Super League XIX

Super League XIX
League Super League
Duration 27 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Number of teams 14
Highest attendance 36,399 (Magic Weekend Day 1, 17 May)
Lowest attendance 1,002

( London Broncos v Catalan Dragons, 17 April)

Average attendance 8,365
Broadcast partners United Kingdom Sky Sports
United Kingdom BBC Sport
United Kingdom SLTV
Australia Eurosport
France beIN Sport
United States Fox Soccer Plus
Europe Sport Klub
2014 season
Champions St Helens
6th Super League title
13th English title
League Leaders St Helens
Runners-up Wigan Warriors
Biggest home win Widnes Vikings 64-10 London Broncos (16th February)
Biggest away win Bradford Bulls 18-66 Huddersfield Giants (16th March)
Man of Steel Daryl Clark (Castleford Tigers)
Top point-scorer(s) Danny Brough (142)[1][2]
Top try-scorer(s) Joel Monaghan (Warrington Wolves) (28)
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to Championship London Broncos
Bradford Bulls
< 2013 Seasons 2015 >

The 2014 Super League season (known as the First Utility Super League XIX due to sponsorship by First Utility)[3] was the 19th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leader's Shield over 27 rounds (including the Magic Weekend in Manchester), after which the highest finishing teams will enter the play-offs to compete for a place in the Grand Final and a chance to win the championship and the Super League Trophy.

Teams

Super League XIX will be the third and final year of a licensed Super League. Under this system, promotion and relegation between Super League and Championship was abolished, and 14 teams were granted licences subject to certain criteria. For the 2014 season, all fourteen teams from the previous season will compete, although Salford have changed their names from the City Reds to the Red Devils.

At the end of the season, Super League will be reduced to 12 teams, as part of the re-structuring of Super League and the RFL Championship.[4]

Geographically, the vast majority of teams in Super League are based in the north of England, five teams – Warrington, St Helens, Salford, Wigan and Widnes – to the west of the Pennines in Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and seven teams to the east in Yorkshire – Huddersfield, Bradford, Wakefield, Leeds, Castleford, Hull and Hull KR. Catalans Dragons are the only team based in France and are outside of the UK and London Broncos are the only team to be based in a capital city (London).

Team Stadium Capacity City/Area
Bradford Bulls (2014 season) Provident Stadium 27,000 Bradford, West Yorkshire
Castleford Tigers (2014 season) The Wish Communications Stadium 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire
Catalans Dragons (2014 season) Stade Gilbert Brutus 14,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Huddersfield Giants (2014 season) John Smith's Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull F.C. (2014 season) Kingston Communications Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Hull Kingston Rovers (2014 season) Craven Park 9,471 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leeds Rhinos (2014 season) Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire
London Broncos (2014 season) The Hive Stadium 5,176 Edgware, London
Salford Red Devils (2014 season) AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester
St Helens RLFC (2014 season) Langtree Park 18,000 St Helens, Merseyside
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (2014 season) Rapid Solicitors Stadium 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Warrington Wolves (2014 season) Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,500 Warrington, Cheshire
Widnes Vikings (2014 season) Select Security Stadium 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire, England
  Wigan Warriors (2014 season) DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester
Legend
  Reigning Super League champions
  Defending Challenge Cup Champions
  Relegated

Season statistics

Results

The regular league season sees the 14 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) plus an additional match, as part of the Magic Weekend, over 27 matches. The team who finishes 1st at the end of the regular season win the League Leader's Shield.

Table

As of 14th September 2014
    		 Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
    1 St Helens RLFC 27 19 0 8 796 563 +233 38
    2 Wigan Warriors 27 18 1 8 834 429 +405 37
    3 Huddersfield Giants 27 17 3 7 785 626 +159 37
    4 Castleford Tigers 27 17 2 8 814 583 +231 36
    5 Warrington Wolves 27 17 1 9 793 515 +278 35
    6 Leeds Rhinos 27 15 2 10 685 421 +264 32
    7 Catalans Dragons 27 14 1 12 733 667 +66 29
    8 Widnes Vikings 27 13 1 13 611 725 -114 27
    9 Hull Kingston Rovers 27 10 3 14 627 665 -38 23
    10 Salford Red Devils 27 11 1 15 608 695 -87 23
    11 Hull F.C. 27 10 2 15 653 586 +67 22
    12 Wakefield Wildcats 27 10 1 16 557 750 -193 21
    13 Bradford Bulls 27 8 0 19 512 984 -472 10*
    14 London Broncos 27 1 0 26 438 1237 -799 2

