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-Off series.
The winning team receive the Super League Trophy and go on to play the NRL champions in the World Club Challenge.
The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded to the man of the match in the Grand Final.
Leeds Rhinos are the current champions, beating Castleford Tigers 24-6.
Video Super League Grand Final
History
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 Super League 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.
The Super League Grand Final was introduced for the 1998 season. The inaugural Grand Final match was played that year on Saturday 24 October, between Wigan and Leeds. The venue of every Super League Grand Final to date has been Old Trafford, Manchester.
Maps Super League Grand Final
Venue
The Grand Final is held at Old Trafford, Manchester, the largest capacity stadium in the North of England.
Attendances
Qualification for World Club Challenge
The winners of the Grand Final qualify to play the winners of the National Rugby League in the World Club Challenge. The Grand Final Runner up can play in the World Club Series if a team were to win the double.
Trophy
The winners of the Super League collect the Grand Final rings and the teams name, captain and year are engraved into the trophy. The winners also collect £100,000 with the runner up collecting £50,000.
The record for most Super League titles won is held by Leeds with eight titles. Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after captaining Leeds to 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 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
The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Super League Grand Final by the Rugby League Writers' Association. Named after 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.
Finals
The Super League Grand Final has been the championship-deciding game since Super League III in 1998: These final were held at Old Trafford.
Results
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.
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 and Leeds Rhinos have won the treble in the Super League era.
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 other cups that could be won.
Pre match Headliners
See also
- Super League
- Super League Play-Off Series
- Old Trafford
- Super League Trophy
- Harry Sunderland Trophy
References
External links
Source of article : Wikipedia
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