The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League from 1908 until 1994, the premiership was the state's elite rugby league competition, parallel to Queensland's first-class league, the Brisbane Rugby League.
The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve grade competition, and is now the premier open age competition in the state. The New South Wales Cup, along with the Queensland Cup, acts as a feeder competition to the National Rugby League premiership. The competition is the oldest continuous rugby league competition in the Australia.
The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne also participate. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales teams from Perth and Auckland also participated. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League. The competition includes both junior representative teams of NRL and NSW Cup clubs that do not field a team in the NRL competition.
Women's rugby league is the female-only version of rugby league.
The Australia women's national rugby league team, also known as the Australian Jillaroos, or Harvey Norman Jillaroos for sponsorship reasons, represents Australia in women's rugby league. They are administered by the Australian Rugby League Commission and Australian Women's Rugby League.
The Great Britain women's national rugby league team, also known as the Great Britain Lionesses, represents Great Britain in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the Rugby Football League. The Great Britain Lionesses have placed third in every Women's Rugby League World Cup in which they have competed. In 2006, the RFL announced that after the 2007 All Golds Tour the Great Britain team would no longer compete on a regular basis, and that players would be able to represent England, Wales and Scotland at Test level. It is planned that the Great Britain team will come together in future only for occasional tours, same as the Great Britain Lions.
The 1920 Great Britain Lions tour was the third British national rugby league team or 'Lions' tour of Australasia, where it was winter and matches were played against the Australian and New Zealand national sides, as well as several local teams. In Australia, the three-Test match series was won by the hosts. In New Zealand another three-Test series was played and won by the visitors. The tour was a success and brought in a handsome profit.
The 1954 Rugby League World Cup featured the national teams of four nations.
The 1993 Trans-Tasman Test series was an international rugby league test series played in Australia between Australia and New Zealand. The series, which started on 20 June in Auckland and finished on 30 June in Brisbane, consisted of three test matches. The three Tests attracted a total of 74,494 fans.
Women's rugby league is a popular women's sport in Australia. The sport has a high level of participation in the country both recreational and professional. Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) is the national governing body of the sport in Australia, organising the Australian Women's Rugby League, the Australian women's national team, and the nine state governing bodies of the game, among other duties. Women's participation of modern rugby league has been recorded since the early 1920s. It has since become one of Australia's most popular women's team sports.
This page list all the four squads which took part to the 1957 Rugby League World Cup.
The 1971 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played three matches on tour, including a test against the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour began on 22 June and finished on 29 June.
The 1969 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played six matches on tour, including two tests against the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour began on 28 May and finished on 10 June.
The 1965 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played eight matches on tour, including two tests against the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour began on 9 June and finished on 28 June.
The 1953 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played nine matches on tour, including three tests against the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour began on 24 June and finished on 18 July.
The 1950 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team of Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and August 1950. The tour involved a schedule of 25 games: 19 in Australia including a three-test series against Australia for the Ashes, and a further 6 in New Zealand including two test matches against New Zealand. A scheduled fixture in Forbes, New South Wales, against a Western Districts team, was abandoned when the chartered plane could not land due to bad weather. Captained by Ernest Ward, the Lions returned home having won 19 and lost 6 of their games. The team won the first test match of the tour but lost the second and third to lose the Ashes Test series to Australia. The team also lost both Test Matches in and against New Zealand. Despite being a British team – five of the squad were Welsh – the team played, and were often referred to by both the press at home and away, as England.
The 1948 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia was the fourteenth tour by New Zealand's national rugby league team, and the eleventh tour to visit Australia. The eight-match tour included two Test Matches, which were the first played by New Zealand in Australia since 1909.
Captained by Pat Smith, the Kiwis returned home having won six and lost two of their games. The team won the first test match of the tour but lost the second.
The 1956 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia was the eighteenth tour by New Zealand's national rugby league team, and the thirteenth tour to visit Australia. The fifteen-match tour included three Test Matches.
The touring team began with a pair of wins but then lost the next two, against Newcastle and the First Test in Sydney. Five strong performances in Queensland followed, with wins by wide margins in high-scoring matches. In contrast, the Second Test was a low-scoring match, Australia winning 8 to 2 to secure their first Trans-Tasman series win since 1935. New Zealand lost the Third Test, and thus the series three-nil, and also the two tour matches that followed.
The 1956 New Zealand Māori rugby league tour of Australia was the fourth overseas tour by a Māori rugby league team. The previous three tours were also to Australia. There had been tours in both 1908 and 1909 during the code’s formative years. The third tour occurred in 1922.
In the rival code, New Zealand Māori Rugby Union teams had undertaken taken three tours since the conclusion of World War II:— to Fiji in 1948 and 1954, and to Australia in 1949.
In Rugby League, Māori teams had played touring teams in 1946, 1949, 1953, 1954 and 1955.
This Māori tour, which began on August 1, followed a tour by the New Zealand national team which had concluded in early July. Two players, Henry Maxwell and Mauriohooho (Joe) Murray participated in both tours. Simon Yates was on the Māori tour, whilst his brother John Yates had been on the Kiwis tour.
The October 1955 issue of the Rugby League News mentioned the prospect of a Māori tour to Australia. The December 1955 issue included a draft itinerary.
The 1956–57 Kangaroo tour was the ninth Kangaroo tour, in which the Australian national rugby league team travelled to Great Britain and France and played twenty-eight matches, including the Ashes series of three Test matches against Great Britain and three Test matches against the French. It followed the tour of 1952-53 and the next was staged in 1959-60.
Keith Barnes 20
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