Sport | Rugby league |
---|---|
Formerly known as | Group 5 Rugby League |
Instituted | 1980 |
Inaugural season | 1980 |
Number of teams | 10 |
Country | Australia |
Premiers | Narwan Eels (2023) |
Most titles | Warialda Wombats (9 titles) |
Website | Group 19 |
The New England Group 19 Rugby League competition is a Rugby league competition which is run under the auspices of the NSWRL, which absorbed the NSWCRL in 2019. It is based in the New England region. It was originally called the Group 5 Rugby League Premiership but that competition merged with another local competition to form New England Group 19. The competition is generally played on Sundays throughout the winter months, with strong local rivalries as well as inter – town rivalries.
Historically, rugby league in the Northern Tablelands and North West was administered under the Group 5 Rugby League banner.
Group 19 emerged from Group 5 in the early 1980s, and initially featured roughly half of all the clubs from the Northern Tablelands and North West NSW. Group 5 eventually merged into the Group 19 competition after the 1981 season and the league has been known as New England Group 19 ever since.
In the 1980s, Noel Cleal and his brother Les emerged from Warialda to rise to prominence in the NSWRL Premiership.
The early 1990s were dominated by the two Moree sides, the Boomerangs and Boars, before the Inverell, Warialda and Armidale Rams sides rose to the top of the league in the late 1990s. Guyra, known as the Super Spuds, won a hat trick of Premierships from 2002-2004.
Glen Innes, Tingha and Inverell dominated the late 2000s and early 2010s with the Moree Boomerangs emerging as the dominant side with back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014.
In just their second season in Group 19 the MacIntyre Warriors claimed the A Grade honours, winning a tight contest over the returning Narwan Eels in 2017. The Eels returned to the competition after several years hiatus due to unruly supporters and unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Unfortunately the MacIntyre Warriors folded in 2018, as a result of many players rejoining the nearby Goondiwindi league side. Their absence paved the way for a return to the premiers circuit for the highly rated Moree Boomerangs, a team that wear their indigenous flag themed jerseys with much pride.
Guyra and Ashford folded after the COVID-19 plagued 2021 season, and Moree Boars left the year prior to join Group 4. Warialda, Tingha and a Uralla-Walcha joint venture rejoined the 2022 A Grade competition bringing the total to seven teams as Glen Innes entered a year's hiatus.
The 2023 Under 18's competition was won by the Glen Innes Magpies against Narwan Eels.
The Tooheys New England Group 19 Premiership currently contains eleven clubs, two of which are in Armidale (the Armidale Rams and Narwan Eels), and nine from the surrounding area.
Team | Moniker | Ground | Men's | LLT | Group 5 / 19 Premierships |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Armidale | Rams | Harris Park, Armidale | Yes | Yes | 7 (1966-67, 1970-71, 1976, 1995, 1997) |
Bingara | Bullets | Bingara Sports Ground | Yes | Yes | None |
Guyra | Super Spuds | Guyra Sports Ground | Yes | Yes | 6 (1969, 1988, 2002-04, 2006) |
Glen Innes | Magpies | Kerry Meade Park, Glen Innes | Yes | Yes | 6 (1959, 1989, 1991, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
Inverell RSM | Hawks | Varley Oval, Inverell | Yes | Yes | 6 (1975, 1998, 2000, 2011, 2016, 2018) |
Moree | Boomerangs | Burt Jovanovich Oval, Moree | Yes | Yes | 6 (1992, 1994, 2013-14, 2018-19) |
Narwan | Eels | Newling Oval, Armidale | Yes | Yes | 7 (1980-84, 2005, 2022) |
Tingha | Tigers | Tingha Sports Ground | Yes | Yes | 1 (2009) |
Uralla | Tigers | Woodville Oval, Uralla | Yes | Yes | 2 (1985, 1990) |
Warialda | Wombats | Captain Cook Park, Warialda | Yes | Yes | 12 (1961-65, 1973-74, 1980, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2007) |
(Plus Bingara, Bundarra, Guyra, Tingha and Warialda who have moved up to the A Grade competition)
Group 19 Rugby League Champions
Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up |
---|---|---|---|
1980 | Narwan | 23–11 | Armidale |
1981 | Narwan | 23–8 | Wright College Armidale |
1982 | Narwan | 20–17 | Glen Innes |
1983 | Narwan | 16–12 | Walcha |
1984 | Narwan | 50–12 | Guyra |
1985 | Uralla | 20–4 | Glen Innes |
1986 | YCW Armidale | 4–0 | Guyra |
1987 | YCW Armidale | 20–18 | Uralla |
1988 | Guyra | 36–18 | Tingha |
1989 | Glen Innes | 35–6 | Armidale |
1990 | Uralla | 12–4 | Glen Innes |
1991 | Glen Innes | 28–12 | ? |
1992 | Moree Boomerangs | 26–18 | Glen Innes |
1993 | Moree Boars | 22–20 | Armidale |
1994 | Moree Boomerangs | 30–20 | Inverell RSM |
1995 | Armidale | 36–28 | Glen Innes |
1996 | Warialda | 36–20 | Inverell RSM |
1997 | Armidale | 34–24 | Guyra |
1998 [1] | Inverell RSM | 28–14 | Armidale |
1999 | Warialda | 22–20 | Inverell RSM |
2000 | Inverell RSM | 24–12 | Glen Innes |
2001 | Warialda | 50–14 | Guyra |
2002 | Guyra | 56–24 | Narwan |
2003 | Guyra | 44–36 | Narwan |
2004 | Guyra | 46–22 | Narwan |
2005 | Narwan | 35–22 | Guyra |
2006 | Guyra | 28–8 | Inverell RSM |
2007 | Warialda | 38–24 | Guyra |
2008 | Glen Innes | 26–10 | Tingha |
2009 | Tingha | 46–14 | Guyra |
2010 | Glen Innes | 14–4 | Guyra |
2011 | Inverell RSM | 33–26 | Glen Innes |
2012 [2] | Glen Innes | 60–12 | Guyra |
2013 [3] [4] | Moree Boomerangs | 48–22 | Gwydir |
2014 [5] | Moree Boomerangs | 56–18 | Inverell RSM |
2015 | Inverell RSM | 26–24 | Moree Boomerangs |
2016 [6] | Inverell RSM | 42–28 | MacIntyre |
2017 [7] | MacIntyre | 26–22 | Narwan |
