Danny Shepherd is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition in the 1980s and 1990s.
A promising front-row forward for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, Shepherd played 41 games for the club between 1987 and 1990. He was struck down by severe sunstroke during an early season match against the Gold Coast at the Sydney Football Stadium in March 1990. After eleven days near death at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital, Shepherd went on to make a full recovery. He returned to his hometown of Dubbo to continue playing and coaching rugby league in the country, though never played first-grade football again.
The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL) until 1984. From 1908 to 1994, the NSWRL ran Sydney's, then New South Wales', and eventually Australia's top-level rugby league club competition. The organisation is responsible for administering the New South Wales rugby league team.
Herbert Henry Messenger, nicknamed "Dally" and sometimes "The Master" was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. He played for New South Wales in the first match run by the newly created New South Wales Rugby Football League, which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.
The Sydney University Rugby League Football Club is a rugby league team currently playing in the Saturday Metro League competition. The University of Sydney was represented in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1920 to 1937 as University, and also in the NSWRL Second Division and Metropolitan League competitions from 1963 to 1976.
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.
Henson Park is a multi purpose sports ground in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia.
Terry Hill is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Wests Tigers as well as representative football for New South Wales and Australia. He is also well known for his promotional television work with Lowes Menswear.
Robert Fulton, also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian international rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great success at the highest levels and has been named amongst Australia's greatest rugby league players of the 20th century. As a player Fulton won three premierships with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the 1970s, the last as captain. He represented the Australian national side on thirty-five occasions, seven times as captain. He had a long coaching career at the first grade level, taking Manly to premiership victory in 1987 and 1996. He coached the Australian national team in thirty-nine Tests. He was a New South Wales State selector and a national selector. He was a radio commentator with 2GB at the time of his death in 2021, aged 73. In 1981, he was selected as one of the initial four post-war "Immortals" of the Australian game and, in 2008, he was named in Australia's team of the century.
Arthur Stephen "Ash" Hennessy was an Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a seminal figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for whom he played and later coached. He was a state and national representative hooker/forward and was the first captain of the Australian national rugby league team. He played for New South Wales in the first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union. He later coached at club, state and national representative levels.
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.
Mark "Spudd" Carroll is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop in the 1980s and 1990s. He represented Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin, and played club football in Australia for the Penrith Panthers, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and in England for the London Broncos.
The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as Wenty, are a rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963, the club has competed in various Sydney district competitions and, since 2003, the semi-professional Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield competitions in NSW, Australia. The club also fielded a team in the Canterbury Cup NSW as part of a joint-venture with the Parramatta Eels between 2008 and 2019 acting as Parramatta's feeder club.
Steve 'Slippery' Morris is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. A state and national representative, his club career was played with the St. George Dragons and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters.
Sam Backo is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop in the 1980s and 1990s.
Graham Lyons is an Indigenous Australian, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played for South Sydney, Penrith and Balmain in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. Lyons primarily played on the wing but spent the majority of the 1989 season in the centres. He is the cousin of fellow rugby league player Cliff Lyons.
Steve Martin is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1990s. He was a representative player at both state and international levels and played in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition for Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, and the Balmain Tigers. Martin primarily played in the halfback position.
Cyril "Cec" Blinkhorn was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and 1920s. He played in the NSWRFL premiership for the North Sydney and South Sydney clubs, and also represented New South Wales and Australia. He primarily played on the wing and has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.
Wiliam A. Cann (1882–1958) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s who later wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative lock forward, he has been named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. Cann played his club football for South Sydney with whom he won the 1914 NSWRFL Premiership. In 1907 he played for New South Wales in the very first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union. Cann was also a long-term administrator at Souths and a football journalist.
Rugby league in New South Wales is the most popular spectator sport in the state, with the attendance and television audiences exceeding that of the various other codes of football. There are over 400,000 active rugby league participants, with a further 1 million playing the sport in schools, placing the sport second only to Soccer for the most played sport in the state. There is more than 500 active clubs, ten of which are professional teams competing in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Ryde-Eastwood Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Ryde, New South Wales formed in late 1962, with the intent of entering the inaugural Inter-District competition in 1963. This competition became known as Second Division from 1964. They currently play in the Sydney Shield. The club also fields open age and under age teams in Sydney Combined competitions.