List of British rugby league champions

British rugby league champions (Tier 1)
RFL Championship First Division (1895-1996) Super League (1996-present)
Founded
1895–96
Country
England  Wales  France
Editions completed
125
Number of teams
12
Current champions
St Helens
Most titles won
Wigan (22 times)

The British men's rugby league champions are the winners of the highest league in British rugby league, which since 1996 is the Super League.

History[]

Following the schism in 1895 that saw 22 Northern rugby clubs split from the Rugby Football Union and form the Northern Union, the 22 clubs were organised into one league. At the end of the 1895–96 season, Manningham were the first club to be crowned champions, finishing one point ahead of Halifax.^[1]

Following the success of the Northern Unions first season, more clubs defected from the Rugby Football Union to join the new league. After concerns around travel and costs were expressed, the decision was made that the competition should be split into two separate county championships: Lancashire and Yorkshire Leagues. County leagues were in place for the next five seasons until 1901–02 were the top seven sides from each league resigned to merge to form a new league. The only other times that there was no major championship was when there were outbrakes of war.

During the late 1980s and early 90s, Wigan became the only full-time professional club and dominated in every competition. A new Super League began to be mooted during the Super League war in Australia as a way for Rupert Murdoch to gain an upper hand in broadcasting supremacy with the Australian Rugby League. British clubs were approached to form a Super League with a cash insentive. Part of the deal was switching the sport to summer and the merger of some clubs, the latter not taking place due to huge protest from fans. All four Super League champions; St Helens, Wigan, Bradford and Leeds have all previously won the old First Division.

Only three clubs to have been crowned champions are not in existence today. During the reclassification of the Championship in 1901, the league was split into two divisions. Manningham were placed in the Second Division, finishing 10th out of 18 teams. At the end of the season a series of meetings was held about establishing a Football League club in the city. During an annual meeting the committee voted to switch to association football, becoming Bradford City. A similar situation occurred at Bradford FC in 1907 when a narrow majority of members voted to withdraw from the Northern Union in favour of association football, forming Bradford Park Avenue. Broughton Rangers struggled post war and folded in 1955 after a failed name change to Belle Vue Rangers in 1946.

Hunslet FC were the fourth former champions to fold after financial issues[1], player strikes and a stadium fire that led to the club selling the land to developers before being eventually wound up. Unlike the other three clubs which no longer exist, a phoenix club, New Hunslet, was formed in 1973 and still exists.^[2]

Method of determining champion[]

The Super League Grand Final is the current method of determining the champion

The method of determining the champions has changed multiple times between using the first past the post method of crowning league leaders champions or a play off series. A play off series was first used in 1906, this was due to some clubs playing more games than others and league positions being decided by win percentages rather than competition points.

Most seasons have been decided by a play off format. Between 1973 and 1997 was the longest era where a first place league finish was used to decide the champions.

Results[]

RFL Championship First Division (1895-1996)[]

