The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs and parts of inner Sydney including the CBD. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and National Rugby League titles, and several other competitions. First founded as the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club (ESDRLFC), it is the only club to have played in every season at the elite level, and since the 1970s has often been dubbed the glamour club of the league. The Sydney Roosters have won 15 premierships, equal to the record of the St George Dragons. Only the South Sydney Rabbitohs have won more premierships. The club holds the record for having won more matches than any other in the league, the most minor premierships and the most World Club Challenge trophies. The Sydney Roosters are one of only two clubs to finish runners-up in their inaugural season. Currently coached by Trent Robinson and captained by James Tedesco, the Roosters play home games at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Paul Sculthorpe MBE is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a loose forward, stand-off or second-row forward in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for England and Great Britain at international level, as well as representing Lancashire. He began his club career at the Warrington Wolves before joining St Helens, with whom he won a total of four Grand Finals, four Challenge Cups and two World Club Challenges, as well as becoming the first player to win the Man of Steel Award on two consecutive occasions. He is the older brother of former player Danny Sculthorpe.
Jamie Lyon, also known by the nickname of "Killer", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative goal-kicking centre, he played his first club football for the Parramatta Eels before joining Super League with English club St. Helens, with whom he won the 2006 Championship and Challenge Cup titles. Lyon then returned to the NRL with Manly Warringah, winning the 2008 and 2011 grand finals with them. Originally a five-eighth, he switched to the centre position in 2009 and was regarded as one of the best centres in the game, winning the Dally M Centre of the year in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014, RLIF Centre of the Year in 2011 and 2013, and Dally M Captain of the Year in 2012 and again in 2014 individually. In 2016, he became the fourth player to score 100 tries and 500 goals.
Paul Vautin nicknamed Fatty, is an Australian football commentator and formerly a professional rugby league footballer, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league since joining the network in 1992 and also hosted The Footy Show from its beginnings in 1994 opposite co-host Peter Sterling, until 2017. An Australian Kangaroos test and Queensland State of Origin representative lock or second-row forward, Vautin played club football in Brisbane with Wests, before moving to Sydney in 1979 to play with Manly-Warringah, whom he would captain to the 1987 NSWRL premiership. He also played for Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, and in England for St Helens.
Jason Paul Cayless is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a prop in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Parramatta Eels, Sydney Roosters and the Wests Tigers in the NRL and St Helens in the Super League.
Todd Byrne, also known by the nicknames of "Bones", "The Big Pretzel", and "Skinny", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played at club level in the National Rugby League for the Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors, and in 2008's Super League XIII and 2009's Super League XIV for Hull FC, as a fullback, wing or centre.
Sean Bernard Long, also known by the nickname of "Longy", is an English former professional rugby league footballer, who is the current head coach of Oldham RLFC in the RFL League 1. He has played in the 1990s and 2000s. An England and Great Britain international scrum-half, Long is regarded by many as one of the finest British players of his generation. He began his career with the Wigan Warriors, and also played for the Widnes Vikings and Hull FC, but is best known for his time playing for St Helens in the Super League with whom he won a total of four Super League championships and five Challenge Cups, as well as numerous individual accolades including the Man of Steel award, and three Lance Todd Trophies.
Ricky John Stuart is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a former rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Craig Fitzgibbon is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s and is the current head coach of Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
The Sydney Roosters have a history that stretches back from the birth of rugby league football in Australia in 1908 to the present day. It is the only remaining club to have played every season of top-tier football in Australia's history.
Darren Britt is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played as a prop in the 1990s and 2000s.
Ryan Lee Hall is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Betfred Super League, and for England and Great Britain at international level.
John Stankevitch is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s, and coached in the 2000s and 2010s. Stankevitch played for St. Helens and the Widnes in the Super League as a second-row and as a prop.
Jake Friend is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played as a hooker. He spent his entire first-grade career, spanning 2008 to 2021, with the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL); at the time of his retirement, he was the club's co-captain. Friend won three premierships with the Roosters, in 2013, 2018 and 2019. Internationally, Friend represented Australia in a Test in 2016.
The 1976 World Club Challenge was an unofficial trial of what would later become the World Club Challenge concept, with the 1975 NSWRFL season's premiers, Eastern Suburbs hosting the 1975–76 Northern Rugby Football League season's Premiership and Challenge Cup winners St. Helens. The one-off challenge match was played on 29 June, right in the middle of the 1976 NSWRFL season, at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 26,856.
The 2002 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2002 NRL season. It took place on Sunday, 6 October 2002, at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. 80,130 people saw the Sydney Roosters beat the New Zealand Warriors 30–8. The Clive Churchill Medalist was Craig Fitzgibbon of the Sydney Roosters. The match was also broadcast live in the United States by Fox Sports World.
The 2003 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the 2003 NRL season. In what was a contest of Sydney's east versus west, defending premiers the Sydney Roosters played against minor premiers the Penrith Panthers. The first grand final since 1996 to feature two Sydney-based teams was played on the night of Sunday, 5 October at Telstra Stadium in the inner western suburb of Sydney Olympic Park. Domestically, live free-to-air television coverage was provided by Nine's Wide World of Sports. The match was also broadcast live in the United States by Fox Soccer.
The 2014 World Club Challenge was the 15th consecutive annual World Club Challenge and was contested by Super League XVIII champions, Wigan Warriors and 2013 NRL Premiers, the Sydney Roosters. The 2014 World Club Challenge marked a return to Australia, 20 years after the last Australian based game. It was played on 22 February 2014 at Allianz Stadium in Sydney. The Roosters won the match 36–14.
Joe Burgess is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for Hull KR in the Betfred Super League, and England at international level.
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport.