    * - Bradford Bulls deducted 6 points on 25 February 2014 for entering administration[5]

    Play-offs

    The play-offs commenced following the conclusion of the 27-round regular season. To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, Super League uses its unique play-off system. The finals concluded with the 2014 Super League Grand Final.[6]

    # Home Score Away Match Information
    Date and Time (Local) Venue Referee Attendance
    QUALIFYING AND ELIMINATION FINALS
    Q1 Wigan Warriors 57 – 4 Huddersfield Giants 18 September 2014, 20:00 BST DW Stadium Richard Silverwood 8,562
    Q2 St Helens RLFC 41 – 0 Castleford Tigers 19 September 2014, 20:00 BST Langtree Park James Child 7,458
    E1 Warrington Wolves 22 – 19 Widnes Vikings 20 September 2014, 14:45 BST Halliwell Jones Stadium Ben Thaler 7,229
    E2 Leeds Rhinos 20 – 24 Catalans Dragons 20 September 2014, 17:15 BST Headingley Carnegie Stadium Phil Bentham 7,112
    PRELIMINARY SEMI-FINALS
    P1 Castleford Tigers 14 – 30 Warrington Wolves 25 September 2014, 20:00 BST Wish Communications Stadium Phil Bentham 6,219
    P2 Huddersfield Giants 16 – 18 Catalans Dragons 26 September 2014, 20:00 BST John Smith's Stadium James Child 6,900
    SEMI-FINALS
    SF1 St Helens RLFC 30 – 12 Catalans Dragons 2 October 2014, 20:00 BST Langtree Park Richard Silverwood 8,888
    SF2 Wigan Warriors 16 – 12 Warrington Wolves 3 October 2014, 20:00 BST DW Stadium Phil Bentham 15,023
    GRAND FINAL
    F St Helens RLFC 14 – 6 Wigan Warriors 11 October, 18:00 BST Old Trafford, Manchester Phil Bentham 70,102

    Player statistics

    As of 14 September 2014

    Discipline

    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:[8]

    Media

    Television

    2014 is the third year of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 70 matches per season.[9] The deal which runs until 2016 is worth £90million.

    Sky Sports coverage in the UK see two live matches broadcast each week, which will usually be shown at 20:00 on Thursday and Friday nights[10] with the Thursday night fixtures first being adopted at the back-end of the 2013 season.

    Regular commentators were Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson 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, usually airing at 10pm.

    BBC Sport broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme. The first is only to the BBC North West, Yorkshire & North Midlands, North East & Cumbria, and East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 23:35 on BBC One,[11] while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 13:30. The Super League Show is also available for one week after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only.[12] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.[13]

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

    Radio

    BBC Coverage:

    Commercial Radio Coverage:

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

    References

    1. 1 2 3 "Stats - Player Stats". Super League. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
    2. 1 2 3 "Rugby League Stats". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
    3. ↑ "First Utility powers title sponsorship of Super League". Super League. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
    4. ↑ "Super League set to feature 12 teams from 2015". Super League. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
    5. ↑ "Bradford Bulls deducted six competition points". Super League. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
    6. ↑ "Play-offs". Super League. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
    7. 1 2 "Vital Statistics". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
    8. ↑ "Man of Steel on SLTV". Super League. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
    9. ↑ Sky Sports (4 August 2011). "Super League deal" (PDF). Sky Sports. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
    10. ↑ Sky Sports (18 February 2012). "Rugby League live on Sky". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
    11. ↑ BBC Sport (3 February 2012). "BBC's Super League Show returns". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
    12. ↑ BBC. "BBC One - Super League Show". BBC. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
    13. ↑ "BBC Two - Rugby League: Super League Play-Offs - Highlights". BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
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