UK SL Finals : 1961-2017

2015 Grand Final (Pic BBC)

There have been a finals series every year since 1961, except for the years ending 1963 and 1964. There have been different names and formats but overall pretty stable. Up until 1973/74 they were designated the Championship playoffs. After that until 1987 it became a playoffs series leading to a grand final called the Premiership Trophy. The winner in this new competition wasn't considered the champions however.

In 1998, it became a playoffs series leading to a grand final and a return to the crowning of the champions. From 2015, a slight variance was introduced where teams had to go through a Super 8's eliminator before the top four played off to decide the champions*.

The result: I have allocated six points for a first, four to the losing finalist, two given those ejected in the semi finals and one point when the system involved an eliminator system. From this we can evaluate the teams that were the best in this competition.

St Helens really run away with this one. Their 1st placings aren't the key but rather their consistency in nearly always being in the mix come the semi finals and grand final. Courtesy of the 2017 victory, Leeds slip past Wigan and equal Saints grand final winning tally. Wigan are so similar to Leeds but with one less trophy victory. Then there is a noticeable drop down to fourth.

Now for some trivia: 

Twenty teams have made the semi finals.
Fifteen clubs have played in the finals and there are twelve different winners.
St Helens and Leeds have both been winners twelve times each.
St Helens have been involved in 27 finals (out of 56).
St Helens and Leeds have both been losing semi (& elimination) finalists eighteen times.
Dewsbury is the only side to have won a final but not lost a final nor a semi final.
The bridesmaid club is Castleford, losing four finals and nine semi (& elimination) finals.
Featherstone has lost the most semi  (& elimination) finals without making a final (4).
Widnes has the best strike rate, with no semi final losses and won six out of eight finals.

	Rk	Club	Tot	1st	2nd	SF	4th
	1	St Helens RFC	167	12	15	17	1
	2	Leeds Rhinos	125	12	5	15	3
	3	Wigan Warriors	124	11	7	15
	4	Bradford Bulls	60	4	6	6
	5	Warrington Wolves	48	2	5	7	2
	6	Widnes Vikings	44	6	2
	7	Hull FC	35	1	5	3	3
	8	Hull KR	34	2	2	7
	9	Castleford Tigers	32		4	7	2
	10	Wakefield Trinity	31	3	1	4	1
	11	Halifax RLFC	17	1	2	1	1
	12	Huddersfield Giants	12	1		3
	13	Salford Red Devils	10		1	3
	14	Featherstone Rov	7			3	1
	15	Dewsbury Rams	6	1
	16	Catalan Dragons	5			2	1
	17	Swinton Lions	4		1
	18	Sheffield Eagles	3			1	1
	19	Leigh Centurions	2			1
	19	London Broncos	2			1

*Any refinements needed or mistakes noted in that summation, please let me know.

RL's International Calendar Improvement

Nations such as Serbia and Greece need to play more often

Most people who malign RL point at its lack of international scope. There are three main nations who regularly invite one other nation to make up a four nations tournament at the end of a season (this year it won't be held due to the World Cup). Otherwise international RL is limited. So what can be done?

One option is to turn the Four Nations into a biannual event and the alternative year do something that includes other nations that play the game. If the alternative is a huge success, maybe it could take over and the four nations be put to bed altogether. The alternative could be divided into each hemisphere.

Southern: There could be a six nation competition, involving Australia, NZ, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and PNG. It could also be a first division of four and a second division of three, with the Cook Is being added. The loser of the first tier and winner of the second would swap for the following time it's played.

Failing that, a six team international tournament excluding Australia could be held concurrently with State of Origin matches, negating the ridiculous split round system and providing four top games for each of those three weekends.

Benefit. Either system would give more games to the island nations that provide excellent entertainment that people would want to watch, either live or by media.

Northern: As a biannual alternative to the Four Nations tournament, have two divisions. One could be England, France, Scotland and Wales. The second division could be made up of Ireland, USA, Canada and Serbia. The loser of tier one drops into tier two, with the winner of the lower division promoted. The loser of division two could be challenged by the highest ranked team not involved.

In addition, I'm thinking the Magic Weekend in Super League could be scrapped and a Northern Nations Nines tournament be held (Toronto, Newcastle, Paris possible venues for a start). Teams representing the home nations and Ireland, USA, Canada, and a selection of European nations could make up the numbers.

Benefit. This will give players in dozens of countries opportunity to learn and an incentive to improve.

Summary: Apart from the WC, the current system is doing virtually nothing to improve the game internationally. RL can only prosper if it keeps thinking of ways to do things better.

League One 2017: Expansion

The first division Super League in the UK has one French club and eleven teams from the traditional heartlands. Division two (Championship) also had one French based side and one in London, the rest (ten in total) were in the north of England although Sheffield isn't what I'd call from a historical RL area. So we'll make nine out of twelve heartland teams.

Which brings us the the third division, League One. Of the sixteen clubs, only seven from traditional RL towns, two based in Wales, six from the rest of England (including one from North East England) and one from Canada. How did the non-traditional teams fare?

Below I have colour-coded the list, green being for the traditional areas, blue for the rest of England, orange and salmon the others. This is for the fifteen round first stage only.

				Rk	Club	Pts
				1	Toronto	30
				2	Whitehaven	27
				3	Barrow	25
				4	York	20
				5	Doncaster	20
				6	Newcastle	18
				7	Keighley	15
				8	Workington	15
				9	North Wales	15
				10	Hunslet	14
				11	London Scholars	13
				12	Gloucester	12
				13	Oxford	8
				14	Coventry	4
				15	South Wales	2
				16	Hemel	2

With the exception of Toronto which was a fully professional squad, the heartland clubs did by far the best. Still, it's good to see the new areas giving it a crack. On top of that, promotion is an option for any that have the backing and desire to move up.