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.

Weird NZ Anti RL Stories : Part One

Some years ago I walked into my local suburban stationery store to buy some items. As I entered, a low platform with books plied high caught my attention. As I wandered over, there were about six people standing around the display, checking out the books.

I quickly walked around I went to move on but noticed one stack of books had a different book on the top to all the others below it. I could then see the top book about Rugby Union and that belonged on the other side of the display. Being the sort who likes things in order, I collected it to move it to its rightful place only to find the pile it rested on was a stack of books on Rugby League.

I wondered if it was an accident as these sports are similar in nature and RU apologists are always trying to put the smaller code of RL down. I dismissed it as a coincidence and took the RU back to its place. I went over to buy the items I came in for, made the purchase and started heading for the door, I glanced across at the books again. To my shock, the solitary RU book was back on the RL stack again.

I went back over and the same people were there looking over the books. I picked up the RU book again and scanned the eyes of the people to see if I could deduce the culprit. No no one gave a hint of their duplicity. I took the RU book back and put it where it belonged.


I then walked out the store and down the road. I wondered if they would simply do it again once I left but decided I was too busy to return and find out. The saying on the left went through my mind as I went on my way. It says much about the pettiness of some RU supporters in New Zealand that they would behave like that. I've met too many, as the continuing series will reveal. (Part two click here).

NZ National Competition : 2010-17 Summary

Eight years of competition so what do we learn? That Auckland is the hub of NZ RL, with Canterbury is not far behind as the main South Island RL centre. Considering the size of Canterbury RL compared to Auckland, they box above their weight. The Waicoa Bay - come - Waikato would be next. Wellington would traditionally have been third but it has fallen away recently.

Counties-Manukau narrowly lead in the league but come the finals, and Akarana dominate, making them the most successful team (for an overview of the teams, simply click here). For the 2017 season, click here. The 2010 season can be accessed by clicking here.

	League
				1st
	League		Tot	Title	Yrs	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10
	1	Counties-Manukau	148	2012	8	14	20	20	20	20	20	16	18
	2	Akarana Falcons	146	2010	8	20	18	14	18	18	18	20	20
	3	South Is/Canterb	126		8	16	16	18	16	12	16	18	14
	4	Waicoa Bay/Waik	110		8	18	12	16	14	14	14	10	12
	5	Wellington Orcas	102		8	8	14	12	10	16	12	14	16
	6	Central/Taranaki	68		7		6	10	12	8	10	12	10
	7	Northern Swords	50		6			8	8	10	8	8	8
	8	Bay Of Plenty	12		1	12
	9	Otago	10		1	10
	9	Southland	10		1		10
	11	Canterbury B	8		1		8
	Total		790	4	57	98	104	98	98	98	98	98	98
	Grand Finals
				1st
	Finalists		Tot	Title	Yrs	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10
	1	Akarana Falcons	36	2010	6	6	6			6	6	6	6
	2	Counties-Manukau	14	2015	5		2	6		2	2		2
	3	South Is/Canterb	10	2014	3			2	6			2
	4	Waicoa Bay/Waik	4		2	2			2
	Total		64	3	16	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
	Total
	Combined		Tot		Yrs	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10
	1	Akarana Falcons	182		8	26	24	14	18	24	24	26	26
	2	Counties-Manukau	164		8	14	22	26	20	22	22	18	20
	3	South Is/Canterb	134		8	16	16	20	22	12	16	18	14
	4	Waicoa Bay/Waik	114		8	20	12	16	16	14	14	10	12
	5	Wellington Orcas	102		8	8	14	12	10	16	12	14	16
	6	Central/Taranaki	68		7		6	10	12	8	10	12	10
	7	Northern Swords	50		6			8	8	10	8	8	8
	8	Bay Of Plenty	12		1	12
	9	Otago	10		1	10
	9	Southland	10		1		10
	11	Canterbury B	8		1		8
	Total		854		57	106	112	106	106	106	106	106	106