Useful Notes / Rugby League

Super League, assemble!

Rugby League is the working-class version of rugby. It's mainly played in Australia, northern England, Catalonia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.

The differences from Rugby Union are mostly subtle to outsiders but gigantic in terms of how the two sports play, far more than say, the differences between the Gridiron versions in the USA & Canada. Union has 15-player teams; League has 13-player teams. Union is traditionally the gentlemen's game (though it can be played by women); League is the working-class game, and is played in professional leagues. And is also played by women. (Note—by women; not girls, and certainly not ladies. There is no such game as "ladies' rugby.")

The key difference between the two for laymen is that there is a "tackles" system not dissimilar to American Football. Only instead of trying to make 10 yards in four tackles, you have six tackles (referred to as a "set of six") to score a try (ie: get into the other teams "end zone."). Similar to American Football, if you are tackled with the ball after the aforementioned tackles without reaching your goal, you have to turn the ball over at that spot. So, similarly like American Football with one tackle remaining you boot the ball away and try like hell to rough up the opposition.

This is a "working man's game" for the eastern seaboard of Australia, with a long heritage that coexists, sometimes a bit uncomfortably, with the pressures of modern commercial sport. Australians are very good at it. This, like basketball and American Football in the USA, means that you have a lot of young men with a lot of money doing silly things in their spare time - only instead of bringing guns into the team's locker room, they have sex with a girl while their mates stand around pleasuring themselves, and defecate in hotel corridors, though not necessarily at the same time. (At least if you believe the somewhat hysterical media depiction of the sport - the extent to which this description is actually true of most rugby league players is, at best, highly debatable.)

Some of the more well-known leagues for Rugby League are:

National Rugby League

Otherwise known as the NRL. This league is the top league of clubs in both Australia and New Zealand.

But first, a little history.

The league's origins come from the aftermath of the "Super League war" of the 1990s, a corporate dispute between the long-standing Australian Rugby League(ARL), which consisted of the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and the newly formed Super League of Australia, the former trying to prevent the latter's existence in order to keep its league's recognition of being the top-flight rugby league, as well as broadcasting rights. After snatching up enough teams that were unhappy with the ARL's administration, the Super League ran its premiership parallel to the ARL's season in 1997. At the end of the Super League season, both sides were able to reach an agreement in December, and the two leagues merged to form the NRL.

The regular season begins in autumn and ends in spring. At the end of the season, the team at the top of the table is given a minor premiership. After the regular season is the Finals, in which the top eight teams compete in a number of knockout and sudden-death games between the top eight teams over four weeks in August and September, until only two teams remain. The remaining teams then compete in what is the premiership-deciding game, the NRL Grand Final, one of Australia's most popular sporting events and one of the largest attended club championship events in the world.

The league is locked in an eternal stalemate with the Australian Football League for the hearts and mind of the football-loving public in the dominion; as established, the NRL is dominant on the eastern seaboard while the AFL is tops from most of the inland of the country all the way out to the west coast, encompassing Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. There have been considerable efforts from organizers of both codes to gain interest on the other side of their traditional territories to little avail.

NRL Teams: As of 2023, there are 17 teams in the current league, 16 from Australia, 1 from New Zealand.

Current Teams

• The Brisbane Broncos — The first rugby league club to be based in the state of Queensland
  • First season: 1988
  • Premierships: 1992, 1993, 1997 1998, 2000, 2006
  • The Broncos' history with Rugby League is complicated. On one hand, they are one of the more successful teams in the league since their induction in 1988, helping to strengthen Brisbane as a Rugby League stronghold in the ongoing Code Wars against the VFL (now AFL). On the other hand, they were one of the more significant role-players in the Super League War in the late '90s — Brisbane's then-CEO John Ribot would go on to become the CEO of the upstart Super League. Nevertheless, the Broncos have remained important to the NRL post-merger, and their continued successes have proven instrumental in the sport's growth in Queensland, leading to the NRL granting admittance to other clubs in the state such as North Queensland, Gold Coast and the Dolphins.
  • Rivals with North Queensland Cowboys, and their bi-yearly meetings against each other are known as the Queensland Derby. The Broncos' success in the league casts a huge shadow over the other Queensland sides — by the time the Cowboys had joined the NRL in 1995, Brisbane already had two premierships. The Broncos dominated the derby through the 90s and early 00s, but North Queensland's victory over the Broncos in the first-ever all-Queensland Grand Final in 2015 has helped the rivalry to be seen as more of an even competition.
  • The Melbourne Storm are another major rival, as Brisbane and Melbourne played one another often in Finals matches between 2004 and 2009. Both teams have a lot of history with each other: Melbourne's CEO was a former Brisbane player, both clubs' players usually feature heavily in Queensland's annual State of Origin side, and legendary Storm coach Craig Bellamy got his start as an assistant coach at Brisbane before leaving to coach the Storm. Unlike most of their derbies, Melbourne has had the upper hand: Of their five Finals matches, Melbourne has won four of them (Brisbane's one win was the 2008 Grand Final).
  • They compete in the South Queensland Derby with Gold Coast, but due to Gold Coast's lack of success this is seen more as a David vs. Goliath with Brisbane as the "Goliath".
• The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
  • First season: 1935
  • Premierships: 1938, 1942, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1995, 2004)
  • Known for being the birthplace of "The Entertainers", their 1978 squad that was famous for playing an exciting and tricky brand of footy, which elements had much part in creating some of the more skilful aspects of the game seen today. Unsurprisingly, this coincided with their most successful era as they were a dominant team in the 80s, winning 4 Premierships in 5 Grand Finals appearances during the decade.
  • They are generally seen as a "rollercoaster" team—one year, they can be extremely successful, and the next year, they might be fighting at the bottom of the ladder.
• The Canberra Raiders — The first professional rugby league team in the Australian Capital Territory.
  • First season: 1982
  • Premierships: 1989, 1990, 1994
  • Canberra's early history was little more than a footnote where they were more known for dramatic collapses in games, leading to them being nicknamed "Pine Lime Splices" (a Splice is a type of Australian ice cream). 1986 wasn't a very good one for the Raiders but still important as it was when a young core of Mal Meninga, Gary Belcher, Steve Walters, and John Ferguson had a breakout season. The club's most successful period was in the late 80s and early 90s, where they had 5 Grand Finals appearances, including back-to-back Premiership wins in 1989 and 1990 (the only team not named Canterbury-Bankstown, Parramatta or Manly to win in that decade) and continued strong play in the 90s led to another Premiership in 1994. Since then, it's been a slow regression. Nowadays, they're more known for being sort of a "gatekeeper" team — they either finish just outside the top 8 or end up being knocked out early in the Grand Finals.
  • Also known as the team that produced Jason and Jarrod Croker, who played their entire NRL careers at Canberra (Jason from 1991 to 2006, Jarrod from 2009 to 2023) and hold most of the Raiders' team records. Jarrod is especially known for his iconic white headgear. Believe it or not, there's no relation between the two — though Jarrod has joked about it from time to time.
  • Part of the reason the Raiders have been unable to rekindle the high heights they achieved in the 80s and 90s is due to their difficulty in convincing big names to come and play in the capital due to the reputation of the city (see Other Australian Towns and Cities for more info).
• The Cronulla Sharks
  • First season: 1967
  • Premierships: 2016
  • Apart from their terrible records, they've also suffered from financial problems throughout their club history. Their nearly 50 year drought was so bad that legendary coach Jack Gibson said that waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership was like "leaving your porchlight on for Harold Holt".
  • Also The Unfavorite of Southern Sydney, as they've had to compete with bitter rivals and much more successful St. George-Illawara Dragons, who dwarf them in popularity.
• The Dolphins^note They are owned by the semi-professional rugby league club Redcliffe Dolphins, but they are separately licensed and is their fully professional spin-off club.
  • First season: 2023
  • The newest addition to the NRL. The fourth NRL team in the state of Queensland, and the second in the city of Brisbane.
  • Currently coached by Wayne Bennett, who previously steered the Brisbane Broncos to 6 premierships as well as guiding the St. George Illawarra Dragons to their first premiership as a joint venture side.
• The Gold Coast Titans
  • First season: 2007.
  • The second team in the League to come from the Gold Coast, the first being the now-defunct Gold Coast-Tweed Giants (who later became the Gold Coast Seagulls and the Gold Coast Chargers before their demise).
• The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles — also known as Manly.
  • First season: 1947
  • Premierships: 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2008, 2011
  • Remarkably, they've had no wooden spoons in their entire history, the longest period of any current club.
  • Generally considered to be the frontrunner to South Sydney's title of the most hated team in the league — apart from their long-standing reputation of poaching of other team's star players, they're most famous for their ill-fated merger with the very popular North Sydney Bears, only for it to crash and burn, taking the Bears down with it.
• The Melbourne Storm — the first professional rugby league team based in Victoria.
  • First season: 1997
  • Premierships: 1999, 2012, 2017, 2020
  • Minor premierships: 2011, 2016, 2017, 2019
  • They had won two premierships in 2007 and 2009, as well as minor premierships in 2006, 2007 and 2008, until the trophies were annulled after the club was found out to have breached the salary cap.
  • The Storm's greatest assets in club history came from the so-called 'Big Three'. These three players, consisting of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk, were the respective Hooker, Fullback and Halfback (often regarded to be the three most important positions on the field) of the Storm, having played their entire career at Melbourne and were also regarded to be three of the best players in Rugby League, having also hold those incumbent positions for both the Queensland and Australian representative teams. Keeping these three together for much of the 2000s and the 2010s led to some problems in retaining other high-level players in the Storm, even before the reality of the salary cap scandal was found out.
  • Furthermore, in the AFL-dominated town of Melbourne, the team has very few regional juniors to pick from (As of 2012, the only Victorian born-and-bred player who has ever represented the Storm has been Mahe Fonua). This means that, as with the Queensland-born Smith, Slater and Cronk, the Storm often have to recruit talents from other areas, as well as 'journeymen' who never quite fit into their past clubs.
  • The general success of these players can largely be credited to coach Craig Bellamy, who is often regarded as one of the best in the League.
• The Newcastle Knights
  • First season: 1988
  • Premierships: 1997, 2001
  • The second team in the League to be based in Newcastle (The first was the Newcastle Rebels, who were in the league from 1908-1909).
  • The Knights got off to a hot start in the early years, making the playoffs in 1992 and a semifinals appearance in 1995. 1997 would be the beginning of their best era as the Knights qualified for the Finals for seven consecutive years complete with a Premiership in 1997 over Manly in dramatic fashion and another in 2001 where they upset heavy favorite Paramatta. 2001 would be their last time winning a Premiership, but apart from an Audience-Alienating Era in the mid-2010s (where they won "wooden spoon" in 3 consecutive seasons from 2014-2017), the Knights have remained fairly competitive.
  • Notable for having some of the most fiercely loyal fans in the NRL. During the Super League War in 1997, the newly established Hunter Mariners failed to garner fan support thanks to the region's devotion to the Knights. This is particularly impressive as the Knights had only spent 9 years in top-flight footy when the War happened. Winning the 1997 premiership certainly didn't hurt. The downside is that fans also get extremely unreasonable when the team is not doing well.
• The New Zealand Warriors — the only side to be based in New Zealand.
  • First season: 1995
  • Noted as slow-starters: Often times they will struggle against teams they should easily beat in the beginning of the season and then pick up steam with exciting wins.
• The North Queensland Cowboys
  • First season: 1995
  • Premierships: 2015
  • Rivals with the Brisbane Broncos, and for good reason: one of the major obstacles to the club's stability in its inaugural season was attracting followers from Brisbane, which up until the Cowboys' inception was the only team based in Queensland.
