Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Super League VIII

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Duration
  
28 Rounds

Start date
  
2003

Number of teams
  
12

Broadcast partners
  
Sky Sports

Location
  
England, United Kingdom

Highest attendance
  
21,784 Bradford Bulls vs Leeds Rhinos (23 May)

Lowest attendance
  
1,276 Halifax vs London Broncos (22 Aug)

Attendance
  
1,336,374 (average 7,955)

Champions
  
Bradford Bulls 3rd Super League title 5th English title

People also search for
  
Super League X, Super League VI

Tetley's Super League VIII was the official name for the year 2003's Super League championship season, the 109th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the eighth championship run by Super League.

Contents

The season culminated in a replay of the 2001 Grand Final between Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors, and again Bradford won, claiming the 2003 premiership, their second in three years.

Rule changes

  • The knock-on rule was modified so that if in the referee's judgement a player did not play at the ball, a knock-on would not be given.
  • Super League coaches voted 12-0 for new interchange and substitution rules for the 2003 season. The number of interchanges, which now included blood bins, increased from 6 to 12 using a pool of 4 substitutes. This change aimed to retain the element of wearing down a team's opponents during the game - which was considered part of the character of the sport. Stuart Cummings, the Rugby Football League's technical controller said the changes "bring us into line with the international rules" and ruled out future increases as well as declaring, "We will never see the unlimited interchange introduced into rugby league in Britain," a change that had caused controversy in Australia during its experiment there.

    • Table

    Notes

    ^ a: St Helens deducted two points for salary cap breaches
    ^ b: Hull F.C. deducted two points for salary cap breaches
    ^ c: Halifax deducted two points for salary cap breaches

    Play-offs


    Source: rugbyleagueproject.org

    Television

    This season was the final year of Sky Sports' contract with the Rugby Football League allowing them to broadcast matches exclusively live, the deal ended in November 2003.

    Records

    On 2 March, Matt Crowther of Hull F.C. equalled the club record for goals in a match when he was successful 14 times against Sheffield Eagles.

    References

    Super League VIII Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA