Premiership Rugby

Premiership Rugby (officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons)[1] is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership consists of twelve clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby union system. Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season is relegated to the second division, the RFU Championship; the winner of the Championship is promoted to the Premiership.

Premiership Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:
2019–20 Premiership Rugby
SportRugby union
Founded1987 (1987)
AdministratorRFU
No. of teams12
CountryEngland
Most recent
champion(s)		Saracens (5th title)
(2018-19)
Most titlesLeicester Tigers (10 titles)
TV partner(s)BT Sport
Channel 5
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toRFU Championship
Domestic cup(s)Premiership Rugby Cup
International cup(s)European Rugby Champions Cup
European Rugby Challenge Cup
Official websitePremiership Rugby

The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership system. The current champions are Saracens. The most recently promoted side are Newcastle Falcons, who will return to the top flight in 2020.

History
See also: History of the English rugby union system

Beginnings: English domestic rugby union until 1972

The governing body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), long resisted leagues as it was believed that the introduction of leagues would increase 'dirty' play and put pressure on clubs to pay their players (thereby contravening the amateur ethos). Instead, clubs arranged their own fixtures and had traditional games. The only organised tournaments were the County Cups and County Championship — the former played by clubs and the latter by County representative teams. The Daily Telegraph and a few local newspapers — such as the Yorkshire Post — compiled 'pennants' based on teams' performances, but as the strength of fixture lists varied, it was at best an estimate of a team's performance throughout a season.

1972–1995: Leagues and cups

In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a national knock-out cup — the RFU Club Competition, the predecessor to the Anglo-Welsh Cup — followed first by regional merit tables and then, in the mid-1980s, by national merit tables. One of the casualties of the move to competitive leagues was the loss of some traditional games as the new fixture lists didn't allow time for all of them.

The league system has evolved since its start in 1987 when the Courage Leagues were formed — a league pyramid with roughly 1000 clubs playing in 108 leagues each with promotion and relegation.

In the first season, clubs were expected to arrange the fixtures on mutually convenient dates. The clubs involved were Bath, Bristol, Coventry, Gloucester, Harlequins, Leicester, Moseley, Nottingham, Orrell, Sale, Wasps and Waterloo. That first season was an unqualified success, with clubs in the upper echelons of the national leagues reporting increased crowds, interest from both local backers and national companies, and higher skill levels among players exposed to regular competition. The fears that leagues would lead to greater violence on the field proved largely unfounded.

By the next season, the RFU allocated fixed Saturdays to the league season, removing the clubs' responsibility for scheduling matches. There was no home and away structure to the leagues in those early seasons, as sides played one another only once.

Initially two teams, Bath and Leicester, proved to be head and shoulders above the rest in the Courage League, and between them dominated the top of the table.

In 1994 the league structure expanded to include a full rota of home and away matches for the first time. The 1994–95 season was the first to be shown live on Sky Sports, a relationship which continued until the 2013–14 season when BT Sport acquired the exclusive rights.[2]

1996: The dawn of professional rugby union

The league turned professional for the 1996–97 season when the first winners were London Wasps, joining Bath and Leicester as the only champions in the league's first decade. Clubs like Saracens, Newcastle and Northampton were able to attract wealthy benefactors, but the professional era also had its casualties, as clubs like West Hartlepool, Richmond and London Scottish were forced into administration when their backers pulled out.[3]

2000–2002: Premiership, Championship and playoffs

The start of the 2000–01 season brought with it a re-vamping of the season structure. In 2000–2001 an 8-team playoff (the Championship) was introduced. However, the team finishing top of the table at the end of the regular season was still considered English champions ("Premiership title").

Halfway through the 2001–02 season, with Leicester odds-on to win their fourth title in succession, it was controversially decided that the winners of the 8-team playoffs would be crowned English champions.[4] There was an outcry from fans and this proposal was dropped.

2003–2014: The ascendancy of the playoffs

From the beginning of the 2002–03 season, a new playoff format was introduced to replace the 8-team Championship. The format required the first-placed team in the league to play the winner of a match between the second- and third-placed teams. Critically, the winner of this game (the Premiership Final) would be recognised as English champions. Although Gloucester won the league by a clear margin, they then faced a three-week wait until the final. Having lost their momentum, they were beaten by second-placed Wasps (who had defeated third-placed Northampton) in the play-offs. The playoff structure was reformatted in the 2005–06 season in which the first-placed team would play the fourth placed team in a semi-final (a Shaughnessy playoff).