Year	Champions (number of titles)	Runners-up	Leading tryscorer (club)	Trys
1895–96	Manningham	Halifax	( Oldham)	28
1896-1901 County Leagues
1901–02	Broughton	Salford	Rob Wilson (Broughton)	38
1902–03	Halifax	Salford	Evans ( Leeds)	27
1903–04	Bradford F.C.	Salford	Andrew Hogg (Broughton)	34
1904–05	Oldham	Bradford F.C.	James Dechan (Bradford FC)	31
1905–06	Leigh	Hunslet	Jim Leytham ( Wigan)	44
1906–07	Halifax (2)	Oldham	Percy Eccles ( Halifax)	41
1907–08	Hunslet	Oldham	Jim Leytham ( Wigan)	44
1908–09	Wigan	Oldham	Joe Miller ( Wigan) Frank Williams ( Halifax)	44
1909–10	Oldham (2)	Wigan	Jim Leytham ( Wigan)	48
1910–11	Oldham (3)	Wigan	William Kitchin ( Huddersfield)	41
1911–12	Huddersfield	Wigan	Albert Rosenfeld ( Huddersfield)	76
1912–13	Huddersfield (2)	Wigan	Albert Rosenfeld ( Huddersfield)	80
1913–14	Salford	Huddersfield	Albert Rosenfeld ( Huddersfield)	80
1914–15	Huddersfield (3)	Leeds	Albert Rosenfeld ( Huddersfield)	56
1915-1918 Wartime Emergency League
1918–19 County Leagues
1919–20	Hull F.C.	Huddersfield	Billy Stone ( Hull FC)	41
1920–21	Hull F.C. (2)	Hull KR	Billy Stone ( Hull FC)	41
1921–22	Wigan (2)	Oldham	( Oldham)	49
1922–23	Hull KR	Huddersfield	Johnny Ring ( Wigan)	41
1923–24	Batley	Wigan	Johnny Ring ( Wigan)	49
1924–25	Hull KR (2)	Swinton	Johnny Ring ( Wigan)	54
1925–26	Wigan (3)	Warrington	Johnny Ring ( Wigan)	63
1926–27	Swinton	St Helens Recs	Alf Ellaby ( St Helens)	55
1927–28	Swinton (2)	Featherstone	Alf Ellaby ( St Helens)	37
1928–29	Huddersfield (4)	Leeds	Lou Brown ( Wigan) Ernie Mills ( Huddersfield)	44
1929–30	Huddersfield (5)	Leeds	Alf Ellaby ( St Helens)	39
1930–31	Swinton (3)	Leeds	Eric Harris ( Leeds)	58
1931–32	St. Helens	Huddersfield	Ernie Mills ( Huddersfield)	50
1932–33	Salford (2)	Swinton	Eric Harris ( Leeds)	57
1933–34	Wigan (4)	Salford	Brown ( Salford)	45
1934–35	Swinton (4)	Warrington	Jack Morley ( Wigan)	49
1935–36	Hull F.C. (3)	Widnes	Eric Harris ( Leeds)	63
1936–37	Salford (3)	Warrington	Eric Harris ( Leeds)	40
1937–38	Hunslet (2)	Leeds	Eric Harris ( Leeds)	45
1938–39	Salford (4)	Castleford	Ray Markham ( Huddresfield)	39
1939-1941 County Leagues
1941-1945 Wartime Emergency League
1945–46	Wigan (5)	Huddersfield	Eric Batten ( Bradford)	35
1946–47	Wigan (6)	Dewsbury	Brian Bevan ( Warrington)	48
1947–48	Warrington	Bradford	Brian Bevan ( Warrington)	57
1948–49	Huddersfield (6)	Warrington	Lionel Cooper ( Huddersfield)	60
1949–50	Wigan (7)	Huddersfield	Brian Nordgren ( Wigan)	57
1950–51	Workington	Warrington	Brian Bevan ( Warrington)	68
