The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
The National Rugby League is a professional rugby league competition in Australasia which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand.
The Rugby League Premiership was a competition for British rugby league clubs between 1973 and 1995. As the Super League Premiership the competition continued until 1997.
The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league.
The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league.
Oldham Rugby League football Club, is a professional rugby league football club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club plays home games at Boundary Park and competes in League One, the third tier of British rugby league.
The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fifteen teams, thirteen of which are based in Queensland, with one based in New South Wales and one in Central Province, Papua New Guinea.
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals series. Synonymous with a championship game in North American sports, grand finals have become a significant part of Australian culture. The earliest leagues to feature a grand final were in Australian rules football, followed soon after by rugby league. Currently the largest grand finals are in the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL). Their popularity influenced other competitions such as soccer's A-League Men and A-League Women, the National Basketball League, Suncorp Super Netball and European rugby league's Super League to adopt grand finals as well. Most grand finals involve a prestigious award for the player voted best on field.
The New Zealand Football Championship was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in the country, including the National Soccer League, the National Summer Soccer League and the New Zealand Superclub League. The league was contested by ten teams in a franchise system. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership. From the 2021 season, it was replaced by the New Zealand National League.
The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trophy and goes on to play the NRL champions in the World Club Challenge. As of 2024, the Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the man of the match, replacing the Harry Sunderland Trophy. The match is normally played at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester.
Croydon FC, formerly known as Croydon Kings, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club in Adelaide, South Australia. Croydon FC currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australia. They play home games at Polonia Reserve at Croydon in Adelaide's inner northern suburbs. They are one of the most successful sides in South Australian soccer. The club's ethnic background is Polish Australian and the club was founded as the Polonia Adelaide Sports Club on 16 June 1950 by Alek Cmielewski and Karol Metanomski.
The NRL Grand Final is an annual rugby league match to determine the premiers of every National Rugby League season. It is a major sport event in Australia and regarded as the biggest showcase of rugby league in the world. Since 1999, it has been contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia, it set a new record for attendance at an Australian rugby league game, with 107,999 people attending.
Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club is a semi-professional Queensland rugby league club based in Cairns. Founded in 2007 they represent Far North Queensland, and compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Queensland Cup.
The Harry Sunderland Trophy was awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final and its predecessors, the RFL First Division Final and the Premiership Final, between 1965 and 2023. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death.
George Thomas Ford is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Sale Sharks and the England national team.
Martyn Ridyard is an English professional rugby league footballer who last played as a goal-kicking stand-off or scrum-half for Rochdale Hornets in the RFL League 1.
The 1996 Division One Championship season was the second tier of British rugby league during the 1996 season, and was also the first season of rugby league to be played in the summer. The competition featured all eleven teams from the 1995–96 Rugby Football League season.
The 1997 Division One Championship season was the second tier of British rugby league during the 1997 season. The competition featured eleven teams, with Hull Sharks winning the league, and Huddersfield Giants winning the Divisional Premiership.
The 1998 Division One Championship season was the second tier of British rugby league during the 1998 season. The competition featured eleven teams, with Wakefield Trinity winning the league and the inaugural Grand Final.
The Rugby League Divisional Premiership was a competition for British rugby league clubs in the Second Division of the Rugby Football League, which operated between 1986 and 1997.
