The Betfred Super League XXII, was the year 2017 Super League season and 123rd season of rugby league in Britain.
Super League XXII featured twelve teams, the third year in which this number has taken part. This was also the third year since promotion and relegation was reintroduced into the competition, seeing Leigh promoted and Hull KR relegated from last season.
Teams Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England. Six teams hail from the historic county of Lancashire, west of the Pennines: Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan, Leigh, and Widnes. Five teams hail from the historic county of Yorkshire, east of the Pennines: Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, and Hull F.C. Catalans Dragons, located in Perpignan, France, are the only team outside the North of England. St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves, and Leeds Rhinos are the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.
Leigh were promoted from the Kingstone Press Championship after finishing in 2nd place in The Qualifiers for 2016. Leigh became the first club promoted to the Super League under the Super 8s system, and the first club promoted to Super League since Widnes received a license for Super League XVII. Leigh last competed in the top flight in Super League X. Hull Kingston Rovers were relegated to the Championship after losing the 2016 Million Pound Game to Salford.
Team2016 positionStadiumCapacityCity/Area Castleford Tigers(2017 season)5th The Mend-O-Hose Jungle 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire Catalans Dragons(2017 season) 6th Stade Gilbert Brutus 14,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France Huddersfield Giants(2017 season)12th John Smith's Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Hull(2017 season)3rd KCOM Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire Leigh Centurions(2017 season) Promoted Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester Leeds Rhinos(2017 season)9th Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire Salford Red Devils(2017 season)10th AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester St. Helens(2017 season)4th Totally Wicked Stadium 18,000 St. Helens, Merseyside Wakefield Trinity(2017 season)8th Beaumont Legal Stadium 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire Warrington Wolves(2017 season)1st Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,500 Warrington, Cheshire Widnes Vikings(2017 season)7th The Select Security Stadium 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire Wigan Warriors(2017 season)2nd (Champions) DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester
Regular season
Standings at end of regular season
Super 8s
Super League
The Qualifiers
Playoffs Super League
#HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance Semi-finalsSF1 Castleford Tigers23–22 St. Helens28 September 2017, 19:45 BSTMend-A-Hose JungleJames Child11,235SF2 Leeds Rhinos18–16 Hull29 September 2017, 19:45 BSTHeadingley CarnegiePhil Bentham12,500 Source: Grand finalF Castleford Tigers6–24 Leeds Rhinos7 October 2017, 18:00 BSTOld TraffordJames Child72,827 Source:
Million Pound Game
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Leigh Centurions 10–26 Catalans Dragons30 September 2017, 15:00Leigh Sports Village Ben Thaler 6,888
Player statistics
Top try scorers
RankPlayerClubTries1 Greg Eden Castleford Tigers382 Liam Marshall Wigan Warriors213 Ben Jones-Bishop Wakefield Trinity204= Greg Minikin Castleford Tigers19 Jermaine McGillvary Huddersfield Giants Albert Kelly Hull7 Joe Burgess Wigan Warriors188= Matt Parcell Leeds Rhinos17 Mason Caton-Brown Wakefield Trinity Jamie Shaul Hull
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers1292 Marc Sneyd Hull1033 Liam Finn Wakefield Trinity964 Mark Percival St. Helens955 Luke Walsh Catalans696 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants617 Ben Reynolds Leigh Centurions488 Michael Dobson Salford Red Devils469= Liam Sutcliffe Leeds Rhinos45 Gareth O'Brien Salford Red Devils Kallum Watkins Leeds Rhinos
Top try assists
RankPlayerClubAssists1 George Williams Wigan Warriors292 Danny McGuire Leeds Rhinos243 Robert Lui Salford Red Devils234 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants225= Luke Walsh Catalans Dragons20 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers7= Paul McShane Castleford Tigers19 Michael Shenton Castleford Tigers9= Zak Hardaker Castleford Tigers18 Marc Sneyd Hull
Top points scorers
