# 1999 Super League season

JJB Sports Super League IV was the official name for the year 1999's Super League championship season, the 105th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the fourth championship run by the Super League. The start of Super League IV saw the emergence of a North East based Rugby League Club, Gateshead Thunder as well as newly promoted Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to expand the league to fourteen teams.

## Rule changes

* The 40/20 rule was introduced to reward accurate kicking in general play. The rule, which had been used in Australia since 1997, gave the head and feed at the resulting scrum to a team that kicked the ball from behind their 40-metre line so that it bounced in the field of play before going into touch behind their opponent's 20 metre line.

## Teams

Legend :
* Reigning Champions
* Promoted
| Team | Stadium | Capacity | City/Area |
| Bradford Bulls | Odsal | 27,000 | Bradford, West Yorkshire |
| Castleford Tigers | Wheldon Road | 11,750 | Castleford, West Yorkshire |
| Gateshead Thunder | Gateshead International Stadium | 11,800 | Gateshead, Tyne and Wear |
| Halifax Blue Sox | Thrum Hall | 9,832 | Halifax, West Yorkshire |
| Huddersfield Giants | Galpharm Stadium | 24,500 | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire |
| Hull Sharks | The Boulevard | 10,500 | Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire |
| Leeds Rhinos | Headingley | 21,500 | Leeds, West Yorkshire |
| London Broncos | The Valley | 27,000 | Charlton, Greater London |
| Salford Reds | The Willows | 11,363 | Salford, Greater Manchester |
| Sheffield Eagles | Don Valley Stadium | 25,000 | Sheffield, South Yorkshire |
| St. Helens | Knowsley Road | 17,500 | St Helens, Merseyside |
| Warrington Wolves | Wilderspool | 9,200 | Warrington, Cheshire |
| Wigan Warriors | Central Park | 18,000 | Wigan, Greater Manchester |

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bradford Bulls (L) | 30 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 897 | 445 | +452 | 51 | Semi Final |
| 2 | St Helens (C) | 30 | 23 | 0 | 7 | 1034 | 561 | +473 | 46 | Qualifying Semi Final |
| 3 | Leeds Rhinos | 30 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 910 | 558 | +352 | 45 | Qualifying Semi Final |
| 4 | Wigan Warriors | 30 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 877 | 390 | +487 | 43 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 5 | Castleford Tigers | 30 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 712 | 451 | +261 | 41 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 6 | Gateshead Thunder | 30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 775 | 576 | +199 | 39 | |
| 7 | Warrington Wolves | 30 | 15 | 1 | 14 | 700 | 717 | −17 | 31 | |
| 8 | London Broncos | 30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 644 | 708 | −64 | 28 | |
| 9 | Halifax Blue Sox | 30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 573 | 792 | −219 | 22 | |
| 10 | Sheffield Eagles | 30 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 518 | 818 | −300 | 21 | |
| 11 | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | 30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 608 | 795 | −187 | 20 | |
| 12 | Salford Reds | 30 | 6 | 1 | 23 | 526 | 916 | −390 | 13 | |
| 13 | Hull Sharks | 30 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 422 | 921 | −499 | 10 | |
| 14 | Huddersfield Giants | 30 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 463 | 1011 | −548 | 10 | |

## Play-offs

| Qualifying play-off | Qualifying play-off | Qualifying play-off | Qualifying semi-final | Qualifying semi-final | Qualifying semi-final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| | | | 1 | Bradford Bulls | 40 | | | | Bradford Bulls | 6 |
| | | | | St. Helens | 4 | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 8 |
| 2 | St. Helens | 38 | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 36 | | | |
| 3 | Leeds Rhinos | 14 | Elimination semi-final | Elimination semi-final | Elimination semi-final | Castleford Tigers | Castleford Tigers | 6 | | | |
| | | | Leeds Rhinos | Leeds Rhinos | 16 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Wigan Warriors | 10 | Castleford Tigers | Castleford Tigers | 23 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Castleford Tigers | 14 | | | | | | | | | |