• The Parramatta Eels
  • First season: 1947
  • Premierships: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986
  • Minor premierships: 1976, 1977, 1984, 2001, 2005
  • Parramatta has been through peaks and valleys for most of their existence. The Eels' golden age was in the 80s, with five Grand Final appearances and four Premierships from 1981 to 1986. They remained competitive in the 90s due to a strong core and signing away stars from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs during the Super League War (see below for how Bulldogs fans reacted). Still, it was an era of almosts as they would be more known for calamitous capitulations, especially in the 1998 preliminary final where they blew an 18-2 lead with ten minutes left to Canterbury and in the 1999 preliminary final where they blew an 18-0 lead to eventual premiership winners Melbourne. Apart from a Cinderella run in 2009, which resulted in a Grand Finals appearance (which ended in heartbreak), the Eels were consistently inconsistent for much of the 00s. Then came The New '10s where they spent most of the decade at, or near the bottom of the ladder and marred by coaching hirings and firings, off-field incidents by high-profile players and a salary cap breach. As of The New '20s, they remain inconsistent but hope still springs eternal for the Eels.
  • As a testament to the low lows, the Eels have the most wooden spoons of any team in the NRL (14).
  • Bitter rivals with the Bulldogs due to their clashes during the 80s where both teams were at their peak, having competed against each other in the Grand Finals of 1984 (won by Canterbury) and 1986 (won by Parramatta). The rivalry remained fierce in the 90s due to the aforementioned poaching of Canterbury players in the late 90s and the infamous 1998 preliminary finals.
  • Bitter rivals of the Penrith Panthers as they compete against each other in the Western Sydney Derby. Penrith is Parra's closest geographical opponent. The seeds of the rivalry were sown even before the Panthers were a club, as local rugby clubs in the Penrith district served as feeder teams for Parramatta.
  • They're not fond of the Melbourne Storm either. The rivalry started when the Storm beat the Eels to end their Cinderella run to the 2009 Grand Final. Melbourne would then be stripped of that Premiership due to the salary cap breach, but the league vacated the title instead of being awarded to the Eels. Many Parra fans felt that they were robbed.
• The Penrith Panthers
  • First season: 1967
  • Premierships: 1991, 2003, 2021, 2022, 2023
  • They were historically known as an "underdog team" due to an upset win over the Sydney Roosters in the 2003 Grand Final, but fortune smiled upon the Panthers in the 2020s. After two decades of sifting through mediocrity and failed rebuilds, the Panthers managed to make big signings, culminating in appearances in a Grand Finals appearance in 2020 and premierships 2021, 2022 and 2023, being the first team to complete a "three-peat" in the NRL era.
  • Also known for their...interesting...choice of colors for their kits back in the past.
  • As stated above, there's no love lost between them and Parramatta. Despite the Penrith district being a part of Parramatta's rugby league district before the Panthers gained club status, many local Penrith clubs resented Parramatta due to what they saw as poor treatment and being ignored by Parra. The rivalry was largely one-sided in favor of the Eels, especially during the 70s and the 80s, but power has largely shifted towards the Panthers since the 2000s. The 2022 Grand Final was the first NRL Grand Final between the Panthers and the Eels, and the pointed remarks by the victorious Panthers ensured that the blood feud between the two teams would not end any time soon.
• The St. George-Illawarra Dragons — formed via merger between St. George Dragons and the Illawara Steelers.
  • First season: 1921 (St. George), 1980 (Illawarra Steelers), 1999 (clubs merged)
  • Premierships: 1941, 1949, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1977, 1979 (as St. George), 2010 (as St. George-Illawarra)
  • Noted for being the first merger club of the NRL — merged entity being a new concept in Australian rugby league, many of the public watched closely in their first season whether to see if it'd work or fail. St George proposed the merger to provide financial security to an Illawarra club that was hounded by debt, and Illawarra, in return, would provide a broader fanbase for the Dragons along with stronger support of junior clubs for the Dragons to pick players from. The Dragons remained strong post-merger, reaching the grand final in their inaugural year as a joint venture club but suffered a narrow defeat to the Storm. They remained competitive but couldn't get over the hump until Wayne Bennett's hiring in 2009. 2010 would see them win their first Grand Final since the merger. The Dragons would remain competitive even after Bennett resigned in 2011, but since 2015 it has been a slow regression to non-competitiveness.
