The 1987–88 Courage League National Division One was the first season of the first tier of the English rugby union league system . It was the first season of a truly national rugby union league, which is currently known as the Gallagher Premiership .
46-411: English Premiership may refer to: Premiership Rugby , an English rugby union football league Premier League , an English association football league Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title English Premiership . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
92-444: A deal worth £200m. A previous offer to purchase a 51% majority share was rejected. The money from the investment was planned to be used to improve facilities at clubs and grow the game globally. In March 2019, allegations emerged that Saracens may have broken the league's salary cap . In June, Premiership Rugby announced that they would investigate the allegations. In November 2019, Saracens were found to have been in breach of
138-457: A play-off between the bottom placed Premiership Club and top placed Championship club in 2023–24. New minimum standards criteria were announced in September 2022, confirming that promotion from the championship was still due to take place in 2023. 1987%E2%80%9388 Courage League There was no fixture list; the teams arranged fixtures amongst themselves. One match would count between each of
184-474: A reduced timeframe of 32 weeks (down from 42). The financial impact of the pandemic also caused the salary cap to be temporarily reduced for a maximum of 3 seasons from the 2021–22 season. A moratorium on relegation was also approved in February 2021, meaning no teams would be relegated as a potential consequence of another team receiving more points due to games cancelled because of COVID-19. With this news it
230-611: A season. In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a national knock-out cup – the RFU Club Competition, the predecessor to the 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 some traditional games as the new fixture lists didn't allow time for all of them. The league system has evolved since its start in 1987 when
276-411: A three-week wait until the final. Having lost their momentum, they were beaten by second-placed Wasps (who had defeated third-placed Northampton) 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 six teams have won both
322-521: Is no promotion. In the 2011–12 season London Welsh won promotion from the Championship but were initially denied promotion under the criteria, reprieving Newcastle Falcons from relegation. However London Welsh were found eligible on appeal and Newcastle were relegated. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , a moratorium was approved in February 2021 for a halt on top-flight clubs being relegated from
368-518: The 2005–06 season due to relegation. Six other clubs have appeared in at least 20 seasons — Saracens , Northampton Saints , Sale Sharks , London Irish , Bristol Bears and Newcastle Falcons . The financial insolvency, expulsion and automatic relegation of Wasps during the 2022–23 season means their record of being ever-present effectively ended at the end of the 2021–22 season . Coventry , Liverpool St Helens , Moseley , Nottingham , Rosslyn Park , Rugby and Waterloo only appeared during
414-719: The Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby union system . Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup . The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to
460-572: The RFU Championship for the 2020–21 season . Premiership Rugby CEO Darren Childs said this punishment was due to Saracens lack of cooperation in a mid-season audit to prove compliance in the 2019–20 season. On 23 January 2020, Lord Dyson 's full report into Saracens' spending was published, it revealed that Saracens had overspent the salary cap by £1.1m in 2016–17, £98,000 in 2017-18 and £906,000 in 2018–19. These included £923,947.63 of property investments between Nigel Wray and three unnamed Saracens players. It also included Saracens claim that
506-658: The Red Bull Arena in the New York Metropolitan Area . This match was intended to be the first of a three-year deal which would have seen London Irish play one home match each season in the US, but their relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 2015–16 season scuttled that plan. A new deal was reached with American sports marketing company AEG in 2017 which was intended to see at least one Premiership match taken to
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#1732844129065552-459: The Championship season. Newcastle Falcons, who topped the Championship table at the time of the season's premature end were promoted based on their playing record and would replace Saracens in the Premiership the following season. The 2019–20 Premiership Rugby season recommenced on 14 August and the final was held 24 October 2020. The disruption of the 2019–20 season meant the 2020–21 season commenced 10 weeks late on 20 November 2020 and ran over
598-514: The County Cups and County Championship – the former played by clubs and the latter by County representative teams e.g. 1980- 81 Rugby Union County Championship . 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
644-473: The Courage Leagues were formed – a league pyramid with roughly 1,000 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
690-539: The Premiership and the RFU Championship. Originally this meant a season-winning Championship club was promoted, replacing the lowest placed Premiership club which was relegated (between 2021 and 2023 promotion continued but no Level 1 club has been relegated). Promotion from the Championship is subject to the Minimum Standards Criteria. If a promotion-winning team does not meet these standards then there
