times, with the first such award given in 1977. It was renamed in honour of Steve Prescott in 2014.

Albert Goldthorpe Medal

The Albert Goldthorpe Medal is a award voted for be members of the press who cast a vote after every game of the regular season. The three players who, in the opinion of the reporter, have been the three 'best and fairest' players in the game will receive three points, two points and one point respectively. To be eligible for a vote, a player must not have been suspended from the competition at any stage during the season.

Super League Dream Team

Each season a "Dream Team" is also named. The best thirteen players in their respective positions are voted for by members of the sports press.

	Player	Team	Appearance
1	Jamie Shaul	Hull F.C.	1
2	Denny Solomona	Castleford Tigers	1
3	Ryan Atkins	Warrington Wolves	2
4	Mahe Fonua	Hull F.C.	1
5	Dominic Manfredi	Wigan Warriors	1
6	Kurt Gidley	Warrington Wolves	1
7	Luke Gale	Castleford Tigers	2
8	Chris Hill	Warrington Wolves	3
9	Danny Houghton	Hull F.C.	1
10	Scott Taylor	Hull F.C.	1
11	Ben Currie	Warrington Wolves	1
12	Mark Minichiello	Hull F.C.	1
13	Gareth Ellis	Hull F.C.	5

Champions

Main article: List of Super League seasons

See Rugby Football League Championship for the all-time list of champions since 1895.

The league format changed in 1998 and the championship became a play-off series to determine the Super League champions. This meant a reintroduction of a final to determine the European champions, the first since the 1972–73 season.

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	League Leaders
1996	St Helens	N/A	Wigan Warriors	St Helens
1997	Bradford Bulls	N/A	London Broncos	Bradford Bulls
1998	Wigan Warriors	10–4	Leeds Rhinos	Wigan Warriors
1999	St Helens	8–6	Bradford Bulls	Bradford Bulls
2000	St Helens	29–16	Wigan Warriors	Wigan Warriors
2001	Bradford Bulls	37–6	Wigan Warriors	Bradford Bulls
2002	St Helens	19–18	Bradford Bulls	St Helens
2003	Bradford Bulls	25–12	Wigan Warriors	Bradford Bulls
2004	Leeds Rhinos	16–8	Bradford Bulls	Leeds Rhinos
2005	Bradford Bulls	15–6	Leeds Rhinos	St Helens
2006	St Helens	26–4	Hull	St Helens
2007	Leeds Rhinos	33–6	St Helens	St Helens
2008	Leeds Rhinos	24–16	St Helens	St Helens
2009	Leeds Rhinos	18–10	St Helens	Leeds Rhinos
2010	Wigan Warriors	22–10	St Helens	Wigan Warriors
2011	Leeds Rhinos	32–16	St Helens	Warrington Wolves
2012	Leeds Rhinos	26–18	Warrington Wolves	Wigan Warriors
2013	Wigan Warriors	30–16	Warrington Wolves	Huddersfield Giants
2014	St Helens	14–6	Wigan Warriors	St Helens
2015	Leeds Rhinos	22–20	Wigan Warriors	Leeds Rhinos
2016	Wigan Warriors	12-6	Warrington Wolves	Warrington Wolves
2017	TBD	-	TBD	TBD

Results

	Club	Wins	Runners up	Winning Years
1	Leeds Rhinos	7	2	2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015
2	St Helens	6	5	1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014
3	Wigan Warriors	4	6	1998, 2010, 2013, 2016
4	Bradford Bulls	4	3	1997, 2001, 2003, 2005
5	Warrington Wolves	0	3	N/A
6	Hull F.C.	0	1	N/A
7	London Broncos	0	1	N/A

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 Warriors	7	1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2013
2	St Helens	3	1965–66, 1996, 2006
3	Huddersfield Giants	2	1912–13, 1914–15
4	Broughton Rangers	1	1901–02
5	Halifax	1	1902–03
6	Hunslet Hawks	1	1907–08
7	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
8	Warrington Wolves	1	1953–54
9	Bradford Bulls	1	2003
10	Leeds Rhinos	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 RFC and Leeds Rhinos have won the treble in the Super League era.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Wigan Warriors	3	1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
2	Huddersfield Giants	2	1912–13, 1914–15
3	St Helens RFC	2	1965–66, 2006
4	Hunslet Hawks	1	1907–08
5	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
6	Bradford Bulls	1	2003
7	Leeds Rhinos	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 over cups that could be won.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Hunslet Hawks	1	1907–08
2	Huddersfield Giants	1	1914–15
3	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
4	Wigan Warriors	1	1994–95
5	Bradford Bulls	1	2003–04
6	St Helens	1	2006–07

Sponsorship

Super League has been sponsored since its formation, apart from the 2013 season.

