English Premiership (rugby union)

The English Premiership, currently known as Aviva Premiership Rugby or more commonly the Aviva Premiership because of the league's sponsorship byAviva,[1] is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby union system. There are twelve clubs in the Premiership. The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership system employing relegation to and promotion from theRFU Championship, known as National Division One before the 2009–10 season. Clubs competing in the Premiership qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The current champions are Northampton. The most recently promoted side is London Welsh, who, after defeating Bristol in the 2014 RFU Championship Final won promotion, after being relegated the previous season.

Contents
[hide]
 * 1 History
 * 1.1 Beginnings: English domestic rugby union until 1972
 * 1.2 Cups and leagues: 1972–1995
 * 1.3 1996: The dawn of professional rugby union
 * 1.4 2000 to 2002: Premiership, Championship and playoffs
 * 1.5 The ascendancy of the playoffs: 2003 – present
 * 1.6 US initiatives
 * 2 Other season highlights
 * 3 Competition
 * 3.1 Format
 * 3.2 Salary Cap
 * 3.3 Promotion and relegation
 * 3.4 European competitions
 * 3.5 Sponsorship
 * 4 2014–15 teams
 * 5 Table
 * 6 Premiership finals
 * 6.1 By Premiership wins
 * 7 Champions
 * 7.1 Courage League (1988 - 1997)
 * 7.2 Premiership (1998 - present)
 * 8 Participation in the top flight
 * 9 Player records
 * 9.1 Most matches
 * 9.2 Most points
 * 9.3 Most tries
 * 10 Media coverage
 * 11 See also
 * 12 References
 * 13 External links

History[edit]

 * See also History of the English rugby union system

Beginnings: English domestic rugby union until 1972[edit]
The governing body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), long resisted leagues as it was believed that the introduction of leagues would increase 'dirty' play and put pressure on clubs to pay their players (thereby contravening the amateur ethos). Instead, clubs arranged their own friendlies and had traditional games. The only organised tournaments were the County Cups and County Championship — the former played by clubs and the latter by County representative teams. The Daily Telegraph and a few local newspapers — such as the Yorkshire Post — compiled 'pennants' based on teams' performances, but as the strength of fixture lists varied, it was at best an estimate of a team's performance throughout a season.

Cups and leagues: 1972–1995[edit]
In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a national knock-out cup — the R.F.U. Club Competition, the predecessor to today's Anglo-Welsh Cup — followed first by regional merit tables and then, in the mid-1980s, by national merit tables. One of the casualties of the move to competitive leagues was the loss of traditional games as the new fixture lists did not allow enough time for them.

The league system has evolved since its start in 1987 when the Courage Leagues were formed — a league pyramid with roughly 1000 clubs playing in 108 leagues each with promotion and relegation.

In the first season, clubs were expected to arrange the fixtures on mutually convenient dates. The clubs involved were Bath, Bristol, Coventry, Gloucester, Harlequins, Leicester, Moseley, Nottingham, Orrell, Sale,Wasps and Waterloo. That first season was an unqualified success, with clubs in the upper echelons of the national leagues reporting increased crowds, interest from both local backers and national companies as well as higher skill levels among players exposed to regular competition. The fears that leagues would lead to greater violence on the field proved largely unfounded.

By the next season, the RFU allocated fixed Saturdays to the league season, removing the clubs' responsibility for scheduling matches. There was no home and away structure to the leagues in those early seasons, as sides played one another only once.

Initially two teams, Bath and Leicester, proved to be head and shoulders above the rest in the Courage League, and between them dominated the top of the table.

In 1994 the league structure expanded to include a full rota of home and away matches for the first time. The 1994–95 season was the first to be shown live on Sky Sports, a relationship which continued until the 2013-14 season when BT Sport acquired the exclusive rights.[2]

1996: The dawn of professional rugby union[edit]
The league turned professional for the 1996/97 season when the first winners were London Wasps, joining Bath and Leicester as the only champions in the league's first decade. Clubs like Saracens, Newcastle andNorthampton were able to attract wealthy benefactors, but the professional era also had its casualties, as clubs like West Hartlepool, Richmond and London Scottish were forced into administration when their backers pulled out.[3]

2000 to 2002: Premiership, Championship and playoffs[edit]
The start of the 2000–01 season brought with it a re-vamping of the season structure. In 2000–2001 an 8-team playoff (the Championship) was introduced. However, the team finishing top of the table at the end of the regular season was still considered English champions ("Premiership title").

