Super League XXV

Super League XXV, known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the 25th season of Super League and 126th season of rugby league in Great Britain. St Helens are the reigning champions going into Super League XXV. The team that finishes bottom will be relegated to the Championship. It consists of twelve professional rugby league teams: ten from England, one from France and, for the first time, one from Canada.

Super League XXV
LeagueSuper League
Duration22 Rounds
Teams12
Highest attendance19,599
Hull FC Vs Hull KR
(7 February 2020)[lower-alpha 1]
Lowest attendance3,350
Salford Red Devils Vs Huddersfield Giants (14 February 2020)[lower-alpha 1]
Average attendance9,090[lower-alpha 1]
Attendance327,213; as of 15 March 2020 (Round 7)[lower-alpha 1]
Broadcast partners Sky Sports
BBC Sport
SLTV
Fox League
beIN Sports
Fox Soccer Plus
Sport Klub
Sportsnet World
2020 season
Biggest home win Leeds Rhinos 66–12 Toronto Wolfpack (5 March 2020)
Biggest away win Hull FC 4–38 Warrington Wolves (12 March 2020)

Since 16 March, the league has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual Magic Weekend which was scheduled to be played at St James' Park, Newcastle over the weekend of 23–24 May, was postponed on 21 April, due to the ongoing events.[1] while the Grand Final is scheduled to be played at Old Trafford, Manchester sometime in November.[2]

Effects of the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic

Fixture postponement

On 16 March 2020, the RFL announced that all rugby league games had been suspended initially, until at least April, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[3] However, on 24 March, Super League clubs held a Board meeting via conference call, attended in part by senior officials of the Rugby Football League, for further discussion of how to respond to the current public health crisis. It was agreed that until further notice, all rugby league fixtures will be suspended indefinitely.[4]

On 1 April 2020, Toronto Wolfpack issued a statement regarding their first 3 fixtures scheduled to be played at Lamport Stadium in Canada. Because of the ongoing events with the suspension of rugby league, and the corona virus pandemic events. The decision to confirm these postponements has been taken, following regular consultation with the Wolfpack, and given the specific issues around international travel to and from Canada.[5]

On 21 April, the RFL announced that the Magic Weekend fixtures scheduled to take place at St James' Park had been postponed due to the current lockdown situation.[6]

Season Resumption

On 26 June 2020, it was announced that the competition will resume on Sunday 2 August 2020, with three games live and exclusive on Sky Sports.

During a Super League Board meeting, it was decided that the revised season will comprise of a further 15 rounds of action followed by a Top Four semi-final play-off. The winners of the semi-finals will contest the Betfred Super League Grand Final, taking place towards the end of November 2020.[7]


Super League and Sky Sports Agree on 2020 Right Fees

On 22 June, it was announced that The RFL and Sky Sports had reached agreement over clubs’ 2020 TV revenues, which recognises the huge disruption to this season’s fixture calendar, and the significant impact it has had on broadcasting schedules.

The agreement is subject to the sport resuming when government and public health advice allows.[8]

Teams
Locations of Super League XXV teams
Locations of Super League XXV teams
Locations of Super League XXV teams

The season features eleven of the twelve teams that participated in Super League XXIV. London Broncos were relegated after finishing bottom of Super League XXIV.[9] They are replaced by the 2019 RFL Championship winners Toronto Wolfpack, who are playing in Super League for the first time since being founded in 2017.[10] Due to their home ground Lamport Stadium being unavailable during the Canadian winter, Toronto were to play their first ten games in England, after initial plans fell through to play three home games in European cities such as Dublin, Republic of Ireland or Barcelona, Spain.[11]

The traditional two matches played on Good Friday and Easter Monday would be reduced to only one over the Easter weekend due to concerns over player welfare.[11] For the first time, all of the final fixtures of the season will kick off at the same time on the same day to ensure that no team has any advantage in terms of fighting against relegation or pushing for a play-off place.[12]

A change to the rules sees clubs able to name a squad of 21 players two days prior to matchdays rather than 19 in previous seasons. However, should a club add a player to the announced squad, they will lose one of their eight interchanges for the match in question (players on dual registration deals with lower league clubs are exempt).[13]

Legend
  Reigning Champions
  Previous season League Leaders
  Promoted
Team 2019 position Stadium Capacity City/Area
Castleford Tigers
(2020 season)		 5th The Mend-A-Hose Jungle 12,000 [14] Castleford, West Yorkshire
Catalans Dragons
(2020 season)		 7th Stade Gilbert Brutus 13,000 [15] Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Huddersfield Giants
(2020 season)		 10th John Smith's Stadium 24,121[16] Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull
(2020 season)		 6th KCOM Stadium 25,400[17] Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Hull Kingston Rovers
(2020 season)		 11th Lightstream Stadium 12,225[18] Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leeds Rhinos
(2020 season)		 8th Headingley 21,062 [19] Leeds, West Yorkshire
Salford Red Devils
(2020 season)		 3rd (Runners up) AJ Bell Stadium 12,000[20] Salford, Greater Manchester
    St. Helens
(2020 season)		 1st (League leaders & champions) Totally Wicked Stadium 18,000[21] St. Helens, Merseyside
  Toronto Wolfpack
(2020 season)		 Promoted Lamport Stadium 9,600[22] Toronto, Canada
Wakefield Trinity
(2020 season)		 9th Beaumont Legal Stadium 9,333[23] Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Warrington Wolves
(2020 season)		 4th Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,200[24] Warrington, Cheshire
Wigan Warriors
(2020 season)		 2nd DW Stadium 25,133[25] Wigan, Greater Manchester

Results
Main article: Super League XXV results

Golden Point Extra Time

On 25 November 2019, it was confirmed that Super League may become an even faster game in 2020, following the successful introduction of the shot clock.[26]

In 2019, the shot clock ruling gave 35 seconds to restart the match from a scrum and 30 seconds from a drop-out.