  • St. George was famous for winning 15 premierships, including 11 in succession between 1956 and 1966, a record for sporting competitions at the time.
  • The Cronulla Sharks are the Dragons' biggest rival — the Sharks were originally part of the St. George junior club region and generally have to deal with the "little brother" label due to the Dragons' storied history in the league. The Dragons largely dominated the rivalry pre-merger and most of the post-merger, but Cronulla's increased success in the 2010s, contrasted with the Dragons' struggles have made the rivalry decidedly more even.
  • Their traditional rivals from their days as a standalone side are the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters. The Dragons inflicted a still record 91-6 defeat on Canterbury in the Bulldogs' first season in 1935 and the Bulldogs famously defeated St. George in the 1967 Preliminary Final to end the Dragons' 11-year streak as champions. The Rabbitohs and Dragons' long history against each other has resulted in them playing for the Charity Shield. The Roosters and Dragons play on ANZAC Day and notably, the Roosters were the opponent that the Dragons beat for their first premiership, both as St. George (1941) and as St. George-Illawarra (2010).
• The South Sydney Rabbitohs — the most successful club in the League.
  • First season: 1908
  • Premierships: 1908, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 2014.
  • If you've heard of any NRL team as a non-Aussie, it's probably this one. Most famous for being the favorite team of Russell Crowe — he currently owns 50% of shares and helped to save the team during its financial troubles after the 1990s Super League war.
  • If you watch the NRL, you're either a fan or you hate them. The Rabbitohs are known as "The Pride of The League" — there's even the saying "When Souths are going well, rugby league is going well." This reputation usually elicits more than a few eye rolls and cries of favoritism from other supporters as until their victory in 2014 they hadn't even made a Grand Final in 43 years.
  • The Rabbitohs have many historic rivals, but all of them pale compared to the Sydney Roosters for which they compete against for the Ron Coote Cup. Their derby is the oldest rivalry in both the current National Rugby League and in the history of rugby league in Australia. Both sides were part of the original 8 foundation clubs of the NSWRL in 1908 and their only losses that season were to one another. They would later play each other in the first-ever Grand Final, which Souths won 14-12 and the rest is history. There's a bit of a Snobs Vs Slobs dynamic, as historically, South Sydney was supported by the working class, while the Roosters traditionally garnered support from upper-class folk in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs.
  • St. George-Illawara is another traditional rival, stemming from when St. George was a standalone side. The Dragons and the Rabbitohs annually compete for the Charity Shield as an annual preseason match, not to mention that they have played against each other in many fierce finals and classic games throughout the league's history. Since the merger between St. George and Illawara, the rivalry cooled a little bit, but tensions briefly rose in the aftermath of the Super League merger, when it was discovered that the Dragons wrote a sworn affidavit to the newly formed NRL saying it would be detrimental to the league if the Souths were allowed to return.
• The Sydney Roosters — the second most successful club in the League.
  • First season: 1908 (as Eastern Suburbs)
  • Premierships: 1911, 1912, 1913, 1923, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1945, 1974, 1975, 2002, 2013, 2018, 2019
  • Minor premierships: 1912, 1913, 1923, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018.
  • As one can guess from above, they don't like South Sydney. The two clubs have hated each other since their inception. Still, it only grew after 1950 due to conflict between junior territories, escalated in the 1970s with both clubs luring away each other's stars, and the rivalry escalated once more in the 1990s with the increased financial success of the Roosters while the Rabbitohs fell into financial struggle.
  • They're not very fond of Manly either, as the only two Grand Finals they've played against one another have been rife with controversial calls.
• The Wests Tigers — another team to have been formed via a joint venture, this one between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies.
  • First season: 1908 (both Balmain and Western Suburbs), 2000 (clubs merged)
  • Premierships: 2005
  • Former team of superstar Benji Marshall, who was known for his fancy style of passing (no-look passes, flick passes) and agility. He was regarded by many to be the most exciting player in the league during his first tenure at the club.
  • Have three home grounds (Leichhardt Oval (Balmain's homeground), Campbelltown Stadium (Western Suburbs' homeground) and the Sydney Football Stadium), the most of any club in the League.
  • Have a recent and spiteful rivalry with Manly, stemming from the rivalry between them and Western Suburbs.

