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February 5, 2015

Rugby League: 2015 Super League XX location-map, with all-time English RL titles list & attendance figures from 2014./ Plus a season-preview article on 2015 Super League XX, written by James Nalton./ Plus illustrations of the 4 semifinalists from last season, including 2014 champions St Helens RLFC.

Filed under: Rugby,Rugby>England — admin @ 8:16 am

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Rugby League: Super League XX location-map, with all-time RL titles list & attendance figures from 2014




Super League official site (superleague.co.uk).
Fixtures.

From the Love Rugby League site, Super League XX predictions (by James Gordon & Zach Wilson at loverugbyleague.com/blog).

New format explained at the following link…superleague.co.uk/#RL New Era.

    2015 Super League XX Preview

By James Nalton
Defending champions St Helens head into Super League XX under a new head coach – club legend Keiron Cunningham – and retain their status as the good outside bet they were in last season’s Grand Final. Their opponents that day, Wigan Warriors, are favourites to take the crown this time around, in a year which is being dubbed a new era for the sport of rugby league.

With the new era comes a new format, which looks confusing on first glance, but aims to provide a sustainable system of promotion and relegation in which a team dropping to a lower division won’t be crippled either on the pitch, or on the balance sheet. It also means that most teams will have something to play for from the first game till the last.

It’s the first time since the end of 2007 that promotion and relegation has been used, although Bradford Bulls and London Broncos were relegated at the end of 2014 to facilitate the move to a 12 team Super League.

The clubs discussed the idea at length before implementing the changes, with the Chairman of Super League Europe, Brian Barwick, commenting that:

“The clubs were unanimous in their view that Super League should become a 12-team competition from 2015 and that there should be meaningful movement between Super League and the Championships.”

The season culminates in the end of season play-offs, and the “Super 8s”, in which the 24 teams from the Super League and Championship are split into three groups of 8, based on their league position, to decide who wins what and who stays in which division.

The first eight will play for the Super League crown, with the top four after seven games going on to the Super League play-offs to decide the winner.

The second eight will fight for a Super League place next season, with the top three from this group claiming a spot in 2016, and the teams finishing 4th and 5th playing off in “The Million Pound Game” to decide the fourth team who’ll make the top league.

The favourites Wigan boast a squad of impressive local players, with many coming through the club’s own academy production line. Their faith in this system has seen them assign the number six jersey to 20-year-old George Williams, rather than look to replace departing Australian stand-off, Blake Green, with another overseas player.

Local academy players Joe Burgess and Dom Crosby were also rewarded with numbers in the first XIII, taking the number 5 and 8 shirts respectively. They join a whole host of players in the Wigan squad who originate from Lancashire’s rugby heartlands, with many joining the club from local amateur side Wigan St Patricks.

Indeed, the entire top division has gone back to its roots in the working class towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, with the only exception being Catalans Dragons, who are based in the south of France – another traditional league stronghold.

James Nalton is a writer based in Liverpool, England, whose sportswriting focuses on football tactics, emerging talents in world football, and rugby league. He owns several websites covering football around the globe, and has also written for the likes of Squawka, Sambafoot, and EPL Index. James also writes music reviews for local publications, and has a degree in Music Production from The University of Huddersfield. You can follow him on Twitter @JDNalton.

Below are club-profile illustrations for each of the 4 semifinalists in 2014 Super League XIX (champions St Helens, runner-up Wigan Warriors, and quarterfinals winners Catalans Dragons and Warrington Wolves). Included in each illustration is: club info, stadium photos and info, major titles listed, average attendance from the last 4 seasons (2011-14), club history with stadiums and derbies noted, recent home jerseys shown, and photos & stats of top players in 2014…

    2014 Super League XIX champions: St Helens RLFC…

St Helens’ 2014 average attendance: 12,120 per game (3rd best in Super League).
st-helens-rlfc_langtree-park_knowsley-road_t-makinson_j-roby_2014super-league_xix_champions_m_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Aerial view of Langtree Park, photo unattributed (uploaded by RMB2001) at skyscrapercity.com/thread [ST HELENS | Langtree Park Stadium | 18,000 | Completed ]. Street-level photo of Langtree Park by barr-construction.co.uk/barr-construction-news. Action photo (of 1st game at Langtree Park Jan 2012), photo by Action Images via telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/Sell-out-crowd-watch-St-Helens-play-first-match-at-Langtree-Park.
Aerial photo of Knowsley Road (from 2008) by Webbaviation.co.uk (UK aerial photography), at webbaviation.co.uk/sports/gallery2/v/football-stadia/sthelens. 2015 St Helens home jersey, photo unattributed at newrugbykits.com. Photo of St Helens fans in the stands at Langtree Park (from 2013), photo by sthelensstar.co.uk. Thomas Makinson (2014 top try scorer for St Helens), action photo by liverpoolecho.co.uk. James Roby (2014 top tackler for St Helens), photo by swipix.com via bbc.com/rugby-league. Trophy celebration with St Helens captain Paul Wellens lifting the trophy, photo by Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/st-helens-14-6-wigan.

