The Super League
The Super League is the top-tier professional rugby league club competition in Europe. The league replaced the RFL Championship in 1996 as England's top flight of professional rugby league, changing the season from winter to summer and opening up the league to Europe. Consisting of 14 teams (13 from England and one from France), there is no relegation or promotion to or from the Super League until the next licences are awarded.
Whilst the team which finishes the 27-round regular season at the top of the table are awarded the League Leader's Shield, the full Super League champions are the team who win the Grand Final. Each team in the Super League plays 27 games between February and September, 13 home games, 13 away games and a Magic Weekend game at a neutral venue, with the top eight teams entering the end-of-season play-offs in a bid to reach the Grand Final and the chance to become Super League champions.
With six Super League titles, Leeds Rhinos hold the record for most Super League titles, lifting the trophy in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, with captain Kevin Sinfield holding the record for captaining the most Super League title winning teams after leading out the Rhinos in all six of their Grand Final triumphs.
The Super League champions play against the winners of the Australia/New Zealand Competition National Rugby League in the annual World Club Challenge, which has been won three times by Super League clubs Wigan Warriors, Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos.
The Man of Steel Award is an award handed out to the best player of the season in Super League. The award is a continuation of the one given out before the Super League replaced the RFL Championship in 1996. Leeds hooker David Ward won the first award 1977. Ellery Hanley holds the record for most Man of Steel Awards with three, after being named the league's best player in 1985, 1987 and 1989.
In 2006, French club Catalans Dragons (also named UTC or Les Catalans) from Perpignan joined the Super League, becoming the second French team to compete in the league following one of the league's founding clubs Paris Saint-Germain, who played just two seasons before folding following the start of the league.
In a bid to keep the Super League competitive, the 14 teams in the league operate under a salary cap system that will calculate a club's salary cap position at the start of and throughout the season. The combined earnings of the club's top 25 players must not exceed £1.65million, with fines handed out to clubs breaking their cap.
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