Tetley's

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

IX was the name of the 2004 Super League championship season due to sponsorship by

Tetley's Bitter Tetley's may refer to: *Tetley, a brand of tea * Tetley's Bitter, a brand of beer *Tetley's brewery, brewery in Leeds which brews the above beer. *Tetley's Stadium, a stadium in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ...

. This was the 110th season of top-level professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

held in Britain, and the ninth championship decided by Super League. The season culminated in the grand final between

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

and

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

, which Leeds won, claiming the 2004 title.

Season summary

During this season Leeds claimed a couple of records, they became the 1st team until Castleford in 2017 to accumulate 50 points from the regular rounds and finished a record 9 points clear of 2nd placed

, they also became only the 2nd team in the Super League era to finish at home with a 100% record in the regular weekly rounds.

Lesley Vainikolo Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his caree ...

scored more tries than anybody else that season with 37, beating

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

who finished on 36.

Table

Media

Television

Live Super League IX matches were broadcast in the United Kingdom by Sky Sports in the first year of a new five-year television deal. The contract was signed less than three weeks before the start of the season. The deal, worth £53 million, represented a 15 percent, or £7 million, increase on the last contract. The contract would run until the end of the 2008 season and also cover the international game minus the 2008 World Cup, which is worth £5 million of the total amount. It was speculated in the media that clubs would receive around £700,000-£800,000 per year from the deal - less than the £1 million clubs received in 1995 when British rugby league agreed to switch to a summer season. The clubs had received in initial offer of £55.5 million from Sky, one of two offers rejected; after that offer was declined the amount was reduced with the final figure agreed being settled later after an intervention by Maurice Lindsay. Sky's offer took into account their dissatisfaction with the - BBC requested - proposed move of the Challenge Cup Final to between May and August in 2005, which they believed was too near to the October Grand Final. An RFL spokesman said: "To increase our overall take in a falling market is a major step forward for our game". Vic Wakeling speaking for Sky said: "Our relationship with rugby league is one of the longest in the 12-year history of Sky Sports and we are delighted to be announcing the same again in terms of Super League and international rights. The BBC secured secondary broadcast rights to show the Super League play-offs and Grand Final nationally with a provision to show match highlights of regular season games. Previously, a deal with the BBC had seen a Sky highlights package shown in the BBC's northern regions.

References

External links