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Super League Grand Final

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 10 min

Super League Grand Final
The Super League Trophy ahead of the 2012 Grand Final
Other namesThe Big Dance
LocationEngland Trafford, Greater Manchester
Teams2
First meeting1998
Latest meeting2024
Next meeting2025
BroadcastersSky Sports
BBC (highlights)
StadiumsOld Trafford
Statistics
Meetings total24
Most wins St Helens (9)
Most player appearancesEngland Jamie Peacock
England James Roby (11)

The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League play-offs. The winning team receives the Super League Trophy and goes on to play the NRL champions in the World Club Challenge. As of 2024, the Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the man of the match, replacing the Harry Sunderland Trophy. The match is normally played at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester.

Only four clubs have won the Super League, as of 2024 - St Helens (10), Leeds Rhinos (8), Wigan Warriors (7), and Bradford Bulls (4). St Helens and Bradford Bulls each won one of their Super League titles before the Play Off and Grand Final system was introduced in 1998.

Wigan Warriors are the current champions, after winning the 2024 Super League Grand Final, defeating Hull KR 9–2, to win all 4 trophies in the same year.

Background

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See also: Rugby Football League Championship

Use of a play-off system to decide the Championship brought back a rugby league tradition that had fallen out of use in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The Premiership replaced the Championship final but it was to decide the Premiership winners, not the Championship winners. The Premiership was discontinued after the introduction of the Super League play-off series in 1998, ending with the Super League Grand Final, the concept inspired by the NRL Grand Final in Australia. The inaugural Grand Final match was played that year on Saturday 24 October, between Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos.[1]

Venue

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Wigan Warriors vs Hull KR at the 2024 Super League Grand Final
Main article: Old Trafford

The Grand Final has been held on a Saturday at Old Trafford in Manchester every year since 1998. The only exception to this was the 2020 final, which as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic causing fixture congestion with Manchester United F.C.'s 2020-21 season, was rescheduled to be held at the KCOM Stadium in Kingston upon Hull. The match was also held on a Friday night for the first and only time in its history.[2]

City Stadium Years
England Manchester Old Trafford 1998–2019, 2021–2027
England Hull KCOM Stadium 2020

Trophy

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The winners of the Super League collect the Grand Final rings and the team's name, captain and year are engraved into the trophy. The winners also collect £100,000 with the runner up collecting £50,000.[citation needed]

Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after leading Leeds to seven of their Grand Final successes. St Helens contested the final six consecutive seasons (from 2006 until 2011) during which time they succeeded only once in lifting the trophy, against Hull F.C. in 2006, after which they suffered consecutive defeats against Leeds in 2007, 2008, 2009, Wigan in 2010 and Leeds once again in 2011.

Awards

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Main articles: Rob Burrow Award and Harry Sunderland Trophy

The Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Super League Grand Final by the Rugby League Writers' Association. The award was introduced in tribute to Rob Burrow for the 2024 Grand Final; Burrow, who won eight grand finals with Leeds Rhinos and has been awarded the Harry Sunderland award himself twice (2007 & 2011), died in June 2024 following a public battle with Motor Neurone Disease.[3] The inaugural Rob Burrow Award was handed to Wigan Warriors stand-off Bevan French by Rob Burrow's father Geoff Burrow following the conclusion of the 2024 final on 12 October.[4]

Before 2024, the trophy was named named the Harry Sunderland Trophy in tribute to Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom. The Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death and was retained with the introduction of the Super League Grand Final in 1998.

Finals

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See also: League Leaders' Shield

The Super League Grand Final has been the championship-deciding game since Super League III in 1998:[5]

Year Winners Score Runner-up Attendance
1998 Wigan 10–4 Leeds 43,533
1999 St Helens 8–6 Bradford 50,717 Increase
2000 29–16 Wigan Increase 58,132
2001 Bradford 37–6 Increase 60,164
2002 St Helens 19–18 Bradford Increase 61,138
2003 Bradford 25–12 Wigan Increase 65,537
2004 Leeds 16–8 Bradford Increase 65,547
2005 Bradford 15–6 Leeds Increase 65,728
2006 St Helens 26–4 Hull Increase 72,575
2007 Leeds 33–6 St Helens Decrease 71,352
2008 24–16 Decrease 68,810
2009 18–10 Decrease 63,259
2010 Wigan 22–10 Increase 71,526
2011 Leeds 32–16 Decrease 69,107
2012 26–18 Warrington Increase 70,676
2013 Wigan 30–16 Decrease 66,281
2014 St Helens 14–6 Wigan Increase 70,102
2015 Leeds 22–20 Increase 73,512
2016 Wigan 12–6 Warrington Decrease 70,202
2017 Leeds 24–6 Castleford Increase 72,827
2018 Wigan 12–4 Warrington Decrease 64,892
2019 St Helens 23–6 Salford Decrease 64,102
2020 8–4 Wigan 0[a]
2021 12–10 Catalans Decrease 45,177
2022 24–12 Leeds Increase 60,783
2023 Wigan 10–2 Catalans Decrease 58,137
2024 9–2 Hull KR Increase 68,173

