| Super League I | |
|---|---|
| League | Super League |
| Duration | 22 Rounds |
| Teams | 12 |
| Highest attendance | 20,429 Wigan vsSt Helens (21 June) |
| Lowest attendance | 1,400 Workington Town vsLondon Broncos (23 June) |
| Attendance | 867,372 (average 6,571) |
| Broadcast partners | Sky Sports |
| 1996 Season | |
| Champions | St Helens 1stSuper League title 8thBritish title |
| Runners-up | Wigan |
| Premiership winners | Wigan |
| Man of Steel |  Andrew Farrell |
| Top point-scorer(s) | Bobbie Goulding (257) |
| Top try-scorer(s) | Paul Newlove (28) |
| Promotion and relegation | |
| Promoted fromDivision One | Salford Reds |
| Relegated toDivision One | Workington Town |
The year 1996'sStones Bitter Super League I was the official name for the 102nd season of top-levelrugby league football, and the first year of Europe's newchampionship:Super League. It is also the first season of rugby league to be played in summer.[1] The competition featured all eleven teams from the1995-96 RFL First Division plus one expansion club,Paris Saint-Germain.
Twelve teams were selected to play in the inaugural Super League season.
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Reigning Champions | |
| Challenge Cup Holders | |
| Promoted/ New franchise | |
| Team | 1995-96 position | Stadium | Capacity | City/Area | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bradford Bulls | 7th | Odsal | 27,000 | Bradford, West Yorkshire | |
 Castleford Tigers | 6th | Wheldon Road | 11,750 | Castleford, West Yorkshire | |
 Halifax Blue Sox | 3rd | Thrum Hall | 9,832 | Halifax, West Yorkshire | |
 Leeds | 2nd | Headingley | 21,500 | Leeds, West Yorkshire | |
 London Broncos | 10th | The Valley | 27,000 | Charlton, Greater London | |
 Oldham Bears | 8th | Watersheddings | 9,000 | Oldham, Greater Manchester | |
 Paris Saint-Germain | N/A | Sébastien Charléty Stadium | 20,000 | Paris, France | |
 Sheffield Eagles | 5th | Don Valley Stadium | 25,000 | Sheffield, South Yorkshire | |
 St Helens | 4th | Knowsley Road | 17,500 | St Helens, Mersyside | |
 Warrington Wolves | 9th | Wilderspool | 9,200 | Warrington, Cheshire | |
| D* |  Wigan | 1st | Central Park | 18,000 | Wigan, Greater Manchester |
 Workington Town | 11th | Derwent Park | 10,000 | Workington, Cumbria |
Although RFL chairmanMaurice Lindsay had pushed for a more modern top-flight setup for some time, his previous efforts had only resulted ina tepid reform during the 1994 offseason.[2] The more radical Super League came together over just ninety-six hours in early April 1995, following overtures by emissaries of Australian media conglomerateNews Ltd., who were looking for international partners to sway thebattle for the control of Australian rugby league in their favour.[3] The first rumours transpiring from the talks mentioned a 1997 start.[4] News' plan entailed moving the RFL season to summer to align it with the southern hemisphere, to which St Helen and Leeds were said to be the most reticent.[4] In particular, Leeds feared scheduling conflicts with theYorkshire County Cricket Club, but they were quickly won over by the financial opportunities promised by the Murdoch deal.[5]
The English game's new era officially began on 8 April 1995, when RFL clubs voted to approve the £77 million package negotiated with News to help the transition.[6][7] The initial plan for the European Super League (so named because it was then supposed to share the Super League moniker with anAustralasian equivalent) included fourteen teams. Several of the twelve projected English teams were composites of existing small-town clubs.[6][8] The initial plan was for the amalgamated teams to rotate between several stadiums, which would be replaced by a single, state-of-the-art venue in the future.[9] Clubs could turn down the merger and be assigned to the second tier instead.[10] Two French teams were added to give the competition the requisite European stature. Their management was entrusted to veteran coachJacques Fouroux, who had recently founded a summer competition of his own calledFrance Rugby League.[11] Promotion and relegation would be frozen for the first two seasons.[12]
ACardiff side was also slated to begin play in the second tier with an eye on promotion (a hastily thrown together Welsh clubdid take the field, but never reached those heights).[13][14] An agent claimed that threeWales union stars,Mike Hall,Tony Clement andRobert Jones had inquired via a third party about the salaries on offer in the Super League, which Hall angrily denied, accusing the younger code of using his name for publicity.[15] More speculative were plans for a team inDublin, as was Jacques Fouroux's dream of teams inBarcelona (made up of players fromFrench Catalonia) andMilan, which even the progressive Maurice Lindsay called unlikely.[16]
| Legacy markets | Consolidated markets | Expansion markets | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing teams | Merged as | |||
| Bradford | Castleford,Wakefield,Featherstone | Calder | Paris | |
| Halifax | Hull F.C.,Hull Kingston Rovers | Humberside | Toulouse[a] | |
| Leeds | Oldham,Salford | Manchester | — | |
| London[b] | Sheffield,Doncaster | South Yorkshire | ||
| St Helens | Warrington,Widnes | Cheshire | ||
| Wigan | Workington,Whitehaven,Barrow,Carlisle | Cumbria | ||
The reform immediately drew the opposition of the fanbases involved in the planned mergers,[17] as well as a group ofMPs[18] and theRugby League Professional Players' Association.[19] Additionally, second-tier championsKeighley threatened to sue to get the promotion they had earned on the field prior to the reform.[20][21][22] Maurice Lindsay suggested that they enter the Super League via a merger with Bradford, which the club strenuously refused.[5] Halifax was also briefly in talks to merge with Bradford or Huddersfield due to their outdated stadium.[3][11][17] Their board of director did vote to merge with the former, but met with strong hostility from the community and did not proceed.[23] Wigan president Jack Robinson even threatened an unlikely merger with the sport's other powerhouse St Helens, although this was primarily a political powerplay to put pressure on the city as he was looking for subsidies to upgrade his club's ground.[18] Widnes, for its part, refused to merge with Warrington and instead opted to take first place on the Super League waiting list, due to the likely cancellation of the second French team based in Toulouse,[20][22][24] which was confirmed a few days later when Fouroux opted to focus his efforts on a single club.[6][25][26]
However, following another meeting on May 1, 1995, Murdoch's financial contribution was increased to £87 million and a new format was agreed upon by a majority of clubs.[27] The mergers were abandoned but, rather than enlarge the Superleague contingent as speculated, it was decided to trim it further to twelve teams: the capital cities ofParis andLondon, plus the top ten of the1994–95 First Division campaign.[28][29] This was supposed to amount to £1.1 million for each Super League club, although these projections were later lowered to £830,000 after the RFL took its share of it to finance central operating costs.[30] Half of the Murdoch money was set aside for ground improvements.[31]
Salford, who did not make the cut, put in a bid to convince the RFL to let them represent Manchester in place of higher ranked Oldham, but ultimately chose to accept the new plan for the good of the game.[32] However, Widnes, which had just been reinstated thanks to Toulouse's withdrawal, found itself out of the league once more, on the basis of its uncharacteristically poor 1994–95 ranking. The club launched a lawsuit of its own against the RFL.[29][33][34] It was summarily dismissed at the end of May,[35] but Widnes and Keighley kept dragging their feet to sign the Super League agreement, demanding formal guarantees that a promotion and relegation system be preserved.[36] In mid-July, the RFL voted in favour of a "one up, one down" scheme with immediate effect.[37] Keighley dropped their lawsuit shortly after.[38]
Game presentation:
Rules to ensure the sustainability of Super League clubs were introduced:
To protect global Super League interests:
Four new rules were introduced for the inaugural Super League season:[43]
In an attempt to "clean up" the ruck:
The beginning of the Super League era coincided with that of a new TV contract with Murdoch'sSky Sports, which was already the First Division's broadcaster, but now offered a more thorough schedule, featuring a Friday and a Saturday game on most weeks.[45] Up to seventeen cameras, including seven replay angles, were used.[46] Video judges now replaced in-goal judges during games broadcast on Sky.[43][47]
On 29 March 1996, Super League kicked off inParis before 17,873 people at theCharlety Stadium when new team Paris Saint Germain overcameSheffield Eagles 30–24.[48] Despite air traffic disruptions that forced members of the British press to seek alternate means of transport, the Super League received ample plaudits for its opener,[49] with PSG presidentJacques Fouroux declaring that night: "Ninety eight per cent of them [the crowd] were new to the game, but they understood it right away. They saw tries, lots of commitment and lots of movement. They saw beauty. They attended a great party."[48]
Pundits announced that the season would be more competitive than seen in recent memory, and predicted thatSt Helens would mount a serious challenge forWigan's title.[31][43] The Saints fulfilled those promises, and were crowned inaugural Super League champions after a win overWarrington Wolves atKnowsley Road, finishing in first position on the league ladder.[50] During the year a secondary title, known as thePremiership was also played, with the final being contested betweenWigan and the championship winnersSt Helens with Wigan coming out victorious andAndy Farrell winning theHarry Sunderland Trophy.
