2017 Super League season

The Betfred Super League XXII, was the year 2017 Super League season and 123rd season of rugby league in Britain.

Super League XXII featured twelve teams, the third year in which this number has taken part. This was also the third year since promotion and relegation was reintroduced into the competition, seeing Leigh promoted and Hull KR relegated from last season.

Teams
Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England. Six teams hail from the historic county of Lancashire, west of the Pennines: Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan, Leigh, and Widnes. Five teams hail from the historic county of Yorkshire, east of the Pennines: Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, and Hull F.C. Catalans Dragons, located in Perpignan, France, are the only team outside the North of England. St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves, and Leeds Rhinos are the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.

Leigh were promoted from the Kingstone Press Championship after finishing in 2nd place in The Qualifiers for 2016. Leigh became the first club promoted to the Super League under the Super 8s system, and the first club promoted to Super League since Widnes received a license for Super League XVII. Leigh last competed in the top flight in Super League X. Hull Kingston Rovers were relegated to the Championship after losing the 2016 Million Pound Game to Salford.

Top 10 attendances

 * Statistics correct as of 23 July 2017 (round 23)

End-of-season awards
Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:


 * Man of Steel: Luke Gale -  Castleford Tigers
 * Coach of the year: Daryl Powell - Castleford Tigers
 * Super League club of the year: Castleford Tigers
 * Young player of the year: Oliver Gildart - Wigan Warriors
 * Foundation of the year: Wigan Warriors
 * Rhino "Top Gun": Marc Sneyd - Hull F.C. (89% - 103 goals)
 * Metre-maker: Alex Walmsley - St. Helens (4256 metres)
 * Top Try Scorer: Greg Eden (38) - Castleford Tigers
 * Hit Man: Danny Houghton - Hull F.C. (1123 tackles)
 * Outstanding Contribution: Thomas Bosc - Catalans Dragons Chris Bridge -   Warrington Wolves Rob Burrow -  Leeds Rhinos Eorl Crabtree -   Huddersfield Giants Gareth Ellis -  Hull Andy Lynch -  Castleford Tigers Leon Pryce -  Bradford Bulls Iafeta Paleaaesina -  Hull

Television
2017 is the first of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.

Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.

Regular commentators will be Eddie Hemmings with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Sky will broadcast highlights on Sunday nights on Super League - Full Time at 10 p.m.

BBC Sport will broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme, the first to the BBC North West, Yorkshire, North East and Cumbria, and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 11:35 p.m. on BBC One, while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30 p.m. The Super League Show is also available for one week after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only. End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.

Internationally, Super League is shown live or delayed on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), TV 2 Sport (Norway), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Fox Sports (Australia) and Sportsnet World (Canada).

Radio
BBC Coverage:


 * BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (National DAB Digital Radio) will carry two Super League commentaries each week on Thursday and Friday nights (both kick off 8pm); this will be through the 5 Live Rugby league programme which is presented by Dave Woods with a guest summariser (usually a Super League player or coach) and also includes interviews and debate..
 * BBC Radio Humberside will have full match commentary of all Hull F.C. matches.
 * BBC Radio Leeds carry commentaries featuring Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
 * BBC Radio Manchester will carry commentary of Leigh, Wigan and Salford whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Merseyside.
 * BBC Radio Merseyside will have commentary on St Helens and Widnes matches whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Manchester.

Commercial Radio Coverage:


 * 102.4 Wish FM will carry commentaries of Wigan & St Helens matches.
 * 107.2 Wire FM will carry commentaries on Warrington Home and Away.
 * Radio Yorkshire will launch in March carrying Super League commentaries.
 * Radio Warrington (Online Station) all Warrington home games and some away games.
 * Grand Sud FM covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French).
 * Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).

All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.