English Prem Rugby

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Poster

Established
1987 (39 years old)

First Recorded Event
2010-09-03

Current Season
2025-2026

Current Round
16

Sport
Sport Icon

Rugby

Location
England

Gender
Male

TV Rights
US - NBC Sports [2016-2021]

Logo

Upcoming
29 May	Bristol Bristol Bears	6:45pm	Bath RugBath Rugby
30 May	SaracensSaracens	12:00pm	HarlequiHarlequins
30 May	NorthampNorthampton Saints	2:00pm	GloucestGloucester
30 May	NewcastlNewcastle Red Bulls	6:45pm	Sale ShaSale Sharks
31 May	LeicesteLeicester Tigers	2:30pm	Exeter CExeter Chiefs
06 Jun	Bath RugBath Rugby	2:15pm	LeicesteLeicester Tigers
06 Jun	Exeter CExeter Chiefs	2:15pm	SaracensSaracens
06 Jun	GloucestGloucester	2:15pm	NewcastlNewcastle Red Bulls
06 Jun	HarlequiHarlequins	2:15pm	NorthampNorthampton Saints
06 Jun	Sale ShaSale Sharks	2:15pm	Bristol Bristol Bears
Results
17 May	Sale ShaSale Sharks	33 - 47	LeicesteLeicester Tigers
16 May	SaracensSaracens	30 - 14	GloucestGloucester
16 May	HarlequiHarlequins	41 - 24	Exeter CExeter Chiefs
16 May	Bath RugBath Rugby	69 - 12	NewcastlNewcastle Red Bulls
15 May	NorthampNorthampton Saints	94 - 33	Bristol Bristol Bears
10 May	Exeter CExeter Chiefs	35 - 12	Bath RugBath Rugby
10 May	NewcastlNewcastle Red Bulls	17 - 76	HarlequiHarlequins
09 May	Bristol Bristol Bears	26 - 41	SaracensSaracens
09 May	LeicesteLeicester Tigers	41 - 17	NorthampNorthampton Saints
08 May	GloucestGloucester	21 - 15	Sale ShaSale Sharks

Description

Premiership Rugby (officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership due to sponsorship reasons) 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.

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 London Irish, who returned to the top flight in 2019.

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 friendlies 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.

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.

Seasons