Rugby league in Great Britain- statistics & facts

In Great Britain, rugby league is as synonymous with northern England as chips and gravy. While the sport is played nationwide, and teams from southern England regularly feature in the higher leagues, the heartlands of the sport are based around the M62 motorway. This corridor, which links Merseyside clubs with teams in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Yorkshire, was the region from which the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU) sprang in 1895. Formed of 21 founding clubs, the NRFU split from the Rugby Football Union (RFU), primarily over the latter refusing clubs the right to pay their players. This schism saw the development of two separate codes, with rugby union in the United Kingdom having a separate set of rules, a distinction that can bamboozle the uninitiated. Today, the NRFU is known as the Rugby Football League (RFL) and is the governing body for rugby league in England.

Which team has the most Super League titles?

Since the highest tier of rugby league in Great Britain was rebranded the Super League in 1996, only four teams have won a title: St Helens, Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors, and Bradford Bulls. Among these clubs, the team with the most Grand Final wins is St Helens, having won nine as of 2023. Although Bradford Bulls were relegated from the Super League in 2014, the Rhinos and Warriors have remained competitive during Saints’ era of dominance, with Leeds reaching the 2022 Grand Final and Wigan winning the 2023 Grand Final, as well as securing a record-matching fifth World Club Challenge title that same year. As the “Big Three”, the Saints, Rhinos, and Warriors also hold the distinction of being the three clubs with the most Challenge Cup title wins. Despite not being as prestigious as the Super League, the Challenge Cup is the sport’s oldest cup competition and still has the power to draw a large crowd, with attendances at Challenge Cup finals reaching as high as 80 thousand in the last decade.

A post-IMG future: is grassroots rugby league under threat?

In 2022, the RFL finalized a 12-year strategic partnership with media company IMG in a bid to grow and develop the game outside of its traditional parameters. This move comes at a time when the future of the sport at a grassroots level looks in jeopardy, with rugby league participation rates in England down by nearly a quarter between 2017 and 2022. One major move already made by new partners IMG and the RFL has been a renegotiation of broadcast rights with Sky Sports. While this might have halved the annual value of the deal for the RFL, it affords the governing body the freedom to broadcast matches on its own streaming service and free-to-air TV, which it hopes will grow the sport’s audience. The partnership with IMG, however, has not been free from controversy, especially regarding the introduction of IMG’s grading criteria for rugby league clubs competing in Great Britain. Under these new rules, a team is awarded a score based on its on-field performance, fandom, finances, stadium, and community, and only the 12 highest-ranked teams are permitted to play in the Super League. This removes the chance for a team to be promoted based on sporting merit alone which, for a lot of smaller clubs, is their best chance to reach a higher tier. While bigger clubs look secure under the new system, British grassroots rugby league stands at a crossroads.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Apr 11, 2024

Key insights

Number of participants in rugby league in England
54,700
Team with most all-time points in the Super League
St Helens
Annual value of Super League broadcast deal
21.5m GBP
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Number of Grand Finals won in the Super League in England from 1998 to 2023, by team

Team Sports

Rugby league: teams with the most Super League Grand Final wins 1998-2023

Ranking of teams in the Rugby Football League (RFL) in Great Britain and France in 2023, by IMG grading

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Rugby league: IMG grading of teams in the RFL 2023

Number of individuals participating in rugby league in England from 2016 to 2022

Sports Participation

Rugby league participation in England 2016-2022

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