Rugby League: The History of the Super League

 Prior to 1996, rugby league in the UK was a winter sport. Rupert Murdoch of News Corp International saw an opportunity for the sport to generate more television income, and raise the visibility and profile of the sport by forming a Super League, and switching over to being a Summer sport. So in 1996, Super League was formed.

The initial teams that played in the inaugural Super League in 1996 were those that had finished in the top ten in the last winter season, plus a team from London (the London Broncos) and a team from France (Paris Saint Germain). With an entrant from outside England the league could be, and was, named Super League, referring to all of Europe. Having a London team meant that there was a presence outside the traditional Northern strongholds of rugby league, which would give the league a potential foothold in rugby union country.

After 1998 Paris Saint Germain was no longer a member of the Super League. The league would have to wait for another eight years until a non-English club would play in the Super League. In 2006 the Catalans Dragons, from the French city of Perpignan, were fast tracked into the Super League. In 2009 the Celtic Crusaders (now known as Crusaders Rugby League) from South Wales joined the Super League, meaning that for the first time, three different nations were represented in the 14 team league (the league was expanded to 14 in the same season).

Over the course of the season teams play every other team in the league twice, once at home, and once away, plus an additional "Magic Weekend" game for a total of 27 games a season. The Magic Weekend game takes place at a neutral ground--both Cardiff, Wales, and Edinburgh, Scotland have been used. From 2007 to 2008 the Magic Weekend games were regionally based games, with local rivals playing each other on neutral ground, half of the games would play in the same stadium on Saturday, then the following half on Sunday. From 2009 on, the games have been selected based on a seeded draw using the finishing positions from the previous season.

Once all of the games have been played, the top eight teams in the league play in single elimination game playoffs (introduced in 1998), with the winner of the grand final receiving the title of Champion. As with American Football, players on the winning team each receive a championship ring.

Each year the Super League champions play a game against the champions of the Australasian National Rugby League (comprised of 15 Australian teams and one team from New Zealand) known as the World Club Challenge. Between 2001 and 2008 the World Club Championship was only won once by the Australasian team (Sydney Roosters in 2003). In 2009 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles defeated Leeds Rhinos to end a five year streak of European dominance.

In 2008 the league introduced the concept of a salary cap, with each team only able to pay combined wages of £1.6 million per season for their 25 man squad. The league has also begun a four year plan to reduce the number of overseas players on each team, with the maximum number of ten allowed in 2008 dropping to only five in 2011.