TheEngage Super League XVIwas the official name for the 2011 Super League season.[2]Fourteen teams competed over 27 rounds, after which the highest finishing teams entered the play-offs to compete for a place in the Grand Final and a chance to win the championship and the Super League Trophy.Leeds Rhinosclaimed their fifth Super League crown, tying the record previously held bySt. Helens,whilst theWarrington Wolveslifted the League Leaders' Shield.
| Super League XVI | |
|---|---|
| League | Super League |
| Duration | 27 Rounds |
| Teams | 14 |
| Highest attendance | 24,057 Wigan WarriorsvsSt Helens (22 April) |
| Lowest attendance | 1,766 HarlequinsvsCeltic Crusaders (20 February) |
| Average attendance | 9,615[1] |
| Attendance | 990,439[1] |
| Broadcast partners | Sky Sports Nine Network Orange Sport America One Sport Klub |
| 2011 season | |
| Champions | Leeds Rhinos 5thSuper Leaguetitle 8thBritish title |
| League Leaders | Warrington Wolves |
| Runners-up | St. Helens |
| Man of Steel |  Rangi Chase |
| Top point-scorer(s) |  Jamie Foster(330) |
| Top try-scorer(s) | Ryan Hall(28) |
| Licences | |
| Licence awarded to | Widnes Vikings |
| Licence removed from | Crusdaers |
The season kicked off on 12 February with the Annual "Millennium Magic Weekend", which was brought forward from its usual slot in May.
The 2011 season included the introduction of theRugby League International Origin Match,wherein theEngland national rugby league teamplayed the RL Exiles, an outfit made up of Australians and New Zealanders playing for Super League clubs. This contest is intended to henceforth become an annual fixture to replace the previously existing annual test against theFrance national rugby league team,due to the onesidedness of such contests in recent years.
Teams
editSuper League XVI was the third year of alicensed Super League.Under this system, promotion and relegation between Super League andChampionshipwas abolished, and 14 teams were granted licences subject to certain criteria. All twelve teams from Super League XIII were given places, as well as former Super League teamSalford City RedsandCrusaders.This was the final year of the initial licensing cycle; a new set of licenceswould be awarded for 2012–14.
Geographically, the vast majority of teams in Super League are based in the north of England, four teams –Warrington,St. Helens,SalfordandWigan– to the west ofthe Penninesin Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and seven teams to the east in Yorkshire –Huddersfield,Bradford,Wakefield Trinity,Leeds,Castleford,Hull F.C.andHull Kingston Rovers.Catalans Dragonsare the only team based in France and are outside of the UK,Crusadersare the only team inWales,andHarlequinsare the only team to be based in a capital city (London).
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Reigning Super League champions | |
| DefendingChallenge CupChampions | |
The maps below indicate the locations of teams that competed in Super League XVI.
Rules
editRule changes
edit- A new stricter variation on the ruck and holding down was introduced in 2011. When the referee calls "held" and "move", the tackle is deemed to be completed, and any further infringement from that point on in the ruck is penalised.
Operational rules
edit- All Super League clubs agreed to operate within the £1.7million salary cap for their top 25 first-tier players.
- Quota spots were reduced to 5, meaning only 5 players could be from abroad. However, players from France, Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea all count as federation-trained and thus do not count against the quota.
Table
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Warrington Wolves(L)
|
27 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 1072 | 401 | +671 | 44 | Play-offs |
| 2 |  Wigan Warriors
|
27 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 852 | 432 | +420 | 43 | |
| 3 |  St Helens
|
27 | 17 | 3 | 7 | 782 | 515 | +267 | 37 | |
| 4 |  Huddersfield Giants
|
27 | 16 | 0 | 11 | 707 | 524 | +183 | 32 | |
| 5 |  Leeds Rhinos(C)
|
27 | 15 | 1 | 11 | 757 | 603 | +154 | 31 | |
| 6 |  Catalans Dragons
|
27 | 15 | 1 | 11 | 689 | 626 | +63 | 31 | |
| 7 |  Hull Kingston Rovers
|
27 | 14 | 0 | 13 | 713 | 692 | +21 | 28 | |
| 8 |  Hull F.C.