Half-way through the 2001–02 season, with Leicester odds-on to win their fourth title in succession, it was controversially decided that the winners of the 8-team playoffs would be crowned English champions.[4]There was an outcry from fans and this proposal was dropped.

The ascendancy of the playoffs: 2003 – present[edit]
From the beginning of the 2002–03 season, a new playoff format was introduced to replace the 8-team Championship. The format required the first placed team in the league to play the winner of a match between the second- and third-placed teams. Critically, the winner of this game (the Premiership Final) would be recognised as English champions. Although Gloucester won the league by a clear margin, they then faced a three-week wait until the final. Having lost their momentum the second-placed Wasps (who had defeated third-placed Northampton) beat them easily in the play-offs. The playoff structure was reformatted in the 2005–06 season in which the first placed team would play the fourth placed team in a semi-final (a Shaughnessy playoff).

Since the implementation of the playoff system, only three teams have won both the regular season and playoffs in the same year; Leicester in 2000–01 (the first year of the playoffs) and again in 2008–09 and 2009–10, Sale Sharks in 2005–06 & the Harlequins (in their first ever premiership final) 2011–12.

Of all the Premiership teams, London Wasps have made a reputation for playing the competition format to perfection, peaking at the right time to be crowned English Champions in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008. Wasps did not lead the league standings at the end of the season in any of these years. Indeed, the London club have not finished top of the league since the playoffs began. Conversely, Gloucester Rugby have garnered an unfortunate reputation for leading the table at the end of the regular season, only to fall short of winning the Premiership title in 2003, 2007 and 2008. Gloucester's single victory in the playoffs, in 2002, occurred when the league leaders, in that season Leicester, were still considered English champions, Gloucester's Championship victory being considered secondary.

The 2011–12 season saw Harlequins add their name to the trophy on their first attempt, winning 30-23 against the nine times champions Leicester. With their first ever English Premiership title, they are only the sixth club to win the Premiership since its creation in 1997, the others being Newcastle Falcons, London Wasps, Leicester Tigers, Sale Sharks and Saracens.[5] Leicester's 10th championship would have to wait until 2012–13, defeating Northampton in the final.

The 2013-14 Aviva Premiership Season saw Northampton add their name to the trophy for the first time, becoming the 8th different team to do so. This was achieved by defeating Leicester Tigers in the Semi Final 21-20 and denying Leicester a 10th Consecutive Final.[6] In the final they defeated Saracens 20-24 with a last minute try to win the 2013-14 Aviva Premiership.[7][8]

US initiatives[edit]
With the future of the Heineken Cup uncertain beyond 2013–14, due to a row between England's Premiership Rugby Limited and France's LNR on one side and the sport's governing bodies on the other, Premiership Rugby Limited has made several moves toward expanding its brand into the United States. In May 2013, Premiership Rugby Limited and U.S.-based RugbyLaw entered into a plan by which the two organisations were to help back a proposed U.S. professional league that could have begun play as early as 2014.[9] The first phase of the plan was to involve two preseason exhibitions featuring an "American Barbarians" side that will combine international veterans and young American talent. The "Barbarians" were intended to play matches in August 2013 in the U.S. and London, but those plans fell through; the matches are now being planned for 2014.[10] In August 2013, Leicester Tigers chairman Peter Tom confirmed that Premiership Rugby Limited had discussed the possibility of bringing select Premiership matches to the US with four NFL franchises—the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots (which would have hosted one of the proposed 2013 exhibitions)[9] and Washington Redskins.[11]

Other season highlights[edit]
Since 2004, the Round 1 has included the London Double Header, featuring the four London teams at the Twickenham Stadium.[12] The 2013 edition had an attendance of over 60,000

On 27 December 2008 Harlequins moved their home match against Leicester Tigers across the road to Twickenham Stadium in what was dubbed 'The Big Game'. 50,000 spectators attended, a Premiership record. This was repeated in 2009 and 2010. The fourth edition was held in Christmas 2011 during the 2011–12 season when Saracens beat Harlequins, and a fifth was held during the 2012–13 season between Harlequins and London Irish on 29 December, on front of 82,000 spectators.[13] The match has since continued, with Harlequins playing Exeter Chiefs in 2013–14, and the 2014–15 match scheduled against Northmapton Saints.[citation needed]