This season, there will be a further five-second reduction - 30 seconds for a scrum, and 25 seconds for a drop-out.

Game 1 (Wakefield v Hull FC)

The first game to go to golden-point, was the round 6 game between Wakefield and Hull F.C. on 6 March 2020. Hull won the match 27–26, thanks to a Marc Sneyd drop goal, after the scores were tied at 26-all after 80 minutes.

Table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Wigan Warriors 7 5 0 2 172 92 +80 10 League Leaders' Shield/ Play-off Semi Final
2 Castleford Tigers 7 5 0 2 158 104 +54 10 Play-off Semi Final
3 Leeds Rhinos 5 4 0 1 180 60 +120 8
4 Warrington Wolves 7 4 0 3 116 104 +12 8
5 Huddersfield Giants 5 4 0 1 88 78 +10 8
6 St. Helens 6 3 0 3 136 85 +51 6
7 Catalans Dragons 4 3 0 1 112 93 +19 6
8 Hull FC 7 3 0 4 145 176 −31 6
9 Wakefield Trinity 5 2 0 3 93 109 −16 4
10 Salford Red Devils 7 2 0 5 94 164 −70 4
11 Hull KR 6 1 0 5 84 169 −85 2
12 Toronto Wolfpack 6 0 0 6 70 214 −144 0 Relegated to Championship
Updated to match(es) played on 15 March 2020. Source:

Player statistics
  • As of Round 7 (15 March 2020)

Discipline

Steve Prescott Man of Steel

The format for choosing the winner of the Steve Prescott Man of Steel award, remains the same for this season. As per the previous season it was voted on by Super League players. A 21 man panel of former players will choose the three best players from each weekly round game. 1st place is awarded 3 points, 2nd 2 points, and 3rd 1 point. The leaderboard will be public until mid-July, when it will be hidden until the Awards Ceremony in October.

Leaderboard/Top 10 Contenders
Rank Player Club Total
1 Paul McShane Castleford Tigers 15
2= Aidan Sezer Huddersfield Giants 9
Jonny Lomax St Helens
4= Liam Farrell Wigan Warriors 8
Bevan French Wigan Warriors
Jackson Hastings Wigan Warriors
7 Matty Ashton Warrington Wolves 7
8= Sam Tomkins Catalans Dragons 6
Niall Evalds Salford Red Devils
Blake Austin Warrington Wolves

As of Round 7 - (15 March 2020)

Attendances
  1. until government directives change, Betfred Super League fixtures will take place behind closed doors at a small number of neutral venues that meet the stringent guidance from both Government and the Game’s clinical advisory group.
    (Not including games played up until 15 march 2020)
  2. Toronto's first home game will be played on TBA

References
  1. "Hull FC learn their Magic Weekend 2020 fate as fixtures announced". Hull Daily Mail. 3 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  2. "St Helens' Super League fixtures for 2020". St Helens Reporter. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  3. "Super League fixtures Suspended until April". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  4. "Season Suspension Update". superleague.co.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  5. "Wolfpack Fixture Update". superleague.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  6. "Magic Weekend postponed". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  7. "restart date announced". superleague.co.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  8. https://www.rugby-league.com/article/56860/super-league-and-sky-sports-agree-on--rights-fees
  9. Heppenstall, Ross (2019-09-13). "London Broncos relegated from Super League after Wakefield defeat". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  10. Bower, Aaron (2019-11-04). "Toronto to kick off with Headingley 'home game' against Castleford". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  11. "Super League 2020 fixtures: St Helens start v Salford, Toronto open v Castleford". BBC Sport. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  12. "The big changes coming to the Super League fixture schedule in 2020". Hull Daily Mail. 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  13. "Clubs will lose interchange if pre-named squads are changed from 2020". BBC Sport. 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  14. "The Jungle (Wheldon Road)". castlefordtigers.com.
  15. "Stade Gilbert Brutus". catalan dragons.com.
  16. "Kirklees Stadium". johnsmithsstadium.com.
  17. "KCOM Stadium". kcomstadium.com/.
  18. "Craven Park, Hull". hullkr.co.uk.
  19. "Headingley Rugby Stadium". therhinos.co.uk.
  20. "AJ Bell Stadium". ajbellstadium.co.uk/.
  21. "Totally Wicked Stadium". saintsrlfc.com.
  22. "Lamport Stadium". toronto.ca.
  23. "Belle Vue (Wakefield)". wakefieldtrinity.com.
  24. "Halliwell Jones Stadium". halliwelljonesstadium.co.uk/.
  25. "DW Stadium". dwstadium.com.
  26. BBC Sport (25 November 2019). "Super League: Five second shot clock reduction to make games faster for regular season from 2020". BBC Sport.
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