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RFL Wheelchair Super League

The RFL Wheelchair Super League is the highest level of wheelchair rugby league in England and Wales.

Wheelchair Super League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 RFL Wheelchair Super League
SportWheelchair rugby league
Founded2019; 5 years ago (2019)
No. of teams5
Country England
 Wales
Most recent
champion(s)		 Leeds Rhinos
Most titles Halifax Panthers
Leeds Rhinos
(2 titles)
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toRFL Wheelchair Championship
Domestic cup(s)Wheelchair Challenge Cup
Official websiteOfficial website

The Wheelchair Super League was founded in 2019, whilst the wheelchair competition was played in Great Britain prior to this, 2019 was the first official Super League season.

The league operates a promotion and relegation system with the second tier RFL Wheelchair Championship.

Starting in 2023, the previous year's league champions play the previous year's French Elite 1 champions in the European Club Challenge.

Background

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Plans were unveiled in 2011 for a Wheelchair Super League and Championship. The competition would feature Wigan, Halifax, Mersey Vikings, Bury Jigsaw and Wolverhampton Rhinos in the Super League, and Bradford Bulls, Mersey Vikings A, Wakefield, and Medway Dragons in the Championship. Small festival tournaments would also take place for clubs not yet ready to join the top divisions.[1] The competition ran from April to September when the Grand Final was held.[2] In 2012, the leagues were restructured with the Super League and Championship being replaced with a Premier League, Division One and Entry Division.[3] The lower tiers were later renamed as the "Championship" and "Championship 1" and the top tier became the Super League at the start of the 2019 season.[4]

Format

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Like the men's and women's running competition, the league operates a round robin system to determine the League Leaders' Shield before a playoff series leading to a grand final.

Teams

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The 2024 Super League teams are:[5]

Teams to have previously played in Super League are:[4]

  • Argonauts (2019–2021)[a]
  • Hereford Harriers (2019)
  • Leyland Warriors (2020–2021)
  •   North Wales Crusaders (2019–2022)
  •   St Helens (2019)
  •   Warrington Wolves (2022–2023)

Results

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The following is a summary of Wheelchair Super League seasons:[4]

Key

  Qualified for playoffs

Pre Super League seasons

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In the 2011 season, when the competition was also known as the "Super League", it was won by Bury Jigsaw who defeated Halifax in the Grand Final.[2][8][9] In 2013, the National Championship was decided using a three team round-robin format in which Bury Jigsaw defeated Halifax and Mersey Storm to win the title.[10][11] The same format was used for the finals day in 2014 when Leyland Warriors won the competition.[12] Halifax won the Premier League title in 2015 and retained it in 2016 when they beat Leeds Rhinos 68 points to 54 in the Grand Final.[13] Halifax won the title again in 2017, also by defeating Leeds in the final.[14] The 2018 Grand Final saw Leeds Rhinos beat Halifax 54 points to 44.[15][14]

2019 season

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The first Super League season saw six teams compete: Argonauts, Halifax, Hereford Harriers, Leeds Rhinos, North Wales Crusaders, and St Helens.

  • Grand Final
Leeds Rhinos   42–50   Halifax[16][17]
(19 September 2019; 19:00; Medway Park Sports Centre, Gillingham)

2020 season

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The 2020 season saw Leyland Warriors and Hull F.C. promoted to Super League, whilst Hereford Harriers and St Helens were relegated.[18] The 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]

POS CLUB P W L D PF PA DIFF PTS
1 Leyland Warriors 1 1 0 0 112 28 84 2
2 Argonauts 1 1 0 0 60 26 34 2
3   Leeds Rhinos 1 1 0 0 60 32 28 2
4   Halifax 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5   North Wales Crusaders 1 0 1 0 32 60 −28 0
6   Hull FC 2 0 2 0 54 172 −118 0

2021 season

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With the 2020 season being cancelled due to the pandemic, no new teams were included in the 2021 Super League.[20]

POS CLUB P W L D PF PA DIFF PTS
1   Leeds Rhinos (C) 9 9 0 0 622 206 416 18
2 Argonauts 5 4 1 0 224 110 114 8
3   Halifax Panthers 7 4 3 0 312 316 −4 8
4 Leyland Warriors 9 4 5 0 348 372 −24 8
5   North Wales Crusaders 5 0 5 0 103 322 −219 0
6   Hull FC 7 0 7 0 81 364 −283 0
Playoffs
  • Semi Finals
Leeds Rhinos   66–63   Halifax Panthers[21]
Leyland Warriors 76–38 Argonauts[21]
  • Grand Final
Leeds Rhinos   52–36 Leyland Warriors[22]
(19 September 2021; 3:15pm; Medway Park Sports Centre, Gillingham; Sky Sports Arena)[23][24]

2022 onwards

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2020s 2019−21 2022 2023 2024 2025

