1999 Super League Grand Final
9 October 1999 · Old Trafford, Manchester
1999 Super League Grand Final result: St Helens def. Bradford Bulls, 8-6, at Old Trafford, Manchester on 9 October 1999.
Sourcing caveat: See the finals-series match report for this fixture for a fuller scoring breakdown. No verified direct post-match coach quotes could be located in the sources checked for this Grand Final. Bradford's coach, Matthew Elliott, is now independently cross-verified (round 43 of the lineups backlog) against Wikipedia's own 1999 Super League Grand Final lineup listing, which names both Elliott and St Helens' Ellery Hanley as head coaches, matching this entry's own already-correct lineup data exactly; this entry was checked against that round's independently-sourced finals-series match report and required no changes.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | St Helens | 8 |
| Runner-up | Bradford Bulls | 6 |
Attendance: 50,717
Super League 1999 — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradford Bulls | 30 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 897 | 445 | +452 | 51 |
| 2 | St Helens | 30 | 23 | 0 | 7 | 1034 | 561 | +473 | 46 |
| 3 | Leeds Rhinos | 30 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 910 | 558 | +352 | 45 |
| 4 | Wigan Warriors | 30 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 877 | 390 | +487 | 43 |
| 5 | Castleford Tigers | 30 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 712 | 451 | +261 | 41 |
| 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 |
Qualified for the finals series — top 5 (Top-Five play-off format) that season.
Finals series
Qualifying Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Sep 1999 | St Helens 38–14 Leeds Rhinos | Knowsley Road, St Helens | 9,585 |
Elimination Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Sep 1999 | Wigan Warriors 10–14 Castleford Tigers | JJB Stadium, Wigan | 13,374 |
Elimination Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Sep 1999 | Leeds Rhinos 16–23 Castleford Tigers | Headingley, Leeds | 16,912 |
Qualifying Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Sep 1999 | Bradford Bulls 40–4 St Helens | Odsal Stadium, Bradford | 16,126 |
Preliminary Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Oct 1999 | St Helens 36–6 Castleford Tigers | Knowsley Road, St Helens | 11,212 |
Grand Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Oct 1999 | Bradford Bulls 6–8 St Helens | Old Trafford, Manchester | 50,717 |
Match officials
| Referee | Stuart Cummings |
Scorers
| St Helens | Tries: Kevin Iro — minute unconfirmed Goals: Sean Long (1/1 conversions, 1/1 penalty goals) — per the match context, one conversion and one penalty goal, both successful |
| Bradford Bulls | Tries: Henry Paul — minute unconfirmed Goals: Henry Paul (1/UNCONFIRMED) |
Teams
| St Helens | Bradford Bulls | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Atcheson | Fullback | Stuart Spruce | 28 |
| 5 | Anthony Sullivan | Wing | Tevita Vaikona | 2 |
| 3 | Kevin Iro | Centre | Scott Naylor | 20 |
| 4 | Paul Newlove | Centre | Michael Withers | 5 |
| 14 | Chris Smith | Wing | Leon Pryce | 17 |
| 13 | Paul Sculthorpe | Stand-off | Henry Paul | 6 |
| 20 | Tommy Martyn | Scrum-half | Robbie Paul | 1 |
| 8 | Apollo Perelini | Prop | Paul Anderson | 10 |
| 9 | Keiron Cunningham | Hooker | James Lowes | 9 |
| 10 | Julian O'Neill | Prop | Stuart Fielden | 29 |
| 2 | Fereti Tuilagi | Second-row | David Boyle | 15 |
| 21 | Sonny Nickle | Second-row | Bernard Dwyer | 23 |
| 11 | Chris Joynt (c) | Loose-forward | Steve McNamara (c) | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 26 | Paul Wellens | Paul Deacon | 7 | |
| 7 | Sean Long | Nathan McAvoy | 4 | |
| 6 | Sean Hoppe | Mike Forshaw | 12 | |
| 16 | Vila Mata'utia | Brian McDermott | 22 | |
| Ellery Hanley | Coach | Matthew Elliott | ||
Harry Sunderland Trophy
Henry Paul (Bradford Bulls). Paul won the Harry Sunderland Trophy despite playing for the losing side — one of only three occasions the award has gone to a player on the beaten team — after a memorable individual solo try during which he reportedly lost a boot.
Match context
St Helens beat Bradford Bulls 8-6 at Old Trafford, winning their first Super League Grand Final title. Henry Paul's solo try gave Bradford an early lead, but Kevin Iro's try and two Sean Long goals (one conversion, one penalty) turned the match St Helens' way. St Helens went on to win again in 2000 and 2002, with Bradford winning the 2001 title in between — this was the first of that early-2000s run of alternating championships between the two clubs.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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