Super League table of the 1990s with Wigan Warriors top and three now-Championship teams in top six

Incredibly, Super League will enter its 30th season as a competition in 2024 – dating all the way back to the inaugural edition in 1996.

Since then, the competition’s landscape has shifted dramatically from its early days: not least when you look at the teams who were participating in the first few editions of Super League.

The 1990s, then again, was a very different time for the world! And in truth it’s Super League which offers a real reflection of how times has changed.

We’ve crunched the numbers and looked at the four editions of Super League which took place in that decade: 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. 17 teams in total played in Super League across those four years, with a total of 97 rounds of action.

And the table with all those games compiled together into one makes for fascinating reading: and serves up as a real piece of nostalgia!

While so many things look different to the Super League we know these days, one thing is a constant: the sight of Wigan Warriors at the top! They won 75 of their 97 regular season games across those four seasons between 1996 and 1999 to sit top with 152 points: just ahead of one of three teams in the top six that are now playing in the Championship!

The first club in that bracket, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Bradford Bulls, who were champions of the competition in 1997. They won 74 out of 97 games in that period, five points clear of St Helens on a total of 144 points.

There’s then a big drop in points down to Leeds Rhinos in fourth on 122, before another two now-Championship sides. London Broncos are fifth on 106 points, having been a real force in the early years of Super League.

It’s then Halifax, now known as the Panthers, but then the Blue Sox, who round off the top six.

Three more teams who played in all of the first four Super League seasons are next: Castleford Tigers, Warrington Wolves and Sheffield Eagles.

Then the bottom eight is comprised of teams who were in and out of Super League during the early years, starting with Salford, who played in three of the first four seasons. They got 48 points from their 75 games in that time.

Next is Gateshead Thunder who were only in Super League for one of the first four seasons, but still manage to rank 11th with 39 points. Wakefield Trinity also played in that 1999 season only, and they’re 14th with 20 points. Oldham and Hull sit in between that pair.

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The bottom three are Paris Saint-Germain, who got 19 points from 44 games, Huddersfield Giants, who got just 14 points from 53 games – and Workington Town. The Cumbrians played in just one Super League season and got only five points.

Here’s how the full table looks.

Plenty of nostalgia there, we’d argue! And plenty of memories from the early years of the competition as it prepares to enter its 30th edition in 2025.

Will there finally be a new name on the trophy? Or, like in the 1990s and in recent seasons, will it be Wigan who once again reign supreme?

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