RankPlayerClubPoints1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers3172 Mark Percival St. Helens2543 Marc Sneyd Hull2374 Liam Finn Wakefield Trinity1965= Greg Eden Castleford Tigers152 Kallum Watkins Leeds Rhinos7 Luke Walsh Catalans Dragons1508 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants1419 George Williams Wigan Warriors13110 Gareth O'Brien Salford Red Devils124
Attendances
Average attendances
ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest Castleford Tigers 11 104,776 9,525 11,500 7,094 Catalans Dragons 11 96,551 8,777 10,804 7,254 Huddersfield Giants 11 64,081 5,826 8,666 4,973 Hull 11 128,900 11,718 15,487 10,222 Leeds Rhinos 11 164,449 14,950 18,029 13,169 Leigh Centurions 11 71,732 6,521 9,012 4,938 Salford Red Devils 11 51,736 4,703 6,253 2,678 St Helens 11 118,240 10,749 13,138 9,040 Wakefield Trinity 11 58,178 5,289 7,187 4,017 Warrington Wolves 11 115,253 10,478 11,681 9,152 Widnes Vikings 11 63,437 5,767 8,279 4,253 Wigan Warriors 11 153,810 13,983 23,390 11,637
Top 10 attendances
Rank Home club Away club Stadium Attendance 1 Magic Weekend: Day 1 St. James' Park 35,361 2 Magic Weekend: Day 2 St. James' Park 30,046 3 Wigan Warriors St Helens DW Stadium 23,390 4 Leeds Rhinos Castleford Tigers Headingley Stadium 18,029 5 Leeds Rhinos Wigan Warriors Headingley Stadium 17,030 6 Leeds Rhinos Hull Headingley Stadium 16,938 7 Wigan Warriors Leigh Centurions DW Stadium 15,699 8 Hull Leeds Rhinos KCOM Stadium 15,487 9 Leeds Rhinos Widnes Vikings Headingley Stadium 15,408 10 Wigan Warriors Leeds Rhinos DW Stadium 15,119
Statistics correct as of 23 July 2017 (round 23)
End-of-season awards
Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:
Man of Steel: Luke Gale - Castleford Tigers Coach of the year: Daryl Powell - Castleford Tigers Super League club of the year: Castleford Tigers Young player of the year: Oliver Gildart - Wigan Warriors Foundation of the year: Wigan Warriors Rhino "Top Gun": Marc Sneyd - Hull F.C. (89% - 103 goals) Metre-maker: Alex Walmsley - St. Helens (4256 metres) Top Try Scorer: Greg Eden (38) - Castleford Tigers Hit Man: Danny Houghton - Hull F.C. (1123 tackles) Outstanding Contribution:Thomas Bosc - Catalans DragonsChris Bridge - Warrington WolvesRob Burrow - Leeds RhinosEorl Crabtree - Huddersfield GiantsGareth Ellis - HullAndy Lynch - Castleford TigersLeon Pryce - Bradford BullsIafeta Paleaaesina - Hull
Media Television 2017 is the first of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.
Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.
Regular commentators will be Eddie Hemmings with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Sky will broadcast highlights on Sunday nights on Super League - Full Time at 10 p.m.
BBC Sport will broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme, the first to the BBC North West, Yorkshire, North East and Cumbria, and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 11:35 p.m. on BBC One, while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30 p.m. The Super League Show is also available for one week after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only. End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.
Internationally, Super League is shown live or delayed on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), TV 2 Sport (Norway), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Fox Sports (Australia) and Sportsnet World (Canada).
Radio
BBC Coverage:
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (National DAB Digital Radio) will carry two Super League commentaries each week on Thursday and Friday nights (both kick off 8pm); this will be through the 5 Live Rugby league programme which is presented by Dave Woods with a guest summariser (usually a Super League player or coach) and also includes interviews and debate.. BBC Radio Humberside will have full match commentary of all Hull F.C. matches. BBC Radio Leeds carry commentaries featuring Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield. BBC Radio Manchester will carry commentary of Leigh, Wigan and Salford whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Merseyside. BBC Radio Merseyside will have commentary on St Helens and Widnes matches whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Manchester.
Commercial Radio Coverage:
102.4 Wish FM will carry commentaries of Wigan & St Helens matches. 107.2 Wire FM will carry commentaries on Warrington Home and Away. Radio Yorkshire will launch in March carrying Super League commentaries. Radio Warrington (Online Station) all Warrington home games and some away games. Grand Sud FM covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French). Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).
All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.
References
External links Official Site BBC Rugby League