On 24 April 2010, Wasps played their home match with Bath at Twickenham for the St George's Day game in support of Help for Heroes. This was repeated in 2011 and again resulted in Bath being victorious.[14]The match was not repeated the following two seasons. On 19 April 2014, London Wasps returned to Twickenham to beat Gloucester at Twickenham, in a match dubbed 'The Stinger'. The Stinger is being repeated in 2014–15, when it will be played against Exeter Chiefs.[citation needed]

Format[edit]
The Aviva Premiership Rugby season runs from September to May and comprises 22 rounds of matches, with each club playing each of its rivals home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows: Following the completion of the regular season, the top 4 teams enter the play-off, which is held throughout May. The top two teams receive home advantage, the league leaders hosting the 4th ranked team, and the 2nd place team hosting the 3rd place team. The winners of these semi-finals progress to the final, held at Twickenham Stadium. The winner of the final being Premiership Champions. The lowest placed team is relegated to the RFU Championship.[15]
 * 4 points are awarded for a win
 * 2 points are awarded for a draw
 * 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
 * 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
 * 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match

Salary Cap[edit]
The English Premiership operates a salary cap, set by the Premiership Rugby Board, specifying the money a club can spend on the player salaries of its squad per season. In the 2014–15 season, the base salary cap is £4.76m, with an "academy credit" of up to £240,000 (£30,000 per player for up to eight players). Players must meet the following criteria for their clubs to use the academy credit: This means that, for example, a qualifying player who earns £40,000 carries a cap charge of only £10,000.
 * Joined the club before his 18th birthday.
 * Under age 24 at the start of the season.
 * Earns a salary of more than £30,000.

One player may be excluded from the cap calculations; this player must have met at least one of the following three criteria: Several significant changes to the cap system will take effect with the 2015–16 season:[16]
 * Played with his club for at least two full seasons before he was nominated as an excluded player.
 * Played outside the Premiership in the season before he was nominated.
 * Was selected and included in the official squad of any national team participating in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final tournament.
 * The base cap will increase to £5.1 million.
 * The maximum possible amount of academy credits will increase to £400,000 per club. At the time of announcement, details of the new academy credit scheme were not released—specifically, the per-player amount and concurrent cap on the number of credits available.
 * Clubs will be allowed to exclude two players from the cap calculations instead of one. Unlike the first slot, which can be used for a player on a team's current roster, the new slot can only be filled by a player who had not been in the Premiership in the 12 months preceding the start of his contract.

Promotion and relegation[edit]

 * See also English rugby union system

There is a system of promotion and relegation to and from the Aviva Premiership. The last placed club after the 22 regular season rounds of the Premiership is relegated into the RFU Championship (the former National Division One), while the winner of the Championship play offs is promoted to the Premiership for the subsequent season. However, promotion and relegation is subject to a Minimum Standards Criteria. If the winner of the play offs does not meet these standards, then there is no relegation/promotion, as was the case in the 2011–12 season when London Welsh won promotion from the Championship but were denied promotion, reprieving Newcastle Falcons from relegation, until London Welsh successfully appealed against their block.[17]

European competitions[edit]
Beginning in the 2014–15 season, teams playing in the Premiership play in the top two tiers of the new three-tiered structure for European club competitions—the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup. The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup replaced the previous European competitions, the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup.[18]

Under the new structure, the top six teams on the Premiership table qualify directly for the following season's Champions Cup. The seventh-placed team advances to a play-off for another Champions Cup place. In 2013–14, the play-off involved said Premiership club and the seventh-placed club in France's Top 14. Initially, plans were for subsequent play-offs to also include two sides from Pro12 in the Celtic nations and Italy.[18] Due to fixture clashes with the Top 14 season, the play-off that will follow the 2014–15 season will involve only one Pro12 side.[19]

In the Heineken Cup era, England was entitled to six Heineken Cup places each season, with the possibility of a seventh depending on performances of English clubs in the prior season. The top four placed clubs in the Premiership qualified for the Heineken Cup, though more clubs could qualify in a number of ways: the previous season's Heineken Cup winner, the champion of the European Challenge Cup or the winner of theLV Cup (officially "LV=" per the sponsor's branding).

All clubs that do not qualify for the Champions Cup play in the Challenge Cup.[18]

Sponsorship[edit]

 * Courage League: 1987–88 to 1996–97
 * Allied Dunbar Premiership: 1997–98 to 1999–2000
 * Zurich Premiership: 2000–01 to 2004–05
 * Guinness Premiership: 2005–06 to 2009–10
 * Aviva Premiership: 2010–11 to 2016–17

2014–15 teams[edit]
Bath

Exeter

Gloucester

Harlequins

Leicester

L. Irish

L. Welsh

Wasps

Newcastle

Northampton

Sale

Saracens

2014–15 Aviva Premiership Teams

Main article: 2014–15 Aviva Premiership
 * 1) Jump up^ Effective 21 December 2014, Wasps permanently moved their home matches to Ricoh Arena in Coventry after having purchased the stadium in two separate deals.[20][21]

Premiership finals[edit]
On all occasions at Twickenham Stadium
 * *until and including 2001–2002, first in league table were champions. Since then, the playoff final winner are the champions.
 * aet - match went into extra time.

Courage League (1988 - 1997)[edit]

 * 1987–88: Leicester Tigers
 * 1988–89: Bath
 * 1989–90: Wasps
 * 1990–91: Bath
 * 1991–92: Bath
 * 1992–93: Bath
 * 1993–94: Bath
 * 1994–95: Leicester Tigers
 * 1995–96: Bath
 * 1996–97: Wasps

Premiership (1998 - present)[edit]

 * 1997–98: Newcastle Falcons
 * 1998–99: Leicester Tigers
 * 1999–2000: Leicester Tigers
 * 2000–01: Leicester Tigers
 * Leicester also won the Championship playoff final.
 * 2001–02: Leicester Tigers
 * Gloucester won the Championship playoff final.
 * 2002–03: London Wasps
 * Gloucester finished first in the league table
 * Wasps became the first team to be crowned English champions through the playoffs
 * 2003–04: London Wasps
 * Bath finished first in the league table
 * 2004–05: London Wasps
 * Leicester Tigers finished first in the league table
 * 2005–06: Sale Sharks
 * Sale Sharks finished first in the league table
 * 2006–07: Leicester Tigers
 * Gloucester finished first in the league table
 * 2007–08: London Wasps
 * Gloucester finished first in the league table
 * 2008–09: Leicester Tigers
 * Leicester Tigers finished first in the league table
 * 2009–10: Leicester Tigers
 * Leicester Tigers finished first in the league table
 * 2010–11: Saracens
 * Leicester Tigers finished first in the league table
 * 2011–12: Harlequins
 * Harlequins finished first in the league table
 * 2012–13: Leicester Tigers
 * Saracens finished first in the league table
 * 2013–14: Northampton Saints
 * Saracens finished first on the league table.

Participation in the top flight[edit]
A total of 28 clubs have been involved in top flight league since its inception in the 1987–88 season. The most recent club to make its debut in the top flight was London Welsh, which made their Premiership debut in 2012–13, followed by an immediate relegation and an immediate promotion. Four, namely Bath, Gloucester, Leicester Tigers and Wasps, have appeared in all 27 seasons to date, and are competing in 2014–15. Harlequins only missed the 2005–06 season, and four other clubs have appeared in at least 20 seasons. Coventry, Liverpool St Helens, Moseley, Nottingham, Rosslyn Park, Rugby and Waterloo only appeared during the amateur era, whereas Exeter, Leeds, London Welsh, Richmond, Rotherham and Worcester have only appeared during the professional era. Below, the 2014–15 clubs are listed in bold; omnipresent clubs are listed in bold italics. Years listed are the calendar years in which the seasons ended.

Media coverage[edit]
In the United Kingdom, the rights are currently held by BT Sport under an £125m deal signed on 12 September 2012 to broadcast 69 live matches per season for three years from the 2013–14 season.[23] In Australia the Aviva Premiership is available on Setanta Sports. Since the 2008/09 season there has been a highlights show on ITV4, repeated midweek on ITV. In the United States, the Aviva Premiership is currently available on Fox Soccer Plus.[24]