Super League X is the official name of 2005's Super League season. It was the 10th season of the Super League and saw twelve teams from across England compete for the premiership. The season kicked off in early February, culminating in a six team play-off series
| Super League X | |
|---|---|
| League | Super League |
| Duration | 28 Rounds |
| Teams | 12 |
| Highest attendance | 25,004 Wigan Warriors vs St. Helens (25 March) |
| Lowest attendance | 2,682 Salford City Reds vs Huddersfield Giants (2 July) |
| Attendance | 1,492,464  (average 8,884) |
| Broadcast partners | Sky Sports |
| 2005 Season | |
| Champions | Bradford Bulls 4th Super League title 6th British title |
| League Leaders | St. Helens |
| Man of Steel |  Jamie Lyon |
| Top point-scorer(s) |  Paul Deacon (322) |
| Top try-scorer(s) | Mark Calderwood (27) |
| New franchise | |
| Awarded to | Catalans Dragons |
| Promotion and relegation | |
| Promoted from National League One | Castleford Tigers |
| Relegated to National League One | Leigh Centurions Widnes Vikings |
The Grand Final, held at Old Trafford on 15 October, saw Bradford Bulls crowned Champions. The Grand Final was the final match of a which itself was the climax of a league season that kicked off in early February.
Season summary
editEither one or two teams were to be relegated from the league at the end of the season in order to make way for new entrants. The bottom team were certain to be relegated, in order to allow in French club Catalans Dragons. The second bottom team would only be relegated if the winner of National League One met the criteria for Super League entry. On the 3 October the Rugby Football League announced that both finalists in this competition, Castleford Tigers and Whitehaven were eligible for promotion, hence two teams were relegated.
The season was a commercial success, with a rise in average crowd size for the regular rounds of 8,887, continuing the trend of rises every year since 2001.[1] This is the first time in the history of Super League the Grand Final has not included the league leader at the end of the regular season: St Helens were knocked out by Bradford Bulls in the semi-final.
Table
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Helens (L) | 28 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 1028 | 537 | +491 | 47 | Semi Final |
| 2 | Leeds Rhinos | 28 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 1152 | 505 | +647 | 44 | |
| 3 | Bradford Bulls (C) | 28 | 18 | 1 | 9 | 1038 | 684 | +354 | 37 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 4 | Warrington Wolves | 28 | 18 | 0 | 10 | 792 | 702 | +90 | 36 | |
| 5 | Hull F.C. | 28 | 15 | 2 | 11 | 756 | 670 | +86 | 32 | |
| 6 | London Broncos | 28 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 800 | 718 | +82 | 28 | |
| 7 | Wigan Warriors | 28 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 698 | 718 | −20 | 28 | |
| 8 | Huddersfield Giants | 28 | 12 | 0 | 16 | 742 | 791 | −49 | 24 | |
| 9 | Salford City Reds | 28 | 11 | 0 | 17 | 549 | 732 | −183 | 22 | |
| 10 | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | 28 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 716 | 999 | −283 | 20 | |
| 11 | Widnes Vikings (R) | 28 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 598 | 1048 | −450 | 13 | Relegation to National League One |
| 12 | Leigh Centurions (R) | 28 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 445 | 1210 | −765 | 5 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(C) Champions; (L) League Leaders' Shield Winners; (R) Relegated
Play-off
edit| Elimination play-offs | Qualifying / elimination semi-finals | Elimination final | Grand Final | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | St. Helens | 16 | Leeds Rhinos | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Leeds Rhinos | 19 | Bradford Bulls | 15 | ||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 18 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Bradford Bulls | 44 | ||||||||||||||||
| Bradford Bulls | 23 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | London Broncos | 22 | ||||||||||||||||
| Bradford Bulls | 71 | |||||||||||||||||
| Hull F.C. | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Warrington Wolves | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Hull F.C. | 40 | ||||||||||||||||
Grand final
edit- 15 October: Leeds Rhinos 6-15 Bradford Bulls
2005 Transfers
editPlayers
edit
References
edit- ^ "engage Super League sets attendance record". Archived from the original on 2007-03-13.