2018 [8] | Moree Boomerangs | 36–28 | Glen Innes |
2019 | Moree Boomerangs | 36–34 | Glen Innes |
2020 and 2021 seasons cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||
2022 | Narwan | 22-20 | Moree Boomerangs |
2023 [9] | Narwan | 34-22 | Inverell RSM |
The competition in the area was previously known as Group 5. Once the Group 19 name became available after the demise of the previous competitions of that name, a breakaway competition from Group 5 became known as New England Group 19. Group 5 merged into this league two years later. The 'Moree' listed is the predecessor of the Moree Boars.
Group 5 Rugby League Champions
New England is a geographical region in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia, about 60 km inland from the Tasman Sea. The area includes the Northern Tablelands and the North West Slopes regions. As of 2021, New England had a population of 185,560, with over a quarter of the people living in the area of Tamworth Regional Council.
Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the Northern Tablelands. It has a temperate climate. In the 2021 census, the population of Inverell was 12,057 and the Inverell Shire population was 17,853.
Warialda is a town in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Gwydir Shire. It is situated on the banks of Warialda Creek. At the 2011 census, Warialda had a population of 1,120.
Thunderbolts Way is a 305-kilometre (190 mi) country road located in the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia, linking Inverell via Bundarra, Uralla and Walcha to Gloucester The road is sealed and passes through thickly forested mountain areas with many nearby national parks and nature reserves.
Tingha is a small town on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia in Inverell Shire. Formerly part of Armidale Region, on 1 July 2019, responsibility for Tingha was transferred from Armidale Regional Council to Inverell Shire Council. The town is 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Inverell and 559 kilometres (347 mi) north-north-east of Sydney. Tingha is an Aboriginal word for "flat or level".
Northern Tablelands is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Adam Marshall representing the National Party, following a by-election triggered by the resignation of independent member Richard Torbay. The electorate currently includes Uralla Shire, Armidale Regional Council, Glen Innes Severn, Inverell Shire, Gwydir Shire and Moree Plains Shire.
The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England region, stretching from the Moonbi Range in the south to the Queensland border in the north. The region corresponds generally to the Bureau of Meteorology forecast area for the Northern Tablelands which in this case includes Inverell although it is significantly lower in elevation.
Ross Conlon is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. He played for the Western Suburbs Magpies, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Balmain Tigers in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) as well as representative football for New South Wales and the Australia. He was a renowned goalkicker and described as "One of the fastest players in the game."
Group 4 is a rugby league competition in the New England and north west area of New South Wales, run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League.
Group 16 is a rugby league competition on the south coast of New South Wales, run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. The Group 16 district covers the area from Batemans Bay down the Sapphire Coast to Eden, and inland across the Southern Tablelands to the Snowy Mountains towns of Cooma and Jindabyne.
Uralla Shire is a local government area located in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The New England Highway passes through the Shire.
The Inverell railway line is a closed railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line branches from the Mungindi line at Moree and travels in an easterly direction through the town of Gravesend then Warialda Rail, gradually increasing in elevation through Delungra towards the terminus at Inverell. An initial estimate of its intended length was 96 miles 35 chains (155.2 km). The line opened in February 1900 as far as Gravesend, then more of the line in 1901 before the Gwydir River bridge was finally finished and the line completed in 1902. It was progressively closed between 1987 and 1994. Currently a 5 km (3.1 mi) section at the Moree end remains in use as a siding for the storage of railway wagons. On 8 August 2016, The NSW Government announced that a 2.8km section of the railway would be reinstated to allow grain to be sent by rail, as part of the Fixing Country Rail pilot round. Up to $2 million was allocated for the project.
The Anēwan, also written Anaiwan and Anaywan, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional territory spans the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales.
The Tamworth Rugby Union Sporting Club is an amateur rugby union club in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia.
The New England Rugby Union, or NERU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within the District of New England in Australia. It is a member of the New South Wales Country Rugby Union.
The Original Group 19 Rugby League was a competition which ran from the 1950 until 1970, in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales. Many clubs left for other competitions after this time, including Group 16 and Group 8. The Group 19 tag was then transferred to Canberra and later Northern New South Wales.
www.whereistheleague.com.au