The title sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. There have been seven different title sponsors since the league's formation:

Period	Sponsor	Name
1996–1997	Stones Bitter	Stones Super League
1998–1999	JJB Sports	JJB Super League
2000–2004	Tetley's Bitter	Tetley's Super League
2005–2011	Engage Mutual Assurance	Engage Super League
2012	Stobart Group	Stobart Super League
2013	no sponsor	Super League
2014–2016	First Utility	First Utility Super League
2017-2019	Betfred	Betfred Super League

As well as title sponsorship, Super League has a number of official partners and suppliers.^[19] For the 2017 season these include Kingstone Press Cider, Dacia, Foxy Bingo, Batchelors and Specsavers. The official ball supplier is Rhino Rugby.^[20]

Competition rules

Club trained players

The 'club trained player' rule stipulates that each club must have a minimum number of players who are aged under 21 years or are graduates from their own academy system in their 25-man first team squad. Clubs are also required to have a minimum number of UK-trained players (or in the case of the Catalans Dragons, France-trained players) in their squads, and also are limited to a maximum number of "overseas" trained players.

The table below shows how the figures for the ruling from 2008 to 2011.^[21]

club trained players
Year	home grown players (min)	UK trained players (min)	overseas trained players (max)
2008	5	10	10
2009	6	11	8
2010	7	12	6
2011	8	12	5

Salary cap

The Super League operates under a real-time salary cap system that will calculate a club's salary cap position at the start of and throughout the season:^[21]

• The combined earnings of the top 25 players must not exceed £1.825 million.
• Clubs will only be allowed to sign a new player if they have room under the cap.
• Clubs are allowed to spend a maximum of £50,000 on players outside the top 25 earners who have made at least one first grade appearance for the club during the year.
• Costs for players outside of the top 25 earners who do not make a first team appearance will be unregulated.
• Any player who has played for the same club for at least 10 consecutive seasons will have half their salary excluded from the salary cap for his 11th and subsequent seasons. This is subject to a maximum of £50,000 for any one club.
• Clubs are allowed one Marquee Player who can exceed a clubs salary cap as long as they can afford the players wages.

Squad announcement system

Before each Super League and Tetley's Challenge Cup fixture, each club must announce the squad of 19 players it will choose from by 2.00pm on the second day before the match day.^[21]

Criticism

Big Four Dominance

Results of the 'Big Four'

Season	Bradford Bulls	Leeds Rhinos	St Helens	Wigan Warriors
1996	3	10	Champions	Runners up
1997	Champions	5	3	4
1998	5	Runners up	4	Champions
1999	Runners up	3	Champions	4
2000	3	4	Champions	Runners up
2001	Champions	5	4	Runners up
2002	Runners up	4	Champions	3
2003	Champions	2	4	Runners up
2004	Runners up	Champions	5	4
2005	Champions	Runners up	1	7
2006	4	3	Champions	8
2007	3	Champions	Runners up	6
2008	5	Champions	Runners up	4
2009	9	Champions	Runners up	6
2010	10	4	Runners up	Champions
2011	10	Champions	Runners up	2
2012	9	Champions	3	1
2013	9	3	5	Champions
2014	13 (Relegated)	6	Champions	Runners up
2015	-	Champions	4	Runners up
2016	-	9	4	Champions
Titles	4	7	6	4

Since its formation in 1996 only four teams have won the Super League (Leeds Rhinos, Bradford Bulls, Wigan Warriors and St Helens RLFC) and a total of six have taken part in the Grand Final (Hull FC and Warrington Wolves being the other two). Six different teams have also been the league leaders, however only one of these (Huddersfield Giants) is a different team to those that have appeared in the grand final, meaning that only seven different teams have been involved in the grand final or topped the regular season table, however a total of 23 teams have taken part in Super League since its inception.

