User:Norcandy/Sandbox/Super League

Super League

Current season, competition or edition: 2023 Super League season
Super League logo introduced in 2015
Sport	Rugby Union
Founded	2006; 18 years ago
Inaugural season	2006
Owner(s)	NUVSATLUS
Commissioner	Pieter de Klerk
No. of teams	12
Countries	Arucian (1 team) Nuvania (6 teams) Satavia (4 teams) Sublustria (1 team)
Most recent champion(s)	Rheas (2022, 2nd title)
Most titles	Port Hope RFC (5 titles)
TV partner(s)	Nuvania, Satavia and Sublustria: NBS Satavian Broadcasting Corporation SBC Naua Roa Sky Sublustria International: EBS Gaullice Télévisions HNO ITS Orrizonte24 TRN worldsports.tv
Sponsor(s)	Barrett Corporation Dane Group Telekor
Official website	superleague.rugby

Super League is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from the Arucian, Nuvania, Satavia and Sublustria. For sponsorship reasons, Super League is known as Telekor Super League in Nuvania. Super Leage consists of twelve franchises; one, the Arucian Pirates is based in Sainte-Chloé, six are based in Nuvania whilst four are based in Satavia. The Surfers are based in Satavia but are part of the Sublustrian Rugby Federation. Super League is owned and administrated by NUVSATLUS, the tripartite organisation consisting of the Nuvanian, Satavian and Sublustrian rugby union governing bodies.

Created in 2006 in the wake of declining results by both Nuvanian and Satavian national sides, the goal of the League was to improve the two countries competitiveness internationally. Initially consisting of fourteen teams, eight Nuvanian and six Satavian, this was reduced to ten teams (six Nuvanian and four Satavian) by 2009. In 2015, the Sublustrian Rugby Federation joined the league, contributing one team, also including Naua Roa. Concurrently, the Nuwanse Rugby established a team to represent the Arucian, based in Sainte-Chloé, with the aim of popularising rugby union in the Arucian. Both teams have performed poorly since their establishment, finishing in eleventh and twelfth every year since their debuts in 2015.

Since its inception, the competition has been fiercely competitive; all four teams in the Satavian conference have won Super League in the past, whilst four of the six Nuvanian teams have also won Super League. The most successful Super League team is Port Hope RFC, having won the league five times, meanwhile the most recent winners are the Rheas, who won only their second title in 2022.

Organisation and format

NUVSATLUS

NUVSATLUS (prior to 2015 known as the Trans-Van Horn Rugby Board), is an organisation based in Port Hope with three member federations (Nuvania, Satavia and Sublustria). NUVSATLUS oversees, owns and administers Super League, in addition to the Asterias Cup, which all three NUVSATLUS nations particpate in as well as two other nations - Gapolania and Satucin.

Competition format

From 2006 until 2009, during the period in which there were fourteen teams - eight Nuvanian and six Satavian - the Super League season was split into two components; a round-robin tournament in which all sides played each other twice; one home game and one away game. Three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Furthermore, two bonus points were avaliable; the "winning" bonus point in which the winning team scores four or more tries, as well as a "losing" bonus point, in which a team loses but finishes within seven points of the opposition. The top eight teams of fourteen in the points standings (ties were settled by points difference, followed by number of tries scored) then progressed through to the knockout competition, commonly referred to as "finals football" in Satavia. The team finishing first in the points standings would play the team finishing eight, the team finishing second would play the team finishing seventh and so on. The final would then decide the winner of the League - meanwhile, there was no match to decide which team finished in third - both clubs were instead regarded as semi-finals losers.

For the 2010 season, four franchises were removed from the competition in order to improve profitability; two Satavian clubs and two Nuvanian clubs. With only ten teams, the knockout stage became unfeasible (as only two teams would be left out) and so the competition moved to a round-robin only system, that remained in place until the end of the 2014 season. Points for pool stages were also tweaked; a win became four points, a draw became two and a loss remained worthless. Meanwhile, a third bonus point became avaliable - the "margin" bonus point, avaliable for the winning team. If the winning team outscored the opposition by over 28 points (i.e. four converted tries) they were entitled to an extra bonus point. Furthermore, the "winning" bonus point was ammended so that the losing team was also eligble for the the bonus point, if they too scored four or more tries. This increased the maximum possible points for a loss to two (assuming the losing team scored four tries and was within seven points of the winnning team). This system ran until the end of the 2014 season.

From 2015, two new clubs representing Sublustria and the Arucian were added to the competition. With twelve clubs, the competiton returned to an amended version of the original format; two stages, a round-robin and a knockout stage. However, the bonus point system was overhauled again for the 2015 season - "winning" bonus points were awarded for scoring four or more tries and "losing" points were awarded for losing within seven points (as long as the losing team scored points - i.e. a 6-0 loss would not award a "losing" bonus point). The "margin" bonus point, that had been controversial as it essentially rewarded dominance in the same way as the winning bonus point, was abolished. Additional changes were made to the knockout stage; the losers of the two semi-finals now played off for third place.

Brand and media

Trophies

The twelve teams compete for the Super League trophy; a gold-coated, 21 kilogram, 70-cm tall trophy designed in 1996 for use in the Super 16, Satavia's predecessor domestic league. The trophy is one of several teams compete for, as there are some inter-club trophies and national trophies awarded at the end of the season, in addition to a the "Player of the League" award. For instance, the highest-finishing Satavian team is awarded the Ashgrove Memorial Cup, whilst the highest placed Nuvanian team is awarded the J.P van Vollenhoven Trophy. Furthermore, the winner of the Port Hope vs !Pietersburg match is awarded the Dolphin Cup, a reference to the two bays of the same name in both Port Hope (Dolfynbaai) and Pietersburg (Bay of Dolphins). The trophy, like all inter-club trophies, are only contested in the match hosted by the current holders.

Trophy	Teams	Since	Notes
Ashgrove Memorial Cup	Satavian teams	2008	Made from brass shell casings recovered from the walls of Government House, Port Hope and named for Governor-General Lord Ashgrove who was killed during the Defence of Port Hope.
Colours Cup	Bloemstad Reds Northport Oranges	2019	The plate trophy is painted in alternating bands of Orange and Red (seperated by blue).
Dolphin Cup	Port Hope RFC !Pietersburg	2012	Named as a reference to the two bays of the same name in both Port Hope (Dolfynbaai) and Pietersburg (Bay of Dolphins).
J.P van Vollenhoven Trophy	Nuvanian teams	2008	Named for J.P van Vollenhoven, former Chief Minister of Nuvania.

See also

• Barrett Bank Asterias Cup
• IRFB