Results

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Grand Final winners and runners up
Club Winners Runners-up Years won Years runner-up
St Helens 9 5 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Leeds Rhinos 8 3 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 1998, 2005, 2022
Wigan Warriors 7 6 1998, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024 2000, 2001, 2003, 2014, 2015, 2020
Bradford Bulls 3 3 2001, 2003, 2005 1999, 2002, 2004
Warrington Wolves 0 4 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018
Catalans Dragons 0 2 2021, 2023
Hull F.C. 0 1 2006
Castleford Tigers 0 1 2017
Salford Red Devils 0 1 2019
Hull KR 0 1 2024

The Double

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Main article: The Double (rugby league)
Club Wins Winning years
1
Wigan Warriors
 8 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2013, 2024
2
St. Helens
 4 1965–66, 2006, 2016, 2021
3
Huddersfield Giants
 2 1912–13, 1914–15
4
Swinton Lions
 1 1927–28
4
Broughton Rangers
 1 1901–02
4
Halifax
 1 1902–03
4
Hunslet
 1 1907–08
4
Bradford Bulls
 1 2003
4
Leeds Rhinos
 1 2015

The Treble

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Main article: The Treble (rugby league)
Club Wins Winning years
1
Wigan Warriors
 4 1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2024
2
Huddersfield Giants
 2 1912–13, 1914–15
2
St. Helens
 2 1965–66, 2006
4
Swinton Lions
 1 1927–28
4
Bradford Bulls
 1 2003
4
Leeds Rhinos
 1 2015

The Quadruple

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Main article: The Treble (rugby league) § Australia and the World Club Challenge
Club Wins Winning years
1
Wigan Warriors
 2[6][b] 1993–94, 2024[c]
2
Bradford Bulls
 1 2003
2
St. Helens
 1 2006

Pre-match entertainment

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Year Act
1998 None
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004 Heather Small
2005 Madness
2006 Deacon Blue
2007 The Kaiser Chiefs
2008 Scouting for Girls
2009 The Wombats
2010 Diana Vickers
2011 Feeder[d]
2012 None
2013
2014 James
2015 The Charlatans
2016 Feeder
2017 Razorlight
2018 Blossoms[11]
2019 Shed Seven
2020 None
2021
2022
2023 Reverend and the Makers[12]
2024 The Lathums[13]

Match records

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  • Largest margin of victory: 31 points

Bradford 37–6 Wigan (2001)

  • Smallest margin of victory: 1 point

St Helens 19–18 Bradford (2002)

  • Highest scoring: 48 points

Leeds 32–16 St Helens (2011)

  • Lowest scoring: 11 points

Wigan Warriors 9–2 Hull KR (2024)

  • Highest attendance: 73,512

Leeds vs Wigan (2015)

  • Lowest attendance: 43,533

Leeds vs Wigan (1998)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic
  2. ^ Wigan have a widly misreported quadruple in 1994–95[7][8] with the club winning the treble in addition to the 1994–95 Regal Trophy. Note: No World Club Challenge was held in 1995 as it didn't become a regular competition until 2000.
  3. ^ This is the first widly reported quadruple to include the calendar year's World Club Challenge and not the following season's.[9] Note: The 2025 World Club Challenge was abandoned by Penrith Panthers, although no title was awarded for 2025, Wigan, without challenge, would retain their title for a second year.[10]
  4. ^ Feeder were cancelled due to Manchester United not wanting a stage to be erected on a wet pitch

References

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  1. ^ Bazeley, Marc; O'Connor, Terry; Morley, Adrian. "The story of the first Super League Grand Final". Sky Sports. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Super League Grand Final: KCOM Stadium to hold showpiece event on 27 November". BBC Sport. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Super League Grand Final's Harry Sunderland Trophy renamed Rob Burrow Award". Sky Sports. 7 February 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  4. ^ Darbyshire, Drew (13 October 2024). "The astonishing feat achieved by Wigan Warriors superstar Bevan French". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Grand Final winners". Betfred Super League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  6. ^ https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/story-telling/12215/13232746/how-matt-peets-wigan-completed-rugby-league-in-just-three-super-league-seasons
  7. ^ https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/wigan-warriors-win-grand-final-to-complete-historic-quadruple-with-5-of-the-best-takeaways-from-old-trafford-4821650
  8. ^ https://www.wigantoday.net/heritage-and-retro/retro/retro-sport-the-all-conquering-wigan-warriors-in-1995-4243122
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBCRecap was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2024/oct/09/penrith-panthers-nrl-abandon-world-club-challenge-isaah-yeo
  11. ^ Darbyshire, Drew (4 September 2018). "Blossoms to headline entertainment at Grand Final". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  12. ^ Olawumi, Ben (28 September 2023). "Super League confirm Grand Final entertainment with indie band set to rock Old Trafford; ticket sales already soaring". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  13. ^ Cook, Sam (21 July 2024). "RFL confirm chart-topping band to play Super League Grand Final". Serious About Rugby League. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
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