Since the implementation of the playoff system, only four teams have won both the regular season and playoffs in the same year; Leicester in 2000–01 (the first year of the playoffs) and again in 2008–09 and 2009–10, Sale Sharks in 2005–06, Harlequins 2011–12 and Saracens in 2015–16.

Of all the Premiership teams, Wasps have made a reputation for playing the competition format to perfection, peaking at the right time to be crowned English Champions in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008. Wasps did not lead the league standings at the end of the season in any of these years. Conversely, Gloucester have garnered an unfortunate reputation for leading the table at the end of the regular season, only to fall short of winning the Premiership title, losing finals in 2003, 2007, and 2008. Gloucester's single victory in the playoffs, in 2002, occurred when league leaders Leicester were still considered English champions, meaning Gloucester's Championship victory was considered secondary.

The 2011–12 season saw Harlequins add their name to the trophy on their first attempt, winning 30–23 against the nine-times champions Leicester. Leicester would have to wait until 2012–13 for their 10th championship, where they defeated Northampton in the final.

The 2013–14 Aviva Premiership season saw Northampton become the 8th different team to win the trophy. This was achieved when they defeated Leicester Tigers in the semi-final 21–20, thus denying Leicester a 10th Consecutive Final.[5] In the final, they defeated Saracens 20–24 with a try in the last minute of extra time to win the 2013–14 Aviva Premiership.[6][7]

2014–2019: US initiatives

With the future of the Heineken Cup uncertain beyond 2013–14, due to a row between England's Premiership Rugby Limited and France's LNR on one side and the sport's governing bodies on the other, Premiership Rugby Limited explored several moves toward expanding its brand into the United States. In May 2013, Premiership Rugby Limited and U.S.-based RugbyLaw entered into a plan by which the two organisations were to help back a proposed U.S. professional league that could have begun play as early as 2014.[8] The first phase of the plan was to involve two preseason exhibitions featuring an "American Barbarians" side that would combine international veterans and young American talent. The "Barbarians" were intended to play matches in August 2013 in the U.S. and London, but those plans fell through, and the matches were indefinitely delayed.[9]

In August 2013, Leicester Tigers chairman Peter Tom confirmed that Premiership Rugby Limited had discussed the possibility of bringing select Premiership matches to the US.[8][10] The first match played in the USA was on 12 March 2016 when London Irish were defeated by Saracens at the Red Bull Arena in the New York Metropolitan Area.[11] This match was intended to be the first of a three-year deal which would have seen London Irish play one home match each season in the US, but their relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 2015–16 season scuttled that plan.[12] A new deal was reached with American sports marketing company AEG in 2017 which was intended to see at least one Premiership match taken to the US for four seasons starting in 2017–18. The first match under the new deal was held on 16 September 2017, with Newcastle Falcons taking their home fixture against Saracens to the Talen Energy Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania.[12] In 2018–19, although no match was scheduled to take place in the US, the round 6 match between Saracens and Harlequins was the first broadcast on network television in the US of a Premiership Rugby game. The game was shown live on NBC. In 2019–20, once again no matches were scheduled to take place in the US.

2018 also saw a revamp of the league's secondary competition with the launch of the Premiership Rugby Shield.

2019 salary cap investigation into Saracens

In March 2019, allegations emerged that Saracens may have broken the league's salary cap, the story was initially printed in the Daily Mail and claimed Saracens chairman Nigel Wray had invested in companies with players such as Richard Wigglesworth, Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola and Maro Itoje. In June, Premiership Rugby announced that they would investigate the allegations.[13] In November 2019, Saracens were found to have been in breach of the salary cap regulations due to failure to disclose player payments in the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, which would have taken them over the senior player cap.[14] They were handed a 35-point deduction for the 2019–20 Premiership Rugby season and fined £5.3 million.[15][14] The judgement found that Saracens had been reckless in entering into the arrangements with players without disclosing them to Premiership Rugby.[16]

On 18 January 2020, Premiership Rugby announced that Saracens would be relegated to the RFU Championship for the 2020–21 season.[17] Premiership Rugby CEO Darren Childs said this punishment was due to Saracens lack of cooperation in a mid-season audit to prove compliance in the 2019–20 season.[18][19] Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was determined that the Newcastle Falcons would be promoted and replace the Saracens in Gallagher Premiership for the 2020-2021 season.[20]

