The National Rugby League (NRL) is Australia's top-level domestic men's rugby league club competition. It contains clubs from the original Sydney club Rugby League competition, which had been running continuously since 1908. The NRL formed in the aftermath of the 1990s' Super League war as a joint partnership between the Australian governing body, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and media giant News Corporation-controlled Super League, after both organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997. This partnership was dissolved in February 2012, with control of the NRL going to the independently formed Australian Rugby League Commission.
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league competition. The Sharks, as they are commonly known, were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, predecessor of the Australian Rugby League and the current National Rugby League competition, in January 1967. The club competed in every premiership season since then and, during the Super League war, joined the rebel competition before continuing on in the re-united NRL Premiership. The Sharks have been in competition for 52 years, appearing in four grand finals, winning their first premiership in 2016 after defeating the Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium.
The Canterbury Cup NSW is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales previously known as the Intrust Super Premiership, NSWNew South Wales Cup, and NSWRL Premier League. It has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve grade competition. It 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 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League organisations ran separate competitions parallel to each other, they joined to create a reunited competition in the NRL. The first professional rugby league club to be based in Victoria, the Melbourne Storm was introduced into the League, and with the closure of the Hunter Mariners, Western Reds and South Queensland Crushers, twenty teams competed for the premiership, which culminated in the 1998 NRL grand final between the Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury Bulldogs.
The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St. George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-venture was formed between the St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers. They officially formed as the game's first joint-venture club on 23 September 1998 and remain the only cross-city team in the NRL. The team has its headquarters and leagues clubs in both Wollongong and the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, and train and play games regularly at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, as well as at Jubilee Oval in Kogarah. From 2006 to 2018 the club was jointly owned by the St. George Dragons 50%, Illawarra Steelers 25% and WIN Corporation 25%. In August 2018 WIN Corporation purchased the Illawarra Steelers remaining 25% stake.
John Morris, also known by the nickname of "Bomber", is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League (NRL), and a former professional rugby league footballer.
Michael Ennis is an Australian Sports commentator for Fox League and former professional rugby league footballer. A New South Wales State of Origin representative hooker, he played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Brisbane Broncos, St George Illawarra Dragons, Newcastle Knights and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, with whom he won the 2016 NRL Premiership. He is well known as being a 'niggler' when playing, and has been described as "one of the game's most hated players."
The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusion of a new team, the Gold Coast Titans, the competition was the largest run since the 1999 NRL season.
The 2006 National Rugby League season consisted of 25 weekly regular season rounds starting on 11 March, followed by four weeks of play-offs that culminated in a grand final on 1 October.
The NRL Grand Final, which determines the Australian rugby league football season's premiers, is one of Australia's major sporting events and one of the largest attended club championship events in the world. Since 1999 it has been contested at Sydney's Stadium Australia, which was the primary athletics venue for the 2000 Olympic Games. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia, the National Rugby League grand final broke the record for attendance at an Australian rugby league game, with 107,999 people attending.
The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played in New South Wales, played between teams made up of players aged under 18. 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. In 2009 the Melbourne Storm from Victoria, was admitted to the competition. In 2010 the competition continued its national growth with the introduction of the WA Reds / West Coast Pirates from Perth.
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.
John Lang is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s through to the 2010s. The Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative hooker, he played his club football in Brisbane with the Eastern Suburbs Tigers and in Sydney with the Eastern Suburbs Roosters. After playing, Lang became a first-grade coach in Brisbane with Easts, then in Sydney with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs. Lang also coached the Australian Super League test team in 1997.
The Australian rugby league wooden spooners are the team that finished last in the premier top-grade rugby league competition in Australia, which is currently the National Rugby League, and was previously the New South Wales Rugby Football League (1908-1994), the Australian Rugby League (1995-1997), and Super League (1997). Each of these seasons is considered to represent one continuous line of competition dating back from the first season in 1908. The wooden spoon is an unofficial award, however, fans often bring "real" wooden spoons to taunt opposition sides who are struggling on the bottom of the ladder.
Bryson Goodwin is a New Zealand international rugby league footballer who plays as a goal-kicking centre or winger for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League.
Rugby league is played at amateur level in Western Australia. The state was represented at national level by the Western Reds/Perth Reds, but they were not be included in the new National Rugby League in 1998 following the Super League war. The West Coast Pirates are aiming for eventual inclusion in the National Rugby League.
The Hills District Bulls is a Parramatta District junior rugby league football club which play in Baulkham Hills at Crestwood Oval. They have played in the Parramatta District since 1964. They field teams in all age groups including C-Grade, A-Grade, Sydney Shield and Ron Massey Cup competitions.
This is a list of rivalries in the National Rugby League:
Aaron Gray is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played as a centre and on the wing for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL.
South Perth Lions Rugby League Club are an Australian rugby league football club based in South Perth, Western Australia formed in 1948. They conduct teams for both Juniors & Seniors. The club also participates in the WARL.