736-614: The Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western Hemispheres , along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into
782-542: The Premiership are selected from the RFU's Professional Referee Unit. The Professional Referee Unit consists of 15 referees with match appointments decided by PRU management team of ex-international referees Ed Morrison , Brian Campsall and Tony Spreadbury . List of Premiership Referees Source: They are supported by a large team of assistant referees. The Premiership Rugby league season typically runs from September to June and comprises 18 rounds of matches, with each club playing each other home and away. The results of
828-453: The Premiership beginning that season . As promotion from the Championship would not be stopped, this meant the Premiership would expand to 13 teams in the following year . The moratorium was extended by an additional two seasons in June 2021. New regulations would also include a moratorium on promotion from the Championship in the same season had the Premiership expanded to 14 teams and introduce
874-523: The Salary Cap was unenforceable under competition law, this defence was rejected. On 28 January 2020, Premiership Rugby applied a further 70 point deduction for the 2019–20 season to ensure Saracens would finish bottom of the league table. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all elite sports in England in spring 2020. The RFU initially suspended both the Premiership and Championship before eventually cancelling
920-528: The U.S. and London, but those plans fell through, and the matches were indefinitely delayed. In August 2013, Peter Tom, the chairman of Leicester Tigers, confirmed that discussions had taken place within Premiership Rugby Limited about the possibility of hosting selected Premiership matches in the US. The first match played in the USA was on 12 March 2016 when London Irish were defeated by Saracens at
966-609: The US of a Premiership Rugby game. The game was shown live on NBC . In 2019–20, and 2020–21 once again no matches were scheduled to take place in the US. 2018 also saw a revamp of the league's secondary competition with the launch of the Premiership Rugby Shield . In December 2018, it was announced that the Luxembourg based investment advisory firm CVC Capital Partners had bought a 27% stake in Premiership Rugby in
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#17328441290651012-551: The US for four seasons starting in 2017–18. The first match under the new deal was held on 16 September 2017, with Newcastle Falcons taking their home fixture against Saracens to the Talen Energy Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania . In 2018–19, although no match was scheduled to take place in the US, the round 6 match between Saracens and Harlequins was the first broadcast on network television in
1058-421: The amateur era, whereas Exeter Chiefs , Leeds Tykes , London Welsh , Richmond , Rotherham Titans and Worcester Warriors have only appeared during the professional era. Below, the 2024–25 clubs are listed in bold ; ever-present clubs are listed in bold italics . Years listed are the calendar years in which the seasons ended. All current teams will remain in the league until at least 2024. Referees in
1104-480: 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
1150-548: The current Premiership system. The current champions are Northampton Saints who won the league in 2024. 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 fixtures and had traditional games. The only organised tournaments were
1196-404: 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 in a deal which is currently scheduled to end after the 2023–24 season. The league turned professional for the 1996–97 season when the first winners were Wasps , joining Bath and Leicester as the only champions in
1242-407: The fixture, they will be awarded 4 points, while the team unable to field a matchday squad due to a COVID-19 outbreak will be given 2 points – otherwise, if both teams are impacted by COVID-19, they will each receive 2 points for the affected fixture. Following the completion of the regular season, the top 4 teams enter the play-offs , which are held in June. The top two teams receive home advantage,
1288-409: 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 , with the winner of the final being crowned champions. Admittance to the Premiership, which is Level 1 of the men's 106-league English rugby union system , is achieved through a system of promotion and relegation between
1334-457: The league standings at the end of the season in any of these years. Conversely, Gloucester 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, losing finals in 2003, 2007, and 2008. Gloucester's single victory in the playoffs, in 2002, occurred when league leaders Leicester were still considered English champions, meaning Gloucester's Championship victory
1380-439: The league table and were crowned champions. Coventry and Sale were relegated to the 1988–89 Courage League National Division Two for next season, the latter side having lost all of its eleven matches. Rosslyn Park and Liverpool St Helens were promoted from the 1987–88 Courage League National Division Two for the following season. The home team is listed in the left column. Clubs had to organise their own fixtures so there
1426-494: 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 West Hartlepool , Richmond and London Scottish were forced into administration when their backers pulled out. 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)