1951–52	Wigan (8)	Bradford	Lionel Cooper ( Huddersfield)	71
1952–53	St. Helens (2)	Halifax	Brian Bevan ( Warrington)	72
1953–54	Warrington (2)	Halifax	Brian Bevan ( Warrington)	67
1954–55	Warrington (3)	Oldham	Lionel Cooper ( Huddersfield)	66
1955–56	Hull F.C. (4)	Halifax	Jack McLean ( Bradford)	61
1956–57	Oldham (4)	Hull F.C.	Billy Boston ( Wigan)	60
1957–58	Hull F.C. (5)	Workington	Mick Sullivan ( Wigan)	50
1958–59	St. Helens (3)	Hunslet	Tom van Vollenhoven ( St Helens)	62
1959–60	Wigan (9)	Wakefield	Tom van Vollenhoven ( St Helens)	54
1960–61	Leeds	Warrington	Tom van Vollenhoven ( St Helens)	54
1961–62	Huddersfield (7)	Wakefield	Billy Boston ( Wigan)	51
1962–63	Swinton (5)	St. Helens	Ray Glastonbury ( Swinton)	41
1963–64	Swinton (6)	Wigan	John Stopford ( Swinton)	45
1964–65	Halifax (3)	St. Helens	Trevor Lake ( Wigan)	40
1965–66	St. Helens (4)	Halifax	Len Killeen ( St Helens) Trevor Lake ( Wigan)	32
1966–67	Wakefield	St. Helens	Chris Young ( Hull KR) Keith Howe ( Castleford)	34
1967–68	Wakefield (2)	Hull KR	Roger Millward ( Hull KR)	38
1968–69	Leeds (2)	Castleford	Bill Francis ( Wigan)	40
1969–70	St. Helens (5)	Leeds	John Atkinson ( Leeds)	38
1970–71	St. Helens (6)	Wigan	Bob Haigh ( Leeds) Les Jones ( St Helens)	40
1971–72	Leeds (3)	St. Helens	John Atkinson ( Leeds) Mike Lamb ( Bradford)	38
1972–73	Dewsbury	Leeds	John Atkinson ( Leeds)	39
1973–74	Salford (5)	St. Helens	Keith Fielding ( Salford)	49
1974–75	St. Helens (7)	Wigan	Gerald Dunn ( Hull KR)	42
1975–76	Salford (6)	Featherstone	Maurice Richards ( Salford)	37
1976–77	Featherstone	St. Helens	Stuart Wright ( Widnes)	31
1977–78	Widnes	Bradford	Stuart Wright ( Widnes)	33
1978–79	Hull KR (3)	Warrington	Steve Hartley ( Hull KR)	35
1979–80	Bradford	Widnes	Keith Fielding ( Salford)	30
1980–81	Bradford (2)	Warrington	Terry Richardson ( Castleford)	28
1981–82	Leigh	Hull F.C.	Des Drummond ( Leigh)	26
1982–83	Hull F.C. (6)	Hull KR	Bob Eccles ( Warrington)	37
1983–84	Hull KR (4)	Hull F.C.	Garry Schofield ( Hull FC)	38
1984–85	Hull KR (5)	St. Helens	Ellery Hanley ( Bradford)	55
1985–86	Halifax (4)	Wigan	Ellery Hanley ( Wigan)	63
1986–87	Wigan (10)	St. Helens	Ellery Hanley ( Wigan)	63
1987–88	Widnes (2)	St. Helens	Martin Offiah ( Widnes)	44
1988–89	Widnes (3)	Wigan	Martin Offiah ( Widnes)	60
1989–90	Wigan (11)	Leeds	Martin Offiah ( Widnes)	45
1990–91	Wigan (12)	Widnes
1991–92	Wigan (13)	St. Helens
1992–93	Wigan (14)	St. Helens
1993–94	Wigan (15)	Bradford
1994–95	Wigan (16)	Leeds	Martin Offiah ( Wigan)	53
1995–96	Wigan (17)	Leeds	Martin Offiah ( Wigan) David Plange ( Hull KR)	28