Titles

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Season Champions Score Runners-up League Leaders' Shield
2019   Halifax 50–42   Leeds Rhinos   Leeds Rhinos
2020 Tournament abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Leeds Rhinos 52–36 Leyland Warriors   Leeds Rhinos
2022   Halifax Panthers 52–48   Leeds Rhinos   Leeds Rhinos
2023   Wigan Warriors 50–42   Leeds Rhinos   Leeds Rhinos
2024   Leeds Rhinos 52–32   Halifax Panthers   Leeds Rhinos

Champions

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Club No. Years
  Halifax Panthers 2 2019, 2022
  Leeds Rhinos 2021, 2024
  Wigan Warriors 1 2023

League Leaders' Shield

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Club No. Years
  Leeds Rhinos 5 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Individual awards

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The UK Wheelchair Rugby League Awards were first held in January 2020 and included Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year, Club of the Year, Match Official of the Year, and the Chair's Award, and were based on performances in the Wheelchair Super League and the Challenge Cup.[25] The sport then suffered a period of disruption due to COVID-19 and the next awards ceremony was not held until early 2023 (for the 2022 season).[26] In 2023, three awards for the Wheelchair Super League were introduced as part of the Man of Steel Awards: the Coach of the Year, the Young Player of the Year, and the "Wheels of Steel" for the competition's outstanding player.[27]

Year Player of the Year
"Wheels of Steel"		 Young Player of the Year Coach of the Year Ref
Name Club Name Club Name Club
2019 Lewis King Argonauts Rob Hawkins   Halifax Panthers Steve Jones   North Wales Crusaders [28]
2020 Awards not held [26]
2021
2022 Rob Hawkins   Halifax Panthers Nathan Collins   Leeds Rhinos Phil Roberts   Wigan Warriors [26]
2023 Lewis King   London Roosters Josh Butler   Leeds Rhinos Tom Coyd   London Roosters [29]
2024 Josh Butler   Leeds Rhinos Rob Hawkins   Halifax Panthers Wayne Boardman   Halifax Panthers [30]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b London Roosters were formed in 2022 from players from the Argonauts, Gravesend Dynamite and Medway Dragons and replaced the Argonauts in the Super League[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ "New Wheelchair Rugby League structure unveiled". Sport Focus. 28 February 2011. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b "RFL Annual Report 2011" (PDF). p. 47. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2012.
  3. ^ "Wheelchair RL rolls into action". RFL. 27 April 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012.
  4. ^ a b c "Match Centre". RFL.
  5. ^ "New format confirmed for Betfred Wheelchair Super League". www.superleague.co.uk. Super League. 22 February 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Wheelchair Super League expands to seven teams for 2022 in World Cup year". BBC Sport. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Lewis King Interview | London Roosters". RFL. 18 March 2022. Event occurs at 1:30. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  8. ^ "SLTV: England Wheelchair prepare for French test". therfl.co.uk. 6 October 2011. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011.
  9. ^ "England and France clash in Wheelchair International". RFL. 3 October 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Wheelchair rugby league season reaches thrilling climax". Activity Alliance. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  11. ^ "News". Wheelchair Rugby League. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Warriors are just champion". RFL. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Halifax claim Wheelchair RL double". RFL. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Leeds Rhinos claim first-ever Grand Final title". RFL. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  15. ^ "Wheelchair Rugby League Grand Final 2018 – Full Game – Halifax v Leeds". YouTube. 3 October 2018.
  16. ^ "Wheelchair Super League Grand Final 2019 – Leeds Rhinos vs Halifax – 7pm KO". YouTube. 21 September 2019.
  17. ^ "Wheelchair finals are just grand for Halifax and Hull". RFL. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Wheelchair Rugby League to be launched for 2020". RFL. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  19. ^ "Our League and Twitch to show Wheelchair Super League openers". RFL. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  20. ^ "Wheelchair Super League round-up". RFL. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  21. ^ a b "Leeds Rhinos and Leyland Warriors reach Wheelchair Grand Final". RFL. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  22. ^ "Leeds Rhinos win Wheelchair Super League Grand Final". 19 September 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  23. ^ "Wheelchair Super League Grand Final: Leeds Rhinos take on Leyland Warriors, live on Sky Sports". Sky Sports. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  24. ^ "Medway Park to host the Wheelchair Rugby Grand Final live on Sky Sports". Medway Council. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  25. ^ "Golden Boot to be presented at first UK Wheelchair Rugby League Awards ceremony". RFL. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  26. ^ a b c "World Cup winner Hawkins takes Wheelchair Rugby League Player of the Year Award". Inside the games. 5 March 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  27. ^ "Betfred Wheelchair Super League Awards Nominees Confirmed". RFL. 29 September 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  28. ^ "Jack Brown wins first-ever Wheelchair RL Golden Boot Award". RFL. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  29. ^ "Bevan French: Wigan Warriors stand-off wins 2023 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel award". BBC Sport. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  30. ^ "RL Awards Round-Up as Lewis claims Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel". RFL. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
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