Former Teams

• Adelaide Rams (1997-98): The League's first and only top-level club in South Australia. Adelaide was formed both as an inaugural side for the upstart Super League and an attempt to inch in on Aussie Rules' territory. The Rams floundered on the field in the Super League and life off the field wasn't any easier. The city's attention was all on the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power in the AFL, the former club being extremely popular and the latter club playing its first year in the AFL. The Crows winning the AFL premiership in 1997 did no favors for the Rams in this regard. With contraction looming in the 1998 season of the newly-merged NRL, the Rams tried to keep attendance up, but another tumultuous season spelled doom for them. Adelaide's other sports teams winning championships that year (Adelaide Crows winning again in Aussie football and the Adelaide 36ers winning in basketball) was the final nail in the coffin for fan support and the Rams disbanded after the 1998 season.
• Annandale (1910-1920): Also known as The Dales. Disbanded at the end of 1920 due to poor play and many of their players becoming ineligible due to residency rules in place at the time.
• Balmain Tigers (1908-1999): Merged with Western Suburbs to become the West Tigers after the 1999 season due to financial difficulties. At the time of the joint venture, only the Rabbitohs and the St George Dragons had won more titles than the Tigers (11).
• Cumberland(1908): Disbanded after the NSWRL's inaugural season, in which they only won 1 game. Statistically have the worst record in league history.
• Gold Coast Giants/Seagulls/Chargers(1988-1998): Were formed from literally nothing, with their first squad having nothing but young players, in order to challenge in the NSWRL. They fought admirably, but failed.
• Glebe (1908-1928): Also known as The Dirty Reds. They were removed from the NSWRL in 1929 when they were voted out by the committee, mostly due to poor play and partly because they fell victim to their players becoming ineligible due to residency rules like Annandale. They shortly disbanded, but shockingly, they were revived in 2015 and started playing matches in 2017 after an 87-year absence. Currently, they operate as a feeder team for the Sydney Roosters at lower levels.
• Hunter Mariners (1997): Newcastle-based side given the go-ahead as a make-weight side for the Super League, played only one season.
• Illawara Steelers (1982-1998): Merged with St. George to become the St. George-Illawara Dragons. Still fields teams at lower levels.
• Newcastle Rebels (1908-1909): Left the NSWRL to join the Newcastle Rugby League (NRL).
• North Sydney Bears (1908-1999): The team merged with Manly-Warringah during the Super League crisis to form the now-defunct Northern Eagles. It still fields teams at lower levels. The team has proposed to the NRL to return to the league as the Central Coast Bears but nothing has come of this as yet.
• Newtown Jets (1908-1983): Left the NSWRL due to financial reasons. Still fields teams at lower levels.
• South Queensland Chargers (1995-97): The ARL's unsuccessful attempt to counter the Brisbane Broncos' local stranglehold. They won the wooden spoon in two years of their three years of existence.
• University (1920-1937): Also known as the Sydney Uni Rugby League Club. As the name suggested, they consisted of amateur players who were still in university, thus the scenario of a club like this competing in a league of professionals went as well as anyone in this day and age thought it would: 2/3 of the team's years of play ended with them being dead last.
• Western/Perth Reds (1995-97): The League's first and so far, only experiment in having footy in Western Australia. Joining the ARL in 1995, the Reds fielded promising sides but couldn't overcome their biggest opponent: Travel distance. They were the only team on the West Coast, so they had to pay for the flights and accommodation of other teams, as well as their own expenses for away games. Unsurprisingly, they quickly defected to the Super League once the War started due to their massive debt, but once the merger between the ARL and Super League happened, the Reds were soon left out in the cold.
• Western Suburbs Magpies (1908-1999): The team merged with Balmain to form the Wests Tigers after the 1999 season due to financial difficulties. At the time of the joint venture, they had the most wooden spoons in the league (17). Still fields teams at lower levels.

Rugby Super League

The premier competition in Europe, with the next season in 2020 featuring 10 English teams and one each from France and Canada (respectively Catalans Dragons from Perpignan and the Toronto Wolfpack). Formed as a way by the Australian Super League to gain an upper hand in the War. (All the teams, however, were pre-existing.) The season begins in spring and ends in autumn, meaning it is played at the same time of year as the NRL. This also means the league isn't overshadowed by football. The Super League has a play-off structure leading up to a Grand Final much the same as the NRL, but the long-standing Challenge Cup knock-out competition is still played, separate from the League schedule.

Unlike the NRL, Super League operates with promotion and relegation. Super League is at the top of an elaborate system of leagues organised by England's governing body, the Rugby Football League. The two lower national levels are respectively known as the Championship and League 1; most of the competing clubs hail from England (and more specifically, the North, with Southern teams like the London Broncos being exceptions and certainly seen as such), though another French side, Toulouse Olympique, now competes in the Championship and League 1 has two Welsh teams. The aforementioned Toronto Wolfpack began play in the RFL system in League 1 in 2017, were promoted to the Championship after that season, and made it to Super League after two seasons in the Championship. The most recent change to the promotion/relegation system took effect with the 2019 season, with the bottom Super League side being relegated and replaced by the winner of a playoff involving the top five sides on the Championship regular-season table.

Current Teams

• Castleford Tigers
• Catalan Dragons – the sole French team for many years, based in Perpignan.
• Huddersfield Giants
• Hull F.C.
• Hull Kingston Rovers
• Leeds Rhinos
• Salford Red Devils
• St Helens
• Toulouse Olympique - promoted from the Championship for the 2022 season.
• Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
• Warrington Wolves
• Wigan Warriors

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