While a French team was an unknown quantity at this level, Paris Saint-Germain was deemed capable of at least avoiding relegation.[31][43]Workington Town were the overwhelming favourites for the wooden spoon,[31][43][51] and failed to beat the odds, finishing at the bottom of the standings for the second successive season. To date this is their only Super League season and no other club from Cumbria has competed since,Salford Reds were promoted to take their place inSuper League II.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Helens(C) | 22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 950 | 455 | +495 | 40 | Qualified forPremiership semi final |
| 2 | Wigan | 22 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 902 | 326 | +576 | 39 | Qualified forPremiership semi final |
| 3 | Bradford Bulls | 22 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 767 | 409 | +358 | 34 | |
| 4 | London Broncos | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 611 | 462 | +149 | 25 | |
| 5 | Warrington Wolves | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 569 | 565 | +4 | 24 | |
| 6 | Halifax Blue Sox | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 667 | 576 | +91 | 21 | |
| 7 | Sheffield Eagles | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 599 | 730 | −131 | 20 | |
| 8 | Oldham Bears | 22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 473 | 681 | −208 | 19 | |
| 9 | Castleford Tigers | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 548 | 599 | −51 | 18 | |
| 10 | Leeds | 22 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 555 | 745 | −190 | 12 | |
| 11 | Paris Saint-Germain | 22 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 398 | 795 | −397 | 7 | |
| 12 | Workington Town(R) | 22 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 325 | 1021 | −696 | 5 | Relegated toDivision One |
The top four finishing teams competed in a short play-off series for thePremiership Trophy. This competition was separate to the Super League Championship awarded to St Helens, and continued a long tradition in British rugby league of crowning a season champion and an end of season Premier. The final was played between theWigan andSt Helens on Sunday, 8 September atOld Trafford before a crowd of 35,013.[52] Wigan won the match 44-14 and their loose forwardAndy Farrell received theHarry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.
| Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
| 1 | St Helens | 25 | |||||||
| 4 | London Broncos | 14 | |||||||
| St Helens | 14 | ||||||||
| Wigan | 44 | ||||||||
| 2 | Wigan | 42 | |||||||
| 3 | Bradford Bulls | 36 | |||||||
The following are the top points scorers in the Super League during the 1996 season. Statistics are for league matches only.[53]
Most points
| Player | Team | Tries | Goals | DGs | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bobbie Goulding | St Helens | 5 | 117 | 3 | 257 |
| John Schuster | Halifax Blue Sox | 8 | 101 | 2 | 236 |
| Andy Farrell | Wigan | 5 | 103 | 0 | 226 |
| Graham Holroyd | Leeds | 11 | 76 | 2 | 198 |
| Frano Botica | Castleford Tigers | 5 | 84 | 2 | 190 |
| Mark Aston | Sheffield Eagles | 2 | 86 | 1 | 181 |
| Greg Barwick | London Broncos | 16 | 50 | 2 | 166 |
| Steve McNamara | Bradford Bulls | 1 | 78 | 2 | 162 |
| Iestyn Harris | Warrington | 4 | 63 | 2 | 144 |
| Francis Maloney | Oldham Bears | 6 | 45 | 0 | 114 |