Super League Grand Final

The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League play-offs. The winning team receives the Super League Trophy and goes on to play the NRL champions in the World Club Challenge. As of 2024, the Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the man of the match, replacing the Harry Sunderland Trophy. The match is normally played at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester.

Only five clubs have won the Super League, as of 2025 - St Helens (10), Leeds Rhinos (8), Wigan Warriors (7), Bradford Bulls (4), and Hull KR (1). St Helens and Bradford Bulls each won one of their Super League titles before the Play Off and Grand Final system was introduced in 1998.

Hull KR are the current champions, after winning the 2025 Super League Grand Final, defeating Wigan Warriors 24–6, to win 3 trophies in the same year.

Background

Use of a play-off system to decide the Championship brought back a rugby league tradition that had fallen out of use in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The Premiership replaced the Championship final but it was to decide the Premiership winners, not the Championship winners. The Premiership was discontinued after the introduction of the Super League play-off series in 1998, ending with the Super League Grand Final, the concept inspired by the NRL Grand Final in Australia. The inaugural Grand Final match was played that year on Saturday 24 October, between Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos.^[1]

Venue

The Grand Final has been held on a Saturday at Old Trafford in Manchester every year since 1998. The only exception to this was the 2020 final, which as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic causing fixture congestion with Manchester United F.C.'s 2020-21 season, was rescheduled to be held at the KCOM Stadium in Kingston upon Hull. The match was also held on a Friday night for the first and only time in its history.^[2]

Trophy

The winners of the Super League collect the Grand Final rings and the team's name, captain and year are engraved into the trophy. The winners also collect £100,000 with the runner up collecting £50,000.^{[citation needed]}

Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after leading Leeds to seven of their Grand Final successes. St Helens contested the final six consecutive seasons (from 2006 until 2011) during which time they succeeded only once in lifting the trophy, against Hull F.C. in 2006, after which they suffered consecutive defeats against Leeds in 2007, 2008, 2009, Wigan in 2010 and Leeds once again in 2011.

Awards

The Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Super League Grand Final by the Rugby League Writers' Association. The award was introduced in tribute to Rob Burrow for the 2024 Grand Final; Burrow, who won eight grand finals with Leeds Rhinos and has been awarded the Harry Sunderland award himself twice (2007 & 2011), died in June 2024 of Motor Neurone Disease.^[3] The inaugural Rob Burrow Award was handed to Wigan Warriors stand-off Bevan French by Rob Burrow's father Geoff Burrow following the conclusion of the 2024 final on 12 October.^[4]

Before 2024, the trophy was named the Harry Sunderland Trophy in tribute to Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom. The Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death and was retained with the introduction of the Super League Grand Final in 1998.

Finals

The Super League Grand Final has been the championship-deciding game since Super League III in 1998:^[5]

Results

The Double

The Treble

The Quadruple

Pre-match entertainment

Match records

• Largest margin of victory: 31 points

Bradford 37–6 Wigan (2001)

• Smallest margin of victory: 1 point

St Helens 19–18 Bradford (2002)

• Highest scoring: 48 points

Leeds 32–16 St Helens (2011)

• Lowest scoring: 11 points

Wigan Warriors 9–2 Hull KR (2024)

• Highest attendance: 73,512

Leeds vs Wigan (2015)

• Lowest attendance: 43,533

Leeds vs Wigan (1998)

See also

• Championship Grand Final
• Million Pound Game
• Super League
• Super League play-offs
• Old Trafford
• Super League Trophy
• Harry Sunderland Trophy
• NRL Grand Final

References

1. ^ Bazeley, Marc; O'Connor, Terry; Morley, Adrian. "The story of the first Super League Grand Final". Sky Sports. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
2. ^ "Super League Grand Final: KCOM Stadium to hold showpiece event on 27 November". BBC Sport. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
3. ^ "Super League Grand Final's Harry Sunderland Trophy renamed Rob Burrow Award". Sky Sports. 7 February 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
4. ^ Darbyshire, Drew (13 October 2024). "The astonishing feat achieved by Wigan Warriors superstar Bevan French". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
5. ^ "Grand Final winners". Betfred Super League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
6. ^ Darbyshire, Drew (4 September 2018). "Blossoms to headline entertainment at Grand Final". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
7. ^ Olawumi, Ben (28 September 2023). "Super League confirm Grand Final entertainment with indie band set to rock Old Trafford; ticket sales already soaring". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
8. ^ Cook, Sam (21 July 2024). "RFL confirm chart-topping band to play Super League Grand Final". Serious About Rugby League. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
9. ^ https://www.superleague.co.uk/article/5444/the-pigeon-detectives-to-headline-the-grand-final-

External links

1. ^ Played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2. ^ Feeder were cancelled due to Manchester United not wanting a stage to be erected on a wet pitch