    2014 Super League XIX runner-up: Wigan Warriors RLFC…

Wigan Warriors’ 2014 average attendance: 14,102 per game (2nd best in Super League).
wigan-warriors_central-park1902-99_dw-stadium_josh-charnley_joe-burgess_n_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Wigan Warriors 2015 home (retro) jersey, photo from store.wiganwarriors.com/home-shirt-2015-cherry-and-white. Central Park (Wigan), photo [circa late 1990s] by Brian Bradshaw at wiganworld.co.uk/photo-gallery. DW Stadium, exterior aerial telephoto shot with surrounding area in Wigan [aerial view to the South], photo by Dave Green/ OyPhotos.co.uk via skyscrapercity.com/forums via wiganworld.co.uk. Supporters in the rain with umbrellas at Wigan Town square for trophy celebration [photo circa 2011], photo from wiganwarriors.com. Josh Charnley, photo by Chris Brunskill/Getty Images Europe at bettingpro.com via zimbio.com. Joe Burgess, photo by Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/article-2789495/sam-tomkins-backs-joe-burgess.

    2014 Super League semifinalist: Catalans Dragons (aka Ville de Perpignan Dragons RLFC)…

Catalans Dragons’ 2014 average attendance: 7,667 per game (7th best in Super League).
catalans-dragons_stade-gilbert-brutus_morgan-escare_t_.gif
Photo credits above –
Catalans Dragons 2014 jersey, photo from rlshop.co.uk/catalans-dragons-home-shirt-2014. Aerial view, unattributed at info-stades.fr/forum/rugby-top14/perpignan-stade-gilbert-brutus-dragons-catalans-t1269.html. Photo at front gate, Michael at flickr.com/photos/gumptard/2322189456/. Photo of Dragons supporters, at catalansdragons.com/en/articles-6/6-17-fans-associations/. Morgan Escaré, photo by swipix.com via bbc.com/sport/rugby-league.

    2014 Super League semifinalist: Warrington Wolves RLFC…

Warrington Wolves’ 2014 average attendance: 9,870 per game (5th best in Super League).
warrington-wolves_halliwell-jones-stadium_joel-monaghan-top-try-scorer2014_n_.gif
Photo and Image credits – Warrington 2014 home jersey, photo from rlshop.co.uk/superleague/warringtonwolves. Halliwell Jones Stadium, photo unattributed at examiner.co.uk/sport/rugby-league. WWRLFC crest (sign on stadium), photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com. Warrington fans, photo from warrington-worldwide.co.uk. Joel Monaghan (top scorer with 28 tries in 2014 SL XIX), both photos by: (on left), Gareth Copley/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com; (on right) Gareth Copley/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.som.


Notes on the map page…
The map page features, on the far left, a map of England and a map of France (which shows the location and crest of Super League club Catalans Dragons). At the top centre is an enlarged inset map of Northern England (which shows the locations and crests of 11 of the 12 Super League clubs). At the top right is the all-time English rugby league national titles list (1895-96; 1902-03 to 1914-15; 1919-20 to 1938-39; 1941-42 to 2014/[Super League established in 1996/SL playoffs began in 1998]). At the lower centre is 2014 attendance data for Super League XX clubs. Included in the attendance data are league averages for crowd size in the last 3 seasons (in SL XVII, XVIII, XIX/2012, 2013, 2014).
Here are the Super League league average attendance numbers for the last 3 seasons…
2012: 9,048.
2013: 8,570.
2014: 8,153.
The re-introduction of promotion/relegation in Super League was probably needed, because, while Super League attendances overall have not plummeted, they certainly are on a downward trend. In 2014, average crowds in Super League were down 4.1% (from 2013), and were down 9.9% from two seasons ago. That has been a drop-off of 895 per game. With the relegation of abysmally-drawing London Broncos, plus some hopefully tight relegation dogfights this season, Super League XX will most likely see an uptick in the league average crowd size.


Sources for map:
Thanks to the following…
-Titles, Rugby Football League Championship/League Leaders and Champions; Super League/Super League Champions (en.wikipedia.org).
-Attendance, 2014 and 2013 figures from this article at Total RL.com, totalrl.com/opinion-super-league-attendance-drop-cause-concern;
also, bbc.co.uk/rugby league reports via 2014 Super League season results (en.wikipedia.org), for Hull KR Percent Capacity figure (had to do it manually because of stadium-expansion midaway through the in April 2014).
___

Thanks to League express at Total RL.com for the attendance figures for 2013 & 2014 {here}.
Thanks to very much to Hanigan for 2012 attendance figures {2012 SL league average and club average attendances from Hanigan at totalrl.com/forums/index.php/topic/244182-averages-attendances-for-super-league-and-other-divisions/.}.
Thanks to James Gordon at LoveRugbyLeague.com, for compiling the 2011 attendance figures, loverugbyleague.com/news_10175-wigan-top-average-attendance-table.html.
Thanks to bbc.co.uk/rugby-league for reporting attendance figures in Super League (the BBC is one of the few media outlets that report rugby league attendances, done on a game-by-game basis; unfortunately they do not report total averages).
Thanks to LoveRugbyLeague.com stadium profile pages,
loverugbyleague.com/club/st-helens/ground-guide.
loverugbyleague.com/club/wigan-warriors/ground-guide.
loverugbyleague.com/club/catalan-dragons/ground-guide.
loverugbyleague.com/club/warrington-wolves/ground-guide.

Thanks to DistanceFromTo.net, for distances between towns.

Thanks to the Cherry & White – Independent Wigan RLFC fansite, for this very detailed and illustrated article on the old Central Park (Wigan), wigan.rlfans.com/Central Park.

Thanks to D-maps.com, for blank map of the UK, http://d-maps.com/pays.php?num_pay=218&lang=en.

Bill Turianski thanks James Nalton for collaborating on this post. James’ blog, The Botofogo Star, is on the blogroll at billsportsmaps.

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