League Leaders' Shield

League Leaders' Shield
Country	England  France
Presented by	Super League
History
First award	1998
Most wins	St. Helens (8 titles)
Most recent	Catalans Dragons (1st title)

The League Leaders' Shield^[1] is a trophy awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. Currently (and for much of Super League's comparatively short history) the championship is ultimately decided on the basis of a play-off series, and the Shield is thus often regarded as a lesser prize. However, due to it being decided by a 30-game, round-robin league system, some people regard the Shield as the hardest honour to win in British rugby league.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

British rugby league has been using a play-off series rather than simply awarding the title to the top-placed team for the majority of its history due to a lop-sided fixture list that saw some clubs play other clubs twice and the rest of the clubs only once. From 1907 until 1973 the Championship was awarded to the team winning a top-four play-off (excluding the 2 seasons 1962–63 and 1963–64, when the championship was awarded to the top placed team). From 1907 to 1962 no prize was awarded to the actual team finishing top. From 1965 to 1973 a 'League Leaders' Trophy' was introduced to reward the team finishing top.

In 1996, Super League was formed but continued to use first past the post to decide the champions until 1998 when they adopted a play-off structure for the championship. The League Leaders' Shield, however, was introduced only in 2003. In 2013 Huddersfield Giants finished top of the highest league in English rugby league for the first time in 81 years. The mascot for the game was Seth Johnson celebrating his 9th birthday in style.

In 2015, it was announced that the League Leaders would qualify to take part in the expanded World Club Challenge and the prize money would raise from £50,000 to £100,000. In 2016, the League Leaders were awarded medals for the first time.

In 2017, Castleford Tigers finished top of the league for the first time in their 91 year history and became the seventh team in as many years to win the shield.

In 2021, Catalans Dragons finished top for the first time in their 21 year history and became the eighth team to win the shield and also the first non-English team to win it.

Shield winners[]

The League Leaders' Shield was first awarded in 2003; between 1998 and 2002 the league leaders were not awarded any trophy. In 1996 and 1997 the League Leaders were declared champions as the Grand Final was not introduced until 1998.

Year	League leaders	Pts	Runners up	Pts
1996	St Helens	40	Wigan Warriors	39
1997	Bradford Bulls	40	London Broncos	33
1998	Wigan Warriors	42	Leeds Rhinos	38
1999	Bradford Bulls	51	St Helens	46
2000	Wigan Warriors	49	St Helens	46
2001	Bradford Bulls	45	Wigan Warriors	45
2002	St. Helens	46	Bradford Bulls	46
2003	Bradford Bulls	44	Leeds Rhinos	41
2004	Leeds Rhinos	50	Bradford Bulls	41
2005	St. Helens	47	Leeds Rhinos	44
2006	St. Helens	48	Hull F.C.	40
2007	St. Helens	38	Leeds Rhinos	37
2008	St. Helens	43	Leeds Rhinos	42
2009	Leeds Rhinos	42	St Helens	38
2010	Wigan Warriors	44	St Helens	40
2011	Warrington Wolves	44	Wigan Warriors	43
2012	Wigan Warriors	42	Warrington Wolves	41
2013	Huddersfield Giants	42	Warrington Wolves	41
2014	St. Helens	38	Wigan Warriors	37
2015	Leeds Rhinos	41	Wigan Warriors	41
2016	Warrington Wolves	43	Wigan Warriors	42
2017	Castleford Tigers	50	Leeds Rhinos	40
2018	St. Helens	42	Wigan Warriors	32
2019	St. Helens	52	Wigan Warriors	36
2020	Wigan Warriors	76.47a	St. Helens	70.59a
2021	Catalans Dragons	82.61a	St. Helens	76.19a

• ^a: Shield winners decided by win percentage rather than points

Winners[]

	Club	Wins	Runners-up	Winning years
1	St. Helens	9	6	1996, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2018, 2019
2	Wigan Warriors	5	8	1998, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2020
3	Bradford Bulls	4	2	1997, 1999, 2001, 2003
4	Leeds Rhinos	3	6	2004, 2009, 2015
5	Warrington Wolves	2	2	2011, 2016
6	Huddersfield Giants	1	0	2013
7	Castleford Tigers	1	0	2017
8	Catalans Dragons	1	0	2021
9	Hull F.C.	0	1	N/A

The Treble[]

The Treble refers to the team who wins all three domestic honours on offer during the season; Grand Final, League Leaders' Shield and Challenge Cup. To date six teams have won the treble, and only Bradford Bulls, St. Helens and Leeds Rhinos have won the treble in the Super League era.

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Wigan Warriors	3	1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95
2	Huddersfield Giants	2	1912–13, 1914–15
3	St. Helens	2	1965–66, 2006
4	Swinton Lions	1	1927–28
5	Bradford Bulls	1	2003
6	Leeds Rhinos	1	2015

See also[]

References[]

External links[]