In comparison, in the same 20-year period, 10 different teams have won the Australasian National Rugby League competition and 13 different teams have appeared in the Grand Final.

Licensing

Between 2009 and 2014 teams had to apply for a license to play in Super League, this also meant there was no automatic promotion between Super League and the Championship. This was unpopular with Championship clubs because there was no fair and easy way for them to get promoted into Super League and it was seen as a closed shop.

Attendances in the lower divisions dropped as a result of this system because it was felt that there was little appeal in these leagues when there was no incentive for the clubs to win the Championship. Also the only time that lower division clubs got the chance to play Super League opposition was in the early rounds of the challenge cup. With no route to the Super League however, teams were unable to compete with top division opposition because there was no way that clubs could attract top talent when players would not be playing in top-level rugby league.

M62 Corridor

Another Criticism of the Super League is that most of the teams that have competed in it have been in its heartlands of the M62 Corridor between Yorkshire and Lancashire. Catalans Dragons are the only team currently playing in Super League who are outside its traditional headland in the North of England and are considered a success compared to teams such as London Broncos and Celtic Crusaders.

Expansion was a key policy of the RFL when Super League was created. Along with the above-mentioned teams, Paris Saint-Germain RL competed from the beginning of the competition but departed after just two seasons due to a lack of interest and investment. Another team to fail from outside the heartlands was Gateshead Thunder who competed in the first season of Super League. After that first season they found themselves with debts of £700,000 and so accepted a grant of £1,250,000 to merge with Hull FC.

Expansion has taken place in the lower divisions and this is a continuing policy of the RFL. At present nine expansion clubs take part in the lower divisions with 1 in the Championship and 8 in the Championship 1. In 2015, it was announced that Toulouse Olympique had been granted entry into League 1, the third division of European rugby league; the team has previously competed in the Championship. This brought the total number of expansion teams across the top 3 divisions to 10 (out of 39 clubs). In 2016 it was announced that a team based in Toronto, Canada had also been granted access to League 1. Toronto Wolfpack will begin play in the 2017 season and will take the number of expansion clubs to 11 (out of 40 clubs). This also means that teams taking part in the top 3 divisions will come from 4 countries and 2 continents.

Match officials

All Super League matches are governed by the laws set out by the RFL; these laws are enforced by match officials. Former Super League and International Referee Steve Ganson is the current Acting Head of the Match Officials Department and Technical Director. Former Hull player and Huddersfield Head Coach Jon Sharp was the previous Head of the Match Officials Department of the RFL. Sharp was sacked in July 2015 and took up the role of Head Coach at Featherstone Rovers. He assumed his role at the RFL following Stuart Cummings' departure in March 2013 having previously held the role of Match Officials Coach & Technical Director.

Academies

Reserve League

In 2014 and 2015 Super League clubs were unhappy with the Dual registration system and wanted to form a Under 23 reserve leagues between the Under 19s and 1st team. Wigan, Warrington and St Helens were the first teams to propose the return of the reserve league where players could move from the under 19s and play with professional players before playing in the 1st team. A reserve league was set up in 2016 with a mixture of Super League, Championship and League 1 teams.

Dual registration

Clubs in both the First Utility Super League and the Kingstone Press Championships benefit from the new dual registration system which was introduced for the 2013 season.^[22] The new system is intended to complement the existing player loan system.

Dual registration refers to an arrangement between clubs whereby a player continues to be registered to his current First Utility Super League club and is also registered to play for a club in the Kingstone Press Championship. The system is aimed at young Super League players who are thought to be not quite ready to make the step up to 'week in, week out' Super League first team duties but for whom first team match experience is likely to be beneficial for their development.

• Only First Utility Super League players can be dual registered and the receiving club must be a club in the Kingstone Press Championships, meaning that Super League to Super League club dual registrations are not available.
• A dual registered player will be eligible to play and train with both clubs in a format agreed between the clubs, subject to registration, salary cap and competition eligibility rules.
• The player is restricted to playing in one fixture per scheduled round of fixtures in any given week and would not be eligible to play for his First Utility Super League club on a Thursday and in a Kingstone Press Championship fixture at the weekend, for example.
• A receiving club will be limited to a total of five dual registered players per matchday squad.

Under 19s

In 2014 the following teams will run in each of the Senior Academy divisions:^[23]