2012–2014 Super League licences

The 2012–14 Super League licences were awarded following the second round of licensing for the Super League rugby league competition. Successful applicants were given a three-year licence to compete in Super League, the premier rugby league competition in Europe. 2012–2014 Super League Licensing 90px The Super League competition logo 3 Years Man of Steel Award Licence widnes 12 Widnes Vikings Awarded to Championship 2009–11 Applications Applications for licences were accepted from all Super League clubs and Championship clubs could apply if they met certain criteria: they competed in the 2009 or 2010 Grand Finals, or won the Northern Rail Cup they had a stadium with a capacity of over 10,000 they had not been insolvent at any point since 2008 they had a turnover of at least £1 million in 2009 or 2010 they had an average attendance of over 2500 in 2009 or 2010 Licensing https://web.archive.org/web/20100731161035/http://www.therfl.co.uk/~therflc/about/page.php?areaid=193 July 31, 2010 Rugby Football League. Accessed 01-12-10 The applicants were: Applicants Club Location Stadium Capacity* Leaguebarrow 16 Barrow Raiders Barrow, Cumbria Craven Park ChampionshipBradford 16 Bradford Bulls Bradford, West Yorkshire Odsal Stadium 27,000 Super LeagueCastleford 16 Castleford Tigers Castleford, West Yorkshire Wheldon Road 12,000 Super LeagueCatalans 16 Catalans Dragons Perpignan, France 13,000 Super Leaguecrusaders 16 Celtic Crusaders Wrexham, Wales Racecourse Ground 15,000 Super Leaguehalifax 16 Halifax Halifax, West Yorkshire The Shay 15,000 Championshipharlequins 16 Harlequins Twickenham, London Twickenham Stoop 14,000 Super Leaguehull 16 Hull F.C. Hull, East Yorkshire KC Stadium 25,000 Super Leaguehull kr 16 Hull Kingston Rovers Hull, East Yorkshire Craven Park 12,225 Super Leaguehuddersfield 16 Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Kirklees Stadium 24,000 Super Leagueleeds 16 Leeds Rhinos Leeds, West Yorkshire Headingley Stadium 21,000 Super Leaguesalford city 16 Salford City Reds Salford, Greater Manchester The Willows 11,363 Super Leaguest Helens 16 St. Helens St. Helens, Merseyside Knowsley Road 17,500 Super Leaguewakefield 16 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield, West Yorkshire Belle Vue 12,000 Super LeagueWarrington 16 Warrington Wolves Warrington, Cheshire Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,000 Super Leaguewidnes 16 Widnes Vikings Widnes, Cheshire Halton Stadium 13,000 Championshipwigan 16 Wigan Warriors Wigan, Greater Manchester DW Stadium 25,000 Super League Applications were made in 2011, and the Rugby Football League, operators of Super League, announced that at least one applicant from the Co-operative Championship would be accepted. Eligible applicants from the Championship were: Halifax, Barrow Raiders, Featherstone Rovers, Widnes Vikings and Batley Bulldogs. Of these, only Halifax, Widnes and Barrow applied.Championship Seasons https://web.archive.org/web/20101125082722/http://championshipstats.rlfans.com/Seasons.html November 25, 2010 2009–11 commitments Talking about the progress of some clubs towards fulfilling their commitments to either upgrade their stadium facilities and move to new ones during the 2009–11 three year licence period, Gary Tasker warned of "the potential implications [of] any failure to do so may have on their next application. Clubs need to be aware that we are raising the bar for the next licence period." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6722356.ece https://archive.today/20100807205536/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6722356.ece dead August 7, 2010 Times Online RFL orders five clubs to upgrade or face axe Neil Barraclough 2009-07-21 2009-07-21 London "Showcasing Super League in high quality stadium facilities remains a key objective," he said.http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/07/21/RUGBYL_Licences.html Sporting Life RFL warning over stadia Andy Hampson 2009-07-21 2009-07-21 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110605030336/http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/07/21/RUGBYL_Licences.html 2011-06-05 In July 2009, the RFL was reported to have warned Salford City Reds, Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, of which none had started construction on a new stadium, that progress must be made in order to avoid jeopardising their chances of obtaining a second Super League licence. St Helens RLFC and Celtic Crusaders (later Crusaders Rugby League) were also warned, but were reported to have a likely chance of having a new stadium by 2012. The news came just over a week after Widnes Vikings, who already had a new stadium, won their Northern Rail Cup Final against Barrow Raiders; a key criterion for non-Super League clubs to obtain a first licence.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/8162212.stm League clubs warned over stadia news.bbc.co.uk (BBC Sport) 2009-07-22 2009-07-21 Following this report, all of the named Super League teams made moves to address stadium concerns: Salford City originally planned to move into the new Salford City Stadium for the 2011 season, but construction delays pushed back the date to 2012. Castleford are also building a new stadium. It was also intended to be open for 2011, but was ultimately pushed back to 2013. Wakefield had plans to build a new stadium in Stanley, hoping to move in no later than the 2012 season. After the plans fell through, they announced that they would extensively renovate their existing Belle Vue ground to meet new stadium requirements. St Helens built a new stadium that was initially expected to open sometime in 2011, but was delayed to January 2012. They agreed to groundshare with Widnes in 2011, presumably as a hedge against construction delays. Crusaders (who dropped "Celtic" from their name after the 2009 season) moved to the larger Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, the largest town in North Wales (an area that did not have a professional team in either rugby code). It is also close to the M62 corridor that has been the traditional heartland of league in England. Results Number of teams No upper limit on the number of Super League licences awarded had initially been set by the RFL, the option remained open to expand again in the future. http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/rugby/article.html?in_article_id=229497&in_page_id=45 Metro Crusaders and Salford join Super League Metro Sport 2008-07-22 2009-04-20 Increasing the number of teams in the competition without changing the competition's format would be at odds with recent RFL and Super League decisions and reports. The RFL's plan for international success, which was the result of an inquiry into England's poor performance at the 2008 World Cup, states an intention to work with clubs to limit the number of games top players can take part in.http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=13654 The Rugby Football League RFL's seven point plan to deliver international success RFL 2009-04-08 2009-04-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20090410131036/http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=13654 2009-04-10 dead The Magic Weekend event has allowed for a reduction in the number of games each club plays to 27, from 28; although a reason for the desire to reduce games in this case was to reduce the number of times Super League sides played each other more than twice in the regular season. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/5148094.stm BBC Super League could head for Wales BBC Sport 2006-07-04 2009-04-20 RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood said, "The best performing [Championship] club will be guaranteed admission to Super League, either at the expense of the worst performing club or by expanding the competition," he said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/7138760.stm BBC The licence system explained Paul Fletcher 2008-07-18 2008-07-17 On 4 August 2010, the RFL announced that the number of licences would remain at 14.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/8885900.stm At least one Super League club to lose licence in 2011 George Riley BBC Sport 4 August 2010 11 September 2011 Once Widnes were granted a licence, the RFL's decision meant that at least one existing Super League club would be left out of the competition. The final Super League lineup for the 2012–14 period was set on 26 July 2011, when Crusaders announced that they had withdrawn their application for a licence, believing that they were not financially able to sustain themselves in Super League in the near future. The club had gone into administration after the 2010 season, This decision provided a reprieve for Wakefield Trinity, who had been expected to be denied a licence after also going into administration in the 2010–11 close season. Crusaders' former place in Super League was filled by Widnes.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/14189659.stm Crusaders withdraw application for Super League place BBC Sport 26 July 2011 11 September 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110728174119/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/14189659.stm 28 July 2011 live Outcome A summary of licence applications was released with a grading of each club's application by the RFL on 8 September 2011.http://www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/23477/super-league-licensing-summaries-published Super League licensing summaries published 2011-09-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20120922072345/http://www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/23477/super-league-licensing-summaries-published 2012-09-22 dead Clubs were graded as follows: Super League LicencesA licenceB licenceC licencehull 16 Hull F.C.bradford 16 Bradford Bullscastleford 16 Castleford Tigersleeds 16 Leeds Rhinosst Helens 16 St. Helenswidnes 16 Widnes Vikings warrington 16 Warrington Wolvescatalans 16 Catalans Dragonshalifax 16 Halifax wigan 16 Wigan Warriorshuddersfield 16 Huddersfield Giantsharlequins 16 Harlequinshull kr 16 Hull Kingston Roverssalford city 16 Salford City Redswakefield 16 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Team elevated to Super League Awarded licence but not promoted Barrow Raiders did not meet the criteria for a C licence and Crusaders withdrew their application. Using the RFL criteria, there has been an increase in the standard of Super League clubs on the previous licensing period. Wigan Warriors improved from a B to an A licence. Catalans Dragons, Hull Kingston Rovers and Huddersfield Giants improved from a C to a B licence. There were three additional applications, with only one not meeting minimum requirements. On 31 March 2011, Widnes were granted a licence for the 2012-2014 Super League seasons. Halifax had also met the requirements for a licence, but were not awarded one. Barrow had failed with their licence bid. The future: 2015–17 licences Rugby League Super 8s Planning for the next licence period, 2015–17, began in 2009.http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=14771 Super League Five Super League clubs issued with licensing letters Super League 2009-07-22 2009-07-22 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090723201304/http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=14771 2009-07-23 The RFL, working with its members in Super League and the Championship to agree minimum standards in Business Management, Facilities, Finance, Commercial/Marketing/Community and Playing Strength/Performance. Gary Tasker, the RFL's Director of Development, reiterated: "Clubs need to be aware that we are raising the bar for the next licence period and showcasing the Super League competition in high quality, 21st Century stadium facilities remains a key strategic objective." This was, however, a complete waste of time as the RFL decided on a completely new structure for the 2015 Super League season which included bringing back promotion and relegation. However in 2023, the RFL in association with IMG effectively brought back licensing in the form of Grading, a more robust points operated system that ranked every professional club. References External links superleague.co.uk TheRFL.co.uk - Super League coverage Category:Rugby league in the United Kingdom Category:Rugby league in France