Super League (1996-present)[]

Year	Champions (number of titles)	Runners-up	Leading tryscorer (club)	Trys
1996	St. Helens (8)	Wigan	Paul Newlove ( St Helens)	28
1997	Bradford (3)	London	Nigel Vagana ( Warrington)	17
1998	Wigan (18)	Leeds	Anthony Sullivan ( St Helens)	20
1999	St. Helens (9)	Bradford	Toa Kohe-Love ( Warrington)	25
2000	St. Helens (10)	Wigan	Sean Long Tommy Martyn ( St Helens)	22
2001	Bradford (4)	Wigan	Kris Radlinski ( Wigan)	28
2002	St. Helens (11)	Bradford	Dennis Moran ( London)	22
2003	Bradford (5)	Wigan	Dennis Moran ( London)	24
2004	Leeds (4)	Bradford	Lesley Vainikolo ( Bradford)	36
2005	Bradford (6)	Leeds	Mark Calderwood ( Leeds)	27
2006	St. Helens (12)	Hull F.C.	Justin Murphy ( Catalans)	25
2007	Leeds (5)	St. Helens	Henry Fa'afili ( Warrington)	21
2008	Leeds (6)	St. Helens	Ade Gardner ( St Helens)	26
2009	Leeds (7)	St. Helens	Ryan Hall ( Leeds)	29
2010	Wigan (19)	St. Helens	Pat Richards ( Wigan)	29
2011	Leeds (8)	St. Helens	Ryan Hall ( Leeds) Sam Tomkins ( Wigan)	28
2012	Leeds (9)	Warrington	Josh Charnley ( Wigan)	31
2013	Wigan (20)	Warrington	Josh Charnley ( Wigan)	33
2014	St. Helens (13)	Wigan	Joel Monaghan ( Warrington)	28
2015	Leeds (10)	Wigan	Jermaine McGillvary ( Huddersfield)	27
2016	Wigan (21)	Warrington	Denny Solomona ( Castleford)	40
2017	Leeds (11)	Castleford	Greg Eden ( Castleford)	38
2018	Wigan (22)	Warrington	Ben Barba ( St Helens)	28
2019	St. Helens (14)	Salford	Tommy Makinson ( St Helens)	28
2020	St. Helens (15)	Wigan	Ash Handley ( Leeds)	15
2021	St. Helens (16)	Catalans	Ken Sio ( Salford)	19

Number of League Champions wins by club[]

	Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning seasons
1	Wigan	22	16	1908/09, 1921/22, 1925/26, 1933/34, 1945/46, 1946/47, 1949/50, 1951/52, 1959/60, 1986/87, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96, 1998, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018
2	St. Helens	16	16	1931/32, 1952/53, 1958/59, 1965/66, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1974/75, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021
3	Leeds	11	11	1960/61, 1968/69, 1971/72, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017
4	Huddersfield	7	6	1911/12, 1912/13, 1914/15, 1928/29, 1929/30, 1948/49, 1961/62
5	Bradford	6	7	1979/80, 1980/81, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005
6	Salford[3]	6	5	1913/14, 1932/33, 1936/37, 1938/39, 1973/74, 1975/76
7	Hull F.C.	6	4	1919/20, 1920/21, 1935/36, 1955/56, 1957/58, 1982/83
8	Swinton	6	2	1926/27, 1927/28, 1930/31, 1934/35, 1962/63, 1963/64
9	Hull KR	5	3	1922/23, 1924/25, 1978/79, 1983/84, 1984/85
10	Oldham	4	5	1904/05, 1909/10, 1910/11, 1956/57
11	Halifax	4	5	1902/03, 1906/07, 1964/65, 1985/86
12	Warrington	3	11	1947/48, 1953/54, 1954/55
13	Widnes	3	4	1977/78, 1987/88, 1988/89
14	Hunslet §	2	2	1907/08, 1937/38
15	Wakefield	2	2	1966/67, 1967/68
16	Leigh	2	0	1905/06, 1981/82
17	Featherstone	1	2	1976/77
18	Bradford F.C. §	1	1	1903/04
19	Workington	1	1	1950/51
20	Dewsbury	1	1	1972/73
21	Manningham §	1	0	1895/96
22	Broughton §	1	0	1901/02
23	Batley	1	0	1923/24
24	Castleford	0	3
25	St Helens Recs §	0	1
26	London	0	1
27	Catalans	0	1

• § Denotes club now defunct

Number of times as League Leaders[]

Rank	Club	Winners
1	Wigan	22
2	St. Helens	16
3	Leeds	9
3	Huddersfield	9
5	Bradford	7
5	Warrington	7
7	Oldham	6
7	Swinton	6
9	Halifax	4
9	Hull KR	4
11	Hull F.C.	3
11	Widnes	3
13	Leigh	2
13	Salford	2
15	Bradford F.C. §	1
15	Broughton §	1
15	Castleford	1
15	Featherstone	1
15	Hunslet §	1
15	Manningham §	1
15	St Helens Recs	1

• § Denotes club now defunct

See also[]

• Super League
• Rugby Football League Championship First Division
• Super League Grand Final
• Rugby Football League Championship Final
• League Leaders Shield
• Australian rugby league premiers

References[]