On 23 January 2020, Lord Dyson's full report into Saracens' spending was published, it revealed that Saracens had overspent the salary cap by £1.1m in 2016–17, £98,000 in 2017-18 and £906,000 in 2018–19. These included £923,947.63 of property investments between Nigel Wray and three unnamed Saracens players. It also included Saracens claim that the Salary Cap was unenforceable under competition law, this defence was rejected.[21]

On 28 January 2020, Premiership Rugby applied a further 70 point deduction for the 2019–20 season to ensure Saracens would finish bottom of the league table.[22]

Clubs

Current clubs map
Locations of Premiership Rugby teams

Current clubs chart
Club Established City Stadium Capacity* Titles (Last)**
Bath 1865 Bath The Recreation Ground 14,509 6 (1996)
Bristol Bears 1888 Bristol Ashton Gate 27,000 0 (N/A)
Exeter Chiefs 1871 Exeter Sandy Park 13,593 1 (2017)
Gloucester 1873 Gloucester Kingsholm Stadium 16,115 0 (N/A)
Harlequins 1866 London (Twickenham) Twickenham Stoop 14,800 1 (2012)
Leicester Tigers 1880 Leicester Welford Road 25,849 10 (2013)
London Irish 1898 London (Twickenham) Twickenham Stoop 14,800 0 (N/A)
Northampton Saints 1880 Northampton Franklin's Gardens 15,200 1 (2014)
Sale Sharks 1861 Salford AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 1 (2006)
Saracens 1876 London (Hendon) Copthall stadium 8,500 5 (2019)
Wasps 1867 Coventry Ricoh Arena 32,753 6 (2008)
Worcester Warriors 1871 Worcester Sixways Stadium 11,499 0 (N/A)
  • Note: Capacity listed for rugby union games may differ from official stadium capacity

    All time

    A total of 28 clubs have been involved in the top-flight since the league's inception in the 1987–88 season. The most recent club to make its debut in the Premiership was London Welsh, which made their top flight debut in 2012–13.

    Four clubs—Bath, Gloucester, Leicester and Wasps—have appeared in every season to date. Harlequins have only missed the 2005–06 season. Six other clubs have appeared in at least 20 seasons: Saracens, Northampton, Sale, London Irish, Bristol and Newcastle.

    Coventry, Liverpool St Helens, Moseley, Nottingham, Rosslyn Park, Rugby and Waterloo only appeared during the amateur era, whereas Exeter, Leeds, London Welsh, Richmond, Rotherham and Worcester have only appeared during the professional era.

    Below, the 2019–20 clubs are listed in bold; ever-present clubs are listed in bold italics. Years listed are the calendar years in which the seasons ended.

    SeasonsTeamDates
    33Bath1988–2020
    22Bristol1988–1998, 2000–2003, 2006–2009, 2017, 2019–2020
    3Bedford1990, 1999–2000
    1Coventry1988
    10Exeter2011–2020
    33Gloucester1988–2020
    32Harlequins1988–2005, 2007–2020
    8Leeds*2002–2006, 2008, 2010–2011
    33Leicester1988–2020
    2Liverpool St Helens1989, 1991
    25London Irish1992–1994, 1997–2016, 2018, 2020—
    2London Scottish1993, 1999
    2London Welsh2013, 2015
    4Moseley1988–1992
    22Newcastle1994, 1998–2012, 2014–2019, 2020–
    28Northampton1991–1995, 1997–2007, 2009–2020
    5Nottingham1988–1992
    10Orrell1988–1997
    2Richmond1998–1999
    4Rosslyn Park1989–1992
    2Rotherham2001, 2004
    2Rugby1992–1993
    27Sale1988, 1995–2020
    29Saracens1990–1993, 1996–2020
    33Wasps1988–2020
    2Waterloo1988–1989
    5West Hartlepool1993, 1995–1997, 1999
    14Worcester2005–2010, 2012–2014, 2016–2020

    * Note: Leeds are now known as Yorkshire Carnegie, but were known as Leeds for all their time in the Premiership.

    Sponsorship
    Period Sponsor Name
    1987–1997Courage BreweryCourage League National Division One
    1997–2000Allied DunbarAllied Dunbar Premiership
    2000–2005Zurich Insurance GroupZurich Premiership
    2005–2010GuinnessGuinness Premiership
    2010–2018AvivaAviva Premiership
    2018–currentArthur J. Gallagher & Co.Gallagher Premiership

    Structure

    Referees

    Referees in the Premiership are selected from the RFU's Professional Referee Unit. The Professional Referee Unit consists of 15 referees with match appointments decided by PRU management team of ex-international referees Ed Morrison, Brian Campsall and Tony Spreadbury.[23]

    List of Premiership Referees

    Source:[23]

    They are supported by a large team of assistant referees.

