Super League IV

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Super League IV
League Super League
Duration 30 Rounds
Number of teams 14
Highest attendance 24,020
Bradford Bulls vs Leeds Rhinos (3 Sept)
Lowest attendance 1,580
Gateshead Thunder vs Hull Sharks (19 May)
Broadcast partners United Kingdom Sky Sports
1999 Season
Champions St Helens
League Leaders Bradford Bulls
Man of Steel Adrian Vowles
Top point-scorer(s) Iestyn Harris (325)
Top try-scorer(s) Toa Kohe-Love (25)
Left League
Merger with Hull
Merger with Huddersfield
Gateshead Thunder;
Sheffield Eagles
< 1998 Seasons 2000 >

JJB Sports Super League IV was the official name for the year 1999's Super League championship season, the 105th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the fourth championship run by Super League. The start of Super League IV saw the emergence of a North East based Rugby League Club, Gateshead Thunder as well as newly promoted Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to expand the league to fourteen teams.

Rule changes

  • The 40/20 rule was introduced to reward accurate kicking in general play.[1][2] The rule, which had been used in Australia since 1997, gave the head and feed at the resulting scrum to a team that kicked the ball from behind their 40 metre line so that it bounced in the field of play before going into touch behind their opponent's 20 metre line.[3][4]

Season summary

The season finished with a grand final between 1997 champions Bradford Bulls and the inaugural Super League champions St. Helens in which the Saints triumphed in a closely contested game.[5]

Super League IV Table

Regular Season Final Standings

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Bradford Bulls 302514897445+45251
2 St Helens 3023071034561+47346
3 Leeds Rhinos 302217910558+35245
4 Wigan Warriors 302118877390+48743
5 Castleford Tigers 301938712451+26141
6 Gateshead Thunder 3019110775576+19939
7 Warrington Wolves 3015114700717-1731
8London Broncos 3013215644708-6428
9 Halifax Blue Sox 3011019573792-21922
10 Sheffield Eagles 3010119518818-30021
11 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 3010020608795-18720
12 Salford City Reds 306123526916-39013
13 Hull Sharks 305025422921-49910
14 Huddersfield Giants 3050254631011-54810
Play-offs

Play-offs

  Qualifying / Elimination play-offs Qualifying / Elimination semi-finals Final eliminator Grand Final
                                 
  QSF:
  1   Bradford Bulls 40  
        St Helens 4         GF: 9 October 1999
                Bradford Bulls 6
  QPO:         FE:       St Helens 8
  2   St Helens 38           St Helens 36  
  3   Leeds Rhinos 14     ESF:       Castleford Tigers 6
        Leeds Rhinos 16  
  EPO:       Castleford Tigers 23
  4   Wigan Warriors 10  
  5   Castleford Tigers 14
   
Key:         Losing team progressing     Winning team progressing

End of season mergers

Huddersfield managed to avoid relegation again despite finishing bottom due to the merger with Sheffield Eagles to form Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants. Also at the end of this season Gateshead Thunder and Hull Sharks were merged to form Hull F.C. with no attempt made to maintain any association with Gateshead, Gateshead Thunder would later reform in the National Leagues.

See also

References

  1. Andy Wilson (2004-08-09). "Moran leaves Vikings with a sinking feeling". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  2. Dave Hadfield (1999-05-24). "Saints restore faith in game with emphasis on attack". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  3. de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009). "Top ten: Rugby league rules". Rugby League World (340) (Brighouse, UK: League Publications, published August 2009). p. 61. ISSN 1466-0105 
  4. BBC Sport (2005-09-12). "The 40/20 kick". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
  5. "St. Helens 8-6 Bradford". Rugby League World. 1999-10-09. Retrieved 2007-08-09. 

External links

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