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
17

Sport
Sport Icon

Rugby

Location
England

Gender
Male

TV Rights
US - NBC Sports [2016-2021]

Logo

		Upcoming
06 Jun 26	Bath RugBath Rugby	2:15pm	LeicesteLeicester Tigers
06 Jun 26	Exeter CExeter Chiefs	2:15pm	SaracensSaracens
06 Jun 26	GloucestGloucester	2:15pm	NewcastlNewcastle Red Bulls
06 Jun 26	HarlequiHarlequins	2:15pm	NorthampNorthampton Saints
06 Jun 26	Sale ShaSale Sharks	2:15pm	Bristol Bristol Bears

		Results
31 May 26	LeicesterLeicester Tigers	26 - 35	Exeter ChExeter Chiefs
30 May 26	NewcastleNewcastle Red Bulls	45 - 42	Sale SharSale Sharks
30 May 26	NorthamptNorthampton Saints	36 - 32	GloucesteGloucester
30 May 26	SaracensSaracens	26 - 12	HarlequinHarlequins
29 May 26	Bristol BBristol Bears	21 - 19	Bath RugbBath Rugby
17 May 26	Sale SharSale Sharks	33 - 47	LeicesterLeicester Tigers
16 May 26	SaracensSaracens	30 - 14	GloucesteGloucester
16 May 26	HarlequinHarlequins	41 - 24	Exeter ChExeter Chiefs
16 May 26	Bath RugbBath Rugby	69 - 12	NewcastleNewcastle Red Bulls
15 May 26	NorthamptNorthampton Saints	94 - 33	Bristol BBristol Bears

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