|
27 | 13 | 1 | 13 | 718 | 569 | +149 | 27 | |
| 9 |  Castleford Tigers
|
27 | 12 | 2 | 13 | 664 | 808 | −144 | 26 | |
| 10 |  Bradford Bulls
|
27 | 9 | 2 | 16 | 570 | 826 | −256 | 20 | |
| 11 |  Salford City Reds
|
27 | 10 | 0 | 17 | 542 | 809 | −267 | 20 | |
| 12 |  Harlequins
|
27 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 524 | 951 | −427 | 13 | |
| 13 |  Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
|
27 | 7 | 0 | 20 | 453 | 957 | −504 | 10[a] | |
| 14 |  Crusaders
|
27 | 6 | 0 | 21 | 527 | 857 | −330 | 8[b] |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(C)Champions;(L)League Leaders' Shieldwinners
Notes:
Play-offs
editThe play-offs commenced following the conclusion of the 27-round regular season. To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, Super League uses its uniqueplay-off system.The finals concluded with the2011 Super League Grand Final.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time (Local) | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| QUALIFYING AND ELIMINATION FINALS | ||||||||
| Warrington Wolves | 47– 0 | Huddersfield Giants | 16 September 2011, 20:00 | Halliwell Jones Stadium | Steve Ganson | 10,006 | ||
| Catalans Dragons | 56- 6 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 17 September 2011, 19:45 | Stade Gilbert Brutus | James Child | 8,413 | ||
| Leeds Rhinos | 42– 10 | Hull F.C. | 18 September 2011, 17:15 | Headingley Stadium | Ben Thaler | 9,075 | ||
| Wigan Warriors | 18 -26 | St. Helens | 18 September 2011, 14:45 | DW Stadium | Phil Bentham | 12,893 | ||
| PRELIMINARY SEMI-FINALS | ||||||||
| Huddersfield Giants | 28 –34 | Leeds Rhinos | 23 September 2011, 20:00 | Galpharm Stadium | Phil Bentham | 7,872 | ||
| Wigan Warriors | 44– 0 | Catalans Dragons | 25 September 2011, 17:00 | DW Stadium | Steve Ganson | 6,790 | ||
| SEMI-FINALS | ||||||||
| Warrington Wolves | 24 –26 | Leeds Rhinos | 30 September 2011, 20:00 | Halliwell Jones Stadium | Steve Ganson | 12,074 | ||
| St. Helens | 26- 18 | Wigan Warriors | 1 October 2011, 18:00 | Stobart Stadium | Phil Bentham | 9.421 | ||
| GRAND FINAL | ||||||||
| Leeds Rhinos | 32– 16 | St. Helens | 8 October 2011, 18:00 | Old Trafford, Manchester | Phil Bentham | 69,107 | ||
| 2011 Super League play-offs bracket | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Week 1. Qualifying/Elimination play-offs: Fixtures decided by regular reason finishing positions. Higher ranked teams play lower ranked teams. Higher ranked teams receive home ground advantage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Statistics
editThe following are the top points scorers in the Super League during the 2011 season. Statistics also include tries and goals scored in the play-offs.[4]
|
Most tries
|
Most goals
|
Most points
| Player | Team | Tries | Goals | DGs | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie Foster | St. Helens | 21 | 123 | 0 | 330 |
| Brett Hodgson | Warrington Wolves | 18 | 121 | 0 | 314 |
| Pat Richards | Wigan Warriors | 21 | 115 | 0 | 314 |
| Kevin Sinfield | Leeds Rhinos | 2 | 138 | 2 | 286 |
| Scott Dureau | Catalans Dragons | 11 | 92 | 5 | 233 |
| Patrick Ah Van | Bradford Bulls | 9 | 87 | 0 | 210 |
| Danny Tickle | Hull F.C. | 9 | 83 | 0 | 202 |
| Danny Brough | Huddersfield Giants | 8 | 82 | 1 | 197 |
| Kirk Dixon | Castleford Tigers | 7 | 84 | 0 | 196 |
| Luke Gale | Harlequins | 8 | 75 | 2 | 184 |
Awards
editAwards were presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs:[5]
- Man of Steel:Rangi Chase
- Coach of the year:Trent Robinson
- Engage Super League club of the year:Catalan Dragons
- Young player of the year:Jonny Lomax
- Carnegie community player of the year:Lee Radford
- FrontlineFairplay Indexwinners:Hull F.C.
- Metre-maker:James Roby
- Hit Man:Danny Houghton
- Mike Gregory Spirit of Rugby League Award:Steve Prescott
This season theEngage Mutual Charity Man of the Match Awardscheme was undertaken as well.
