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.
The history of rugby league as a separate form of rugby football goes back to 1895 in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire when the Northern Rugby Football Union broke away from England's established Rugby Football Union to administer its own separate competition. Similar schisms occurred later in Australia and New Zealand in 1907. Gradually the rugby played in these breakaway competitions evolved into a distinctly separate sport that took its name from the professional leagues that administered it. Rugby league in England went on to set attendance and player payment records and rugby league in Australia became the most watched sport on television. The game also developed a significant place in the culture of France, New Zealand and several other Pacific Island nations, such as Papua New Guinea, where it has become the national sport.
The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia. The club, as a sole entity, departed the top-flight competition in 1999 after forming a 50–50 joint venture with Balmain Tigers to form the Wests Tigers. The club currently fields sides in the NSW State Cup, Ron Massey Cup (Opens), S.G. Ball Cup and Harold Matthews Cup competitions.
Cumberland, officially known as Central Cumberland, were a rugby league team in 1908 based in the region of Cumberland Plain in western Sydney. They were one of the nine original teams in the first New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) season, albeit admitted after the first round of matches had already been played. They are the shortest lived team in the history of first-grade rugby league in Australia after disbanding late that year. Statistically, they are the club with the poorest all-time record, only lasting eight games in their inaugural and only season.
Newcastle were a rugby league team who played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1908–1909, one of the nine foundation clubs. After the formation of several clubs in January 1908, members of the NSWRFL came to Newcastle to hold talks with the local footballing community at a meeting on 8 February 1908. However, at this meeting the motion to have a public meeting was lost. The local rugby union fraternity threatened sanctions and further recruitment occurred in secret. Finally a band of Rebel Pioneers assembled and signed up on 10 April, just days before the start of the competition.
David Michael Brown was one of Australia's greatest rugby league footballers.
The 1908 season was the first in the history of the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club. Eastern Suburbs competed in the inaugural match of the inaugural season, of the newly formed New South Wales Rugby Football League, reaching the final which they lost to South Sydney. They have the distinction of being the only club to have competed in every season since that time.
Arthur 'Pony' Halloway (1885–1961), was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer and coach. Born in Sydney, New South Wales he played for the Glebe Dirty Reds (1908), Balmain Tigers and Eastern Suburbs (1912–1914), in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. 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.
Larry 'Jersey' O'Malley (1883–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league player for the Eastern Suburbs club. He was the fifth Australian rugby league captain and the second from the Eastern Suburbs Club.
Herbert Leslie Brackenreg (1876–1939) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s.
The 1909 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the second season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Eight teams contested during the season for the premiership and the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield; seven teams from Sydney and one team from Newcastle, New South Wales.
Dan Frawley (1882–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative player. He played his career as a wing with the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. A fast and agile wing, with an ability to effortlessly change direction, Frawley was at club and representative levels generally positioned on the outside of rugby league Immortal Dally Messenger, creating a formidable combination. He was a noted speedster who, on the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, was acclaimed as the "100 yards champion" of the squad.
John "Johnno" Stuntz (1884–1917) was an Australian pioneer rugby league footballer and soldier who served in World War I and died on the Western Front. A national and state representative winger, his club career was played with Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs and South Sydney in Australia, as well as one season with English club, Warrington. 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.
Lou 'Baby' Jones (1884–1924) was a pioneer rugby league footballer in the Australian competition - the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) premiership.
Robert Emanuel Mable (1885–1960) was a pioneer rugby league footballer who played in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition.
Percy Vernon John McNamara (1870–1940) was a pioneer rugby league footballer in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. He was also a noted rugby union player, initially with Randwick DRUFC, and later with the 'Pirates', who won state wide fame, and also represented New South Wales against New Zealand and Victoria before switching codes. He played with the Eastern Suburbs club in the codes inaugural season - 1908, as a 38-year-old.
Louis Ambrose Patrick D'Alpuget (1880–1957) was a pioneer rugby league player in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition who played for the Eastern Suburbs and Annandale clubs. Of French descent, 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.
Conrad "Con" Augustus Byrne was a New Zealand rugby footballer who was part of the professional 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain.
The 1908 New Zealand Māori rugby league tour of Australia was a tour made by a group of New Zealand Māori rugby footballers who played rugby league matches in Queensland and New South Wales. The tour had a large role in helping the New South Wales Rugby League establish itself in Sydney. As a result, the tour is a significant part of rugby league history. Financial and legal issues disrupted the end of the tour and an exhibition match held under rugby union rules was held to help pay for the team's return voyage to New Zealand.
Jack Cochrane also known as "John Cochrane" was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s. He played for South Sydney in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. Cochrane was a foundation player for South Sydney playing in the club's first ever game.
