UK Elite Teams By Season : 1999

Fourteen teams were in the elite Super League competition in 1999, up from twelve the year before. Wakefield Trinity were promoted and Gateshead Thunder (NE England, Newcastle area) were a newly formed team. The latter only played for one season.

The League. The Bradford Bulls took the title with 51 points from St Helens (46), Leeds Rhinos (45), Wigan Warriors (43) and Castleford Tigers (41). These sides made up the teams in the finals series. Special mention to the new team Gateshead for coming 6th with 39 points. Huddersfield came last with 10 points.

The Challenge Cup. Taking up the matches at the quarter finals stage, the results were Castleford 30-10 against the Salford City Reds, Bradford 52-10 over Warrington Wolves, London Broncos 54-6 saw off Whitehaven Warriors and finally Widnes Vikings downed 10-46 by Leeds. Widnes and Whitehaven were the two sides outside the top flight that got this far.

The semi finals were Leeds 23-10 versus Bradford, and London 33-27 in defeating Castleford. The cup final was held at Wembly Stadium before over 73,000 spectators. Leeds ran riot in winning 52-16 against London.

Leeds celebrate their first cup win in 21 years. (Source: Leeds Rhinos)

The Finals. The eliminator game was between Wigan and Castleford, the latter taking it 14-10. In the other match - a qualifier - Saints overran Leeds 38-14.

This sent St Helens into a qualifying semi final to see who went directly to the final and who to had to go to an eliminator match. Bradford made sure they went straight through in beating Saints 40-4. The eliminator of this round ended Leeds run when they went down to Cas' 16-23.

In the final eliminator, Saints finally got to the big game when dispatching Castleford 36-6. They then took on a rampant Bradford side but maybe the Bulls success worked against them, with only one game in three weeks. I say that as they lost the grand final 6-8 to the Saints after having easily won against the same opponent two weeks earlier. 50,700 came to Old Trafford to see the game.

Summary: By my reckoning Bradford was the top team of 1999 with 46 points. The won the league, were in teh grand final and cup semi finalist. Leeds were next (44 points) with the cup trophy in the cabinet. Saints were third with a grand final win and second in the league. Castleford got 36 points for being thereabouts in everything.

	Rk	Team	Lge	CC	Fin	Total
	1	Bradford	20	12	16	48
	2	Leeds	16	20	8	44
	3	St Helens	18		20	38
	4	Castleford	12	12	12	36
	5	London	9	16		25
	6	Wigan	14		4	18
	7	Warrington	10	6		16
	8	Salford	5	6	6	11
	8	Gateshead	11		6	11
	10	Halifax	8			8
	11	Sheffield	7			7
	12	Widnes		6		6
	12	Wakefield	6			6
	12	Whitehaven		6		6
	15	Hull FC	4			4
	16	Huddersfield	3			3
		Total	136	60	84	280

The 1998 season is seen by clicking here.
To see the 2000 season, just click here.