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The Super League war saw a battle for control of television rights for the sport of rugby league. The battle centred on Australia, but the effects of the struggle were felt across the rugby league playing world.
Australasian Super League
Super League was a creation of international media magnate Rupert Murdoch in a much-criticised move to monopolise the media coverage of Rugby League football in Australia. Super League consisted of many teams poached from the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and also other teams created for the sole purpose of Super League, e.g. the Hunter Mariners. In 1997 both Rupert Murdoch's Super League and the Australian Rugby League co-existed, running two separate competitions.
With the sponsorship market and total crowd attendances being divided up among two competitions and a much larger number of teams compared to before Super League, teams soon found themselves in financial difficulty. It was in this cash-strapped environment that negotiations between Super League and the Australian Rugby League took place, resulting in a joint venture between the two - the National Rugby League as it exists to-day. Nevertheless, many teams were no longer viable and thus disappeared from the new NRL, and four more merged to create two new "joint venture" teams.
European Super League
In order to gain the upper hand during the battle for supremacy with the ARL, Murdoch approached the British clubs to form Super League (Europe) (SLE). A large sum of money aided the decision, and the competition got under way in 1996. Initially, mergers between existing clubs were proposed, however this proved so unpopular that only existing clubs were selected for the competition. Several clubs currently in the exisiting top flight were excluded, whilst other from the lower divisions (such as London Broncos) were “fast-tracked” in on commercial grounds. A new team, Paris Saint Germain, was created to give a French dimension.
After two years Paris were dropped from the competition, thus the 'Europe' in 'Super League (Europe)', became somewhat otiose; it was however retained. Promotion and relegation between Super League and the Rugby League National Leagues was re-introduced, and in 2002 the SLE governing body re-integrated fully into the Rugby Football League. To most intents and prurpses, Super League is now simply a re-titled first division of British Rugby League. However, it has recently been announced that a French side, Union Treiziste Catalane from Perpignan, are to be introduced in 2006.
International Dimension
During the Super League war international contact was restricted to matches between teams representing only Super League competitions; thus the ARL found itself ‘frozen out’. The damage that was done to the sport's international reputation was massive.
See also
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