    Regular season

    The Premiership Rugby season typically runs from September to June and comprises 22 rounds of matches, with each club playing each other home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

    • 4 points are awarded for a win
    • 2 points are awarded for a draw
    • 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
      • 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
    • 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match

    Playoffs

    Following the completion of the regular season, the top 4 teams enter the play-offs, which are held in June. The top two teams receive home advantage, the league leaders hosting the 4th ranked team, and the 2nd place team hosting the 3rd place team. The winners of these semi-finals progress to the final, held at Twickenham Stadium, with the winner of the final being Premiership Champions.

    Relegation

    There is a system of promotion and relegation to and from the Premiership. The last placed club after the 22 regular season rounds of the Premiership is relegated into the RFU Championship. Through the 2016–17 season, the winner of the Championship play-offs was promoted to the Premiership for the subsequent season; the Championship play-offs were then scrapped and replaced by automatic promotion for the top club on the final Championship table.[24]

    Promotion and relegation (regardless of the format used) are subject to Minimum Standards Criteria. If the team scheduled for promotion does not meet these standards, then there is no relegation/promotion, as in the 2011–12 season when London Welsh won promotion from the Championship. They were denied promotion under the criteria, reprieving Newcastle Falcons from relegation, but successfully appealed against their block and achieved promotion anyway.[25]

    European competition qualification

    The top six teams qualify for the next season's European Rugby Champions Cup whilst the team in seventh place may advance to a playoff for another place. Teams that do not qualify for the Champions Cup play in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

    Champions

    Between 1987 and 2002, the team at the top of the league was crowned English champions. Since 2002–03, the winner of the league has been determined by a Premiership Final, which takes place at Twickenham and consists of two rounds of knock-out play amongst the top four teams. Most seasons at least one team has been relegated at the end of the season, although in 1995-96 there was no relegation to allow division expansion, and in 2001-2 Leeds were given a reprieve because the Division One champions did not have a suitable ground to allow promotion.

    Season Champions Final Runners-up Relegated
    1987–88 Leicester N/A Wasps Sale, Coventry
    1988–89 Bath Gloucester Liverpool St Helens, Waterloo
    1989–90 Wasps Gloucester Bedford
    1990–91 Bath Wasps Liverpool St Helens, Moseley
    1991–92 Bath Orrell Rosslyn Park, Nottingham
    1992–93 Bath Gloucester Rugby Lions, West Hartlepool,
    Saracens, London Scottish
    1993–94 Bath Leicester Newcastle Gosforth, London Irish
    1994–95 Leicester Bath Northampton
    1995–96 Bath Leicester No relegation
    1996–97 Wasps Bath Orrell, West Hartlepool
    1997–98 Newcastle Saracens Bristol
    1998–99 Leicester Northampton West Hartlepool
    1999–00 Leicester Bath Bedford
    2000–01 Leicester Wasps Rotherham
    2001–02 Leicester Sale No relegation
    (no team promoted)
    2002–03 Wasps 39 – 3 Gloucester Bristol
    2003–04 Wasps 10 – 6 Bath Rotherham
    2004–05 Wasps 39 – 14 Leicester Harlequins
    2005–06 Sale 45 – 20 Leicester Leeds
    2006–07 Leicester 44 – 16 Gloucester Northampton
    2007–08 Wasps 26 – 16 Leicester Leeds
    2008–09 Leicester 10 – 9 London Irish Bristol
    2009–10 Leicester 33 – 27 Saracens Worcester
    2010–11 Saracens 22 – 18 Leicester Leeds
    2011–12 Harlequins 30 – 23 Leicester Newcastle
    2012–13 Leicester 37 – 17 Northampton London Welsh
    2013–14 Northampton 24 – 20
    (a.e.t.)    		 Saracens Worcester
    2014–15 Saracens 28 – 16 Bath London Welsh
    2015–16 Saracens 28 – 20 Exeter London Irish
    2016–17 Exeter 23 – 20
    (a.e.t.)    		 Wasps Bristol
    2017–18 Saracens 27 – 10 Exeter London Irish
    2018–19 Saracens 37 – 34 Exeter Newcastle
    2019–20 Saracens
    (Due to salary cap breaches)

    Winners
    # Team Wins Winning Years
    1 Leicester Tigers 10 1987–88, 1994–95, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2012–13
    2 Bath 6 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96
    Wasps 1989–90, 1996–97, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08
    4 Saracens 5 2010–11, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19
    5 Newcastle Falcons 1 1997–98
    Sale Sharks 2005–06
    Harlequins 2011–12
    Northampton Saints 2013–14
    Exeter Chiefs 2016–17

    Player records

    Bold italics denote players active in the 2019–20 Premiership.