Media
editTelevision
edit2011 was the last year of a three-year broadcasting agreement between the RFL andBSkyBforSky Sportsto screen matches exclusively live within the United Kingdom.[6]The deal for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 season was worth in excess of £50 million.[7][8]
Sky Sportscontinued coverage in the UK that saw two live matches broadcast each week – one on Friday night at 7:30 pm and another usually on Saturday evenings. Regular commentators wereEddie HemmingsandMike Stephensonwith summarisers includingPhil Clarke,Barrie McDermottandTerry O'Connor.Highlights were shown onBoots N' All,shown on Sky Sports and rebroadcast on the Internet.
BBC Sportbroadcast a highlights programme called theSuper League Show,usually presented byHarry Gration.The BBC elected to broadcast this only to theNorth West,Yorkshire & North Midlands,North East & Cumbria,andEast Yorkshire & Lincolnshireregions on a Sunday. A national repeat was broadcast overnight during the week; the BBC Director of Sport, Richard Moseley, commented that this move was in response to the growing popularity and awareness of the sport, and the large number of requests from people who want to watch it elsewhere in the UK. End of season play-offs are shown across the whole country in a highlights package. Super League Show is available for streaming or downloaded using theBBC iPlayerin the UK.
Orange Sport TV in France aired every Catalans Dragons home match either live or via tape delay.
Internationally Super League is shown live onShowtime Sports(Middle East),Sky Sport(New Zealand),NTV+(Russia),SportKlub(Eastern Europe).
2011 was also the last of a three-year deal in which theNine Networkin Australia showed up to 70 live games from Super League over the life of the contract.[9][10]
Radio
editBBC Coverage:
- BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (National DAB Digital Radio) normally carry one Super League commentary a week on Friday Nights.
- BBC Manchester will carry commentary of Wigan and Salford whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Merseyside.
- BBC Humberside will have full match commentary of all Hull KR and Hull matches.
- BBC Leeds carry commentaries featuring Bradford, Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
- BBC Merseyside (AM/DAB only) will have commentary on every St Helens match whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Manchester.
- BBC London 94.9 airs all Harlequins games home & away, mainly via online streaming only.
Commercial Radio Coverage:
- Wish FM will carry commentaries of Wigan & St Helens matches.
- Wire FM will do full match commentary on Warrington Home & Away.
- BCB 106.6 (Bradford Community Broadcasting) have full match commentary of Bradford Bulls home and away.
- Yorkshire Radio increases its coverage to air 50 games in the 2011 season.
- Radio Warrington (Online Station) all Warrington home games and some away games.
- Radio Marseillette covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French).
- Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).
- KCFM Hull will no longer be offering commentary of Hull KR and Hull matches.
All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.
Internet
editESPN3has worldwide broadband rights.
Starting from Thursday 9 April 2009, all of the matches shown on Sky Sports will also be available live online viaLivestationeverywhere in the world excluding the US, Puerto Rico, UK, Ireland, France, Monaco, Australia and New Zealand.List of Super League games available on Livestation.com
References
edit- ^ab"Sky Sports - Super League Stats".Sky Sports.Retrieved1 March2010.[failed verification]
- ^"engage extends Super League deal".engagesl.com.Engage Mutual Assurance. Archived fromthe originalon 10 July 2011.Retrieved20 April2009.
- ^BBC Sport (26 September 2011)."St Helens opt for Huddersfield Giants in Club Call".BBC Sport. Archived fromthe originalon 21 September 2010.Retrieved26 September2011.
- ^Tim Butcher; Daniel Spencer.Gillette Rugby League Yearbook 2011-12.League Publications Limited.ISBN978-1-901347-24-1.
- ^"Man of Steel on SLTV".Super League. 6 October 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 25 August 2012.Retrieved6 October2009.
- ^Sky Sports (26 November 2007)."Super League deal".Sky Sports.Retrieved26 July2009.
- ^James Chapelard (28 July 2008)."Licence is Wilkinson's reward for years of support".Crain's Manchester Business. Archived fromthe originalon 23 September 2015.Retrieved26 July2009.
- ^John Ledger (27 November 2007)."Super League cashes in".Sky Sports.Retrieved26 July2009.
- ^engage Super League (Press Release) (15 November 2008)."Channel Nine to show English Super League and Challenge Cup".RLeague.com. Archived fromthe originalon 16 October 2014.Retrieved16 November2008.
- ^Glendinning, Matthew (17 November 2008)."Channel Nine inks RFL deals".SportsBusiness. Archived fromthe originalon 26 May 2010.Retrieved26 July2009.