Living in Manchester for any amount of time, you’ll be attacked by almost non-stop advertisements for the football. Man United and Man City take up the space on every billboard and on every pub TV. So often overlooked and under-appreciated is Rugby League, and its top division the Super League (and no, it’s not the thing Gary Neville started crying about a few years back).
Rugby League: a Northern tradition
For the uninitiated, Rugby League is the younger brother of Rugby Union. The codes split in 1895 when a few northern clubs wanted to be paid for their work as many of their players were working class and couldn’t afford the time off. The split eventually led to a very different and arguably more entertaining form of rugby where you only get 6 tackles before you lose the ball, and line-outs are abolished. The game in essence is faster, something that undeniably benefits super league patrons.
The league itself was established in 1996, as a new, more American way to advertise the sport, with the opening game even having cheerleaders and fireworks. Apart from this obviously rocky start, which included forcing teams together that never should have been merged, the Super League has become a staple in the North in general, and formed a huge part of my childhood growing up in Leeds with a Wigan Warriors obsessed Dad. So I think it’s only right that I give a preview to this upcoming season to help any prospective fans pick out a horse to back.
In Greater Manchester we’re blessed with 5 teams in a league that mostly follows the M62 corridor: Salford Red Devils, Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Warrington Wolves and Leigh Leopards. All teams with unique histories and in the case of St Helens, the most successful club in the league’s nearly 20 year history; the side have been victorious in 4 of the last 6 Grand Finals.
The powerhouses
St Helens, or Saints, have dominated the league for much of my life. Watching them win for four years in a row nearly killed my Wigan supporting Dad. But now, with the ageing of many of the core players that brought them so much success, they have since last season slipped into mediocrity. With young talent such as Jack Welsby not bringing the same success, they have looked across the world, as many teams do in this day and age, to find salvation.
Turning to St Helens’ traditional enemies in the Wigan Warriors, we see a team looking to avoid a great change. Winners of the Grand Final and the league last season, Matty Peet’s men are looking to win their third title in a row. My granddad’s favourite team are once again relying on the lethal Australian partnership of Bevan French and Jai Field along with a strong set of forwards and two great wingers in Abbas Miski and Liam Marshall.
They’re a fantastic team and there should be no reason why they can’t win it all again. Although an unheard of 0-1 loss against Leigh on the opening day suggests that Wigan’s all star attack may not be firing on all cylinders yet. All I can say is, if come October they aren’t champions, I’m going to have a rough couple of weeks.
Emerging contenders
The bookie’s third favourite to win it all this year is the Warrington Wolves. A team that recently made headlines for the decision to change their stadium’s name from the Halliwell Jones’s Stadium to the Luke Littler Stadium for the first game of the season, after the darts phenom admitted he supports the team. This desperate lunge at publicity aside, the Wire are looking for a year similar to last, where they came third with a rejuvenated team. Managed by former NRL and England star Sam Burgess, they have been a team reborn, bouncing back from several disappointing years.
Warrington are a team often defined by their failures having never won a grand final despite visiting four times. Hoping to break that curse are players such as George Williams, one of the few homegrown stars good enough to play in the NRL who chose to return, and Matt Dufty, arguably the best fullback in the league last year. While the team is not complete yet they will make a compelling contender.
The underdogs
The two other teams in the Greater Manchester area, Leigh Leopards and Salford Red Devils, never garner as much attention as the previous three, as they simply do not have as much history in the competition. Leigh reformed into the Leopards a few years ago after the relegation of the previous Leigh Centurions, while Salford have often been the whipping boy of the Super League, and this year have to contend with a takeover that left them unable to field a full team for the first game.
These issues however have not stopped Leigh and Salford producing some fantastic teams in the past, with Salford going to their first grand final in 2019 and producing a Man of Steel in Brodie Croft two years later. Leigh, since promotion back to the Super League, have had two seasons of play-off rugby, and have just beaten Wigan in the opening day of the season, albeit 1-0.
Will either of them go the distance this year? I doubt it. Many of their best players are snapped up by the best teams after a few good years leaving them with what they leave behind, their ability to turn these players into rugby forces has been impressive but has yet to yield big results.
But who knows? That’s the joy of Super League! It’s one of the most even leagues in any sport in the world, with one of the only certainties being that it will come down to the wire. So if you’re wanting to escape the overly commercialized world of association football, hop on a train and go watch some rugby league, it’s always cheap and always great fun. Indulge in some real Northern culture and watch men run into each other like freight trains for 80 minutes.