    All records relate to 1997 onward when National League One was re-launched as the Premiership.

    As of 6 January 2020

    Appearances

    Source:[26]

    Rank Player Club(s) Years Apps
    1 Richard Wigglesworth Sale, Saracens 2002– 283
    2 Steve Borthwick Bath, Saracens 1998–2014 265
    3 George Chuter Saracens, Leicester 1997–2014 262
    Phil Dowson Newcastle, Northampton, Worcester 2001–2017
    5 Charlie Hodgson Sale, Saracens 2000–2016 254
    6 Tom May Newcastle, Northampton, London Welsh 1999–2015 247
    7 Hugh Vyvyan Newcastle, Saracens 1998–2012 245
    8 Simon Shaw Bristol, Wasps 1997–2011 237
    9 Andy Goode Leicester, Saracens, Worcester, Wasps, Newcastle 1998–2016 236
    10 Stuart Hooper Saracens, Leeds, Bath 2000–2016 232

    Points

    Source:[27]

    Rank Player Club(s) Years Points
    1 Charlie Hodgson Sale, Saracens 2000–2016 2,625
    2 Andy Goode Leicester, Saracens, Worcester, Wasps, Newcastle 1998–2016 2,285
    3 Stephen Myler Northampton, London Irish 2006– 1,754
    4 Nick Evans Harlequins 2008–2017 1,656
    5 Gareth Steenson Exeter 2010– 1,606
    6 Olly Barkley Bath, Gloucester, London Welsh 2001–2015 1,605
    7 Jonny Wilkinson Newcastle 1997–2008 1,489
    8 Owen Farrell Saracens 2010– 1,338
    9 Freddie Burns Gloucester, Leicester, Bath 2009– 1,336
    10 George Ford Leicester, Bath 2010– 1,303

    Tries

    Source:[28]

    Rank Player Club(s) Years Tries
    1 Tom Varndell Leicester, Wasps, Bristol 2004–2017 92
    2 Mark Cueto Sale 2001–2015 90
    3 Chris Ashton Northampton, Saracens, Sale 2008– 85
    4 Christian Wade Wasps 2011–2018 82
    5 Steve Hanley Sale 1998–2007 75
    6 Paul Sackey Bedford, London Irish, Wasps, Harlequins 1999–2014 69
    7 Matt Banahan Bath, Gloucester 2007– 68
    8 Tom Voyce Bath, Wasps, Gloucester, London Welsh 2000–2013 66
    9 Jonny May Gloucester, Leicester 2010– 65
    10 James Simpson-Daniel Gloucester 2000–2013 63

    Attendances
    Season Total Average
    2002–03 1,183,972 8,518
    2003–04 1,241,557 9,062
    2004–05 1,481,355 10,813
    2005–06 1,483,920 10,922
    2006–07 1,598,734 11,842
    2007–08 1,517,863 11,243
    2008–09 1,671,781 12,384
    2009–10 1,900,177 14,075
    2010–11 1,740,751 12,894
    2011–12 1,755,073 13,001
    2012–13 1,684,804 12,480
    2013–14 1,721,729 12,754
    2014–15 1,804,914 13,370
    2015–16 1,837,427 13,611
    2016–17 2,033,805 15,065
    2017–18 1,912,301 14,165
    2018–19 1,958,402 14,507

    Salary cap

    The English Premiership operates a salary cap,[29] set by the Premiership Rugby Board, specifying the money a club can spend on the player salaries of its squad per season. In the 2017–18 season, the base cap was £7 million, with an "academy credit" of up to £800,000 (£100,000 per player for up to eight players).

    A club may use the academy credit on a player that: (i) joined the club before his 18th birthday; (ii) is under age 24 at the start of the season; and (iii) earns a salary of more than £30,000. Under the credit scheme, the first £100,000 of a qualifying player's salary is not counted against the cap.

    Exclusions

    Since the 2015–16 season, each club has been allowed to exclude two players from the cap calculations, an increase from one in prior seasons.

    The first "excluded player" slot can be filled by any player on a team's current roster who meets any of the following criteria:

    • Played with his Premiership club for at least two full seasons before he was nominated as an excluded player.
    • Played with his Premiership club for the full season before being nominated as an excluded player, after having played outside the Premiership.
    • Played outside the Premiership in the season before he was nominated.

