Sport | Rugby league |
---|---|
Jurisdiction | National |
Abbreviation | ARL |
Founded | 1986 as Australian Rugby Football League Limited, successor to 1924 ARFL Board of Control |
Affiliation | International Rugby League |
Affiliation date | 1998 |
Regional affiliation | Asia-Pacific Rugby League |
Affiliation date | 2010 (full; founder) |
Headquarters | Rugby League Central Driver Avenue, Moore Park, New South Wales |
Chairman | Peter V’landys AM (since October 2019) |
CEO | Andrew Abdo (since April 2020) |
Men's coach | Mal Meninga (since December 2015) |
Women's coach | Brad Donald |
Official website | |
www | |
The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Football League Limited and succeeded the Australian Rugby Football League Board of Control which had been formed in 1924. Since its inception, the ARL has administered the Australian national team and represented Australia in international rugby league matters. Prior to 1998, the code in Australia had been principally administered by individual state leagues on a domestic basis, and the ARL on a national and international basis.
The ARL controls the National Rugby League and National Youth Competition as well as annual representative competitions such as the State of Origin series, the Indigenous All Stars Match, City vs Country Origin and the Affiliated States Championship.
Rugby league started in Australia in the period 1907–08.
The Australian Rugby Football League Board of Control was formed by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and Queensland Rugby League (QRL) in December 1924 to administer the running of the national team. George Ball was the first secretary of the Board and John La Maro the first chairman. Prior to this time, the international rugby league was organised jointly by the NSWRL and the QRL. It was only after this time that the Australian team began to wear the now-familiar sporting colours of Green and Gold. Since 1924, rugby league bodies in all other states and territories became affiliated to the Board of Control and ARL.
Until 1984 the ARFL Board of Control was effectively run by the NSWRL