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The 'Guinness Premiership' is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are, at present, twelve clubs in the Premiership. The competition has been played since 1987, with the most successful club being the Leicester Tigers, who have won the competition seven times. Promotion and relegation exist for the Premiership, with relegation to and promotion from the National Division One competition. Clubs competing in the Guinness Premiership qualify for Europe's two club competitions, the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup. The current champions are the Leicester Tigers.
The 2006–07 season is over. The 2007–08 season is due to begin in September.
History
The governing body of rugby union in England, Rugby Football Union (RFU), long resisted leagues as it was believed that leagues would increase 'dirty' play and put pressure on clubs to pay their players (thus breaking 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.
In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a national knock-out cup now known as the EDF Energy 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 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. 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 1994/1995 season was the first to be shown live on Sky Sports, a relationship which continues to this day.
The league turned professional for the 1996/97 season when the first winners were Wasps RFC, now known as London Wasps, joining Bath and Leicester as the only champions in the league's first decade. Clubs like Saracens, Newcastle and Northampton were able to attract wealthy benefactors, but the professional era also had its casualties, as clubs like Richmond and London Scottish were forced into administration when their backers pulled out.
The re-branding of the league to the Zurich Championship at the start 2000/01 season also brought with it a re-vamping of the season structure. In 2000–2001 an 8-team play-off system was implemented, but the regular season champion was still considered English champion ("Zurich Premiership title") with the playoff champion claiming the "Zurich Championship title".
In the 2001–2002 season a controversial knock-out cup style play-off system was introduced. Half-way through the season, with Leicester odds-on to win their fourth title in succession, it was decided that the winners of the playoffs would be crowned champions. There was an outcry from fans and this proposal was dropped, but the next year a similar proposal was adopted under which the winner of the league had to play the winner of a match between the second- and third-placed teams for the title. 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.
Since the implementation of the playoff system, only two teams have won both the regular season and playoffs in the same year—Leicester in 2000–2001 (the first year of the playoffs) and Sale Sharks in 2005–06.
From 2002–2003 season the English Champion team has been the one winning the Championship Final. For three seasons London Wasps have played the competition format to perfection, peaking at the right time to be crowned English Champions in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
The eight-team play off format was also scrapped in favour of one similar to that used across Europe. Since 2004, the season has begun with the London Double Header.
Competition
Format
The Guinness Premiership regular season runs for 22 rounds, involving twelve clubs. Currently, the season runs from September through to May of the following year followed by the finals series. During a Premiership match, points that contribute to team standings can be earned in a number of ways: four are awarded for a victory, two for a draw and zero for a loss. However, regardless of winning or losing, bonus points can also be awarded, either by losing by seven points or less in the final scoreline (one point) or a team scoring four or more tries in a match (one point).
After the completion of the 22 regular season rounds, the final standings of the twelve clubs determine which teams enter the finals - the top four clubs in the standings enter the semi-finals. The club that finishes at the top of the table earns a home game in their semi-final against the fourth-placed club. The club that finishes second in the standings also earns a home semi-final, hosting the third-placed club. The two semi-finals are played in May, with the winners of both games entering the championship final, which is played at Twickenham Stadium. The winner of the final are the season champions.
Promotion and relegation
:''See also'' English rugby union system
There is a system of promotion and relegation to and from the Guinness Premiership. The last placed club after the 22 regular season rounds of the Premiership is relegated into National Division One, while the Division One champion is promoted to the Premiership for the subsequent season. However, promotion and relegation is subject to a Minimum Standards Criteria.
European competitions
Teams playing in the Guinness Premiership also compete in the two European competitions: the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup. The number of clubs taking part in either competition varies each season according to performances of English clubs in the prior season. The top four placed clubs in the Guinness Premiership qualify for the Heineken Cup, though more clubs can qualify in a number of ways: the previous season's Heineken Cup winner, the champion of the European Challenge Cup or the winner of the EDF Energy Cup. In total, six clubs usually compete in the Heineken Cup. If the winner of the Heineken Cup, European Challenge Cup or EDF Energy Cup is in the top four Guinness Premiership clubs, then the Heineken Cup runner-up would qualify (if an English club), followed by standings after fourth in the Premiership. Seven clubs will compete in the Heineken Cup if the winner of the Cup is an English club. Clubs that do not qualify for the Heineken Cup play in the European Challenge Cup.
Sponsorship
★ '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 present
Teams
The following twelve teams will take part in the 2007-08 Guinness Premiership:
Results
By year
Courage League
★ 1987–88 Leicester Tigers
★ 1988–89 Bath
★ 1989–90 Wasps FC
★ 1990–91 Bath
★ 1991–92 Bath
★ 1992–93 Bath
★ 1993–94 Bath
★ 1994–95 Leicester Tigers
★ 1995–96 Bath
★ 1996–97 Wasps RFC
Allied Dunbar Premiership
★ 1997–98 Newcastle Falcons
★ 1998–99 Leicester Tigers
★ 1999–00 Leicester Tigers
Zurich Premiership
★ 2000–01 Leicester Tigers
★ 2001–02 Leicester Tigers
★
★ Leicester Tigers finished 1st in the league table.
★ 2002–03 London Wasps
★
★ Gloucester finished 1st in the league table.
★ 2003–04 London Wasps
★
★ Bath finished 1st in the league table.
★ 2004–05 London Wasps
★
★ Leicester Tigers finished 1st in the league table.
Guinness Premiership
★ 2005–06 Sale Sharks
★
★ Sale Sharks finished 1st in the league table.
★ 2006–07 Leicester Tigers
★
★ Gloucester finished 1st in the league table.
★ 2007–08
Zurich Premiership Championship Final
on all occasions at Twickenham Stadium
★ | 13 May 2001 | Leicester | - | Bath | 22-10 | (33,500) |
★ | 8 June 2002 | Gloucester | - | Bristol | 28-23 | (28,500) |
★ | 31 May 2003 | London Wasps | - | Gloucester | 39-3 | (42,000) |
★ | 29 May 2004 | London Wasps | - | Bath | 10-6 | (59,500) |
★ | 14 May 2005 | London Wasps | - | Leicester Tigers | 39-14 | (66,000) |
Guinness Premiership Championship Final
on all occasions at Twickenham Stadium
★ | 27 May 2006 | Sale Sharks | - | Leicester Tigers | 45-20 | (58,000) |
★ | 12 May 2007 | Leicester Tigers | - | Gloucester RFC | 44-16 | (59,000) |
By Championship Total Wins
| Ranking | Team | Times won |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester Tigers | 7 |
| 2 | Bath | 6 |
| 3 | Wasps FC/London Wasps | 5 |
| 4= | Newcastle Falcons | 1 | Sale Sharks | 1 |
See also
★ Summary of the Current League positions for all English Leagues
★ Guinness A League
★ Anglo-Welsh Cup
★ English Rugby Union teams
★ European Challenge Cup
★ European Shield
★ Heineken Cup
★ National Division One
★ EDF Energy Cup
★ List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues — the Premiership in a worldwide context
External links
★ Official site
★ Offical Sponsers Statistics and News
★ English rugby union news from the BBC
★ News from Planet Rugby
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