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1472-558: The league, and automatically relegated, after going into administration . Ahead of the 2023–24 season , London Irish also dropped out of the league, as a result of financial insolvency. A total of 28 clubs have been involved in the top-flight since the league's inception in the 1987–88 season. The most recent club to make its debut in the Premiership was London Welsh , which made their top flight debut in 2012–13. Three clubs — Bath , Gloucester and Leicester Tigers — have appeared in every season to date. Harlequins have only missed
1518-407: The league. Their upcoming fixture against Gloucester on 1 October, was also cancelled. On 6 October, Worcester Warriors were suspended for the rest of the season, relegated from the premiership, and all past and future fixtures for that season expunged. On 17 October 2022, Wasps went into administration and were suspended from the league. Their upcoming fixture against Sale Sharks on 18 October,
1564-453: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_Premiership&oldid=1020351749 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby , officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby , or
1610-460: The matches contribute points to the league as follows : Since the restart of the 2019–20 season, scheduled fixtures which are cancelled because of a COVID-19 outbreak in one of the competing teams will have their outcome and points allocation decided by a Premiership Rugby panel. As of the start of the 2021–22 season, if the fixture cannot be rescheduled, it is recorded as a 0–0 draw. In this situation, if one team would have been able to fulfil
1656-490: The regular season and playoffs in the same year: Leicester twice in 2000–01 (the first year of the playoffs), 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2021–22 Sale Sharks in 2005–06, Harlequins in 2011–12, Saracens in 2015–16, Exeter in 2019–20, and Northampton Saints in 2023–24 Of all the Premiership teams, 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
1702-496: The salary cap regulations due to failure to disclose player payments in the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, which would have taken them over the senior player cap. They were handed a 35-point deduction for the 2019–20 season and fined £5.3 million. The judgement found that Saracens had been reckless in entering into the arrangements with players without disclosing them to Premiership Rugby. On 18 January 2020, Premiership Rugby announced that Saracens would be relegated to
1748-705: The sport's governing bodies on the other, Premiership Rugby Limited explored 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. The first phase of the plan was to involve two preseason exhibitions featuring an "American Barbarians" side that would combine international veterans and young American talent. The "Barbarians" were intended to play matches in August 2013 in
1794-423: The twelve teams involved and the points scheme was such that a team received four points for a win, two for a draw and one point for a loss. Most teams played eleven games, although some played ten due to cancellations. There was also unequal home and away fixtures, with some sides (Coventry, Harlequins) playing up to seven games at home, while others (Waterloo) as little as four. Leicester Tigers finished first in
1840-466: Was achieved when they defeated Leicester Tigers in the semi-final 21–20, thus denying Leicester a 10th Consecutive Final. In the final, they defeated Saracens 20–24 with a try in the last minute of extra time to win the 2013–14 Aviva Premiership . 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
1886-477: Was also cancelled. On 28 October, Wasps were suspended for the rest of the season, relegated from the premiership, and all past and future fixtures for that season expunged. On 6 June 2023, London Irish were suspended from the Premiership after missing a deadline to pay players and staff. Irish subsequently went into administration on 7 June. The Premiership began the recent 2022–23 season with 13 clubs, but both Wasps and Worcester Warriors were removed from
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1932-453: Was also confirmed that the league's minimum standards criteria for promotion would be reviewed as would league structure from the 2021–22 season. The new structure extended the moratorium on relegation for a further two-years. A playoff between the top team in the Championship and the bottom team in the Premiership is also introduced in the 2023–24 season. On 26 September 2022, Worcester Warriors went into administration and were suspended from
1978-421: 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, and 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
2024-407: Was 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. Leicester would have to wait until 2012–13 for their 10th championship, where they defeated Northampton in the final. The 2013–14 Aviva Premiership season saw Northampton become the 8th different team to win the trophy. This
2070-490: Was dropped. 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
2116-412: Was introduced. However, the team finishing top of the table at the end of the regular season was still considered English champions ("Premiership title"). Halfway 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 playoff would be crowned English champions. There was an outcry from fans and this proposal
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