    The second slot can only be filled by a player who had been outside the Premiership for at least one full season before signing his initial contract with his current Premiership club. For purposes of the exclusion rule, "initial contract" means the first contract signed for the 2015–16 season or later, meaning that a player who returned to a prior Premiership club after spending at least one full season outside the Premiership can qualify for the second slot.

    Media coverage

    In the United Kingdom, the main rights are currently held by BT Sport under a new deal signed on 16 March 2015 replacing the former £152m deal signed on 12 September 2012. The new deal sees BT broadcast up to 80 live matches per season until the end of the 2020–21 season along with extended highlights of all matches and midweek programming.[30][31] UK rights are also held by Channel 5 who will simulcast 5 matches live on a free-to-air basis, with a different commentary team as opposed to BT's commentary team, and also show a weekly highlights programme through the duration of BT's deal.[32] In Australia the Premiership is available on beIN Sports. In the United States, the Premiership is available across NBC Sports since spring 2016. It will also be broadcast in China from 2017.

    Talksport and BBC Radio 5 Live, along with various BBC Local Radio stations broadcast commentary and magazine programming.

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    gollark: Excluding sandbox escapes I mean.
    gollark: Let alone *edit* them.

    See also

    References
    1. "Gallagher Premiership Rugby to kick off on 31 August 2018" (Press release). Premiership Rugby. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
    2. "Partners | Sky Sports". Premiership Rugby. 28 June 2012. Archived from the original on 27 April 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
    3. "Club History". London Scottish FC. 13 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
    4. "Leicester livid as seasons spoils are left up for grabs". The Independent. 10 February 2001. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
    5. "Premiership semi-final: Northampton 21–20 Leicester". BBC Sport. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
    6. "Premiership final: Saracens 20–24 Northampton Saints". BBC Sport. 31 May 2014. Archived from the original on 2 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
    7. "Aviva Premiership Final: Saracens 20 Northampton Saints 24". Premiership Rugby. 31 May 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
    8. Dart, Tom (11 May 2013). "NFL joins plan aiming to create professional rugby union league in US". theguardian.com. Guardian Media. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
    9. Dart, Tom (5 June 2013). "US professional rugby union project delayed to 2014". theguardian.com. Guardian Media. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
    10. "America to host Aviva Premiership matches?". ESPN Scrum. 4 August 2013. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
    11. "London Irish to play Saracens in New York Premiership match". BBC Sport. 27 October 2015. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
    12. Pengelly, Martin (17 May 2017). "Saracens to face Newcastle in Philadelphia under four-year US deal". Theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
    13. "The Business Links – How Saracens' salary cap breach became the biggest story since Bloodgate". The Rugby Paper. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
    14. "Saracens salary cap breach: Premiership champions will not contest sanctions". BBC Sport. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
    15. "Saracens docked points and fined for breaching salary cap regulations". Ruck. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
    16. Jones, Stephen (17 November 2019). "Saracens to accept £5m fine for breach of salary cap". The Times. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
    17. "Saracens facing relegation from Premiership over salary cap breaches". BBC Sport. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
    18. "Saracens: Premiership Rugby urge club to be more transparent". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
    19. "Relegating Saracens the 'only option'". Rugby Pass. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
    20. "Newcastle Falcons promoted into Gallagher Premiership". www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
    21. "Saracens salary cap breaches: What we have learned from Premiership Rugby report?". BBC Sport. BBC.
    22. "Saracens: Edward Griffiths resigns as interim CEO as club docked further 70 points". BBC Sport. BBC. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
    23. "Premiership Rugby Match Officials". Premiership Rugby. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
    24. "Play-off system removed from Greene King IPA Championship from next season" (Press release). Premiership Rugby Limited. 3 March 2017. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
    25. Mairs, Gavin (29 June 2012). "London Welsh to join Aviva Premiership after winning appeal against decision to deny them promotion". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
    26. "Most Matches". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
    27. "Most Points". ESPNscrum. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
    28. "Most tries". ESPNscrum. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
    29. client (11 May 2016). "Salary Cap". Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
    30. Halliday, Josh (12 September 2012). "BT lands exclusive UK television rights to show live rugby union". theguardian.com. Guardian Media. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
    31. "BT Sport extends Aviva Premiership rugby rights until 2021". BT Sport. British Telecom PLC. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
    32. "Channel 5 to show live Premiership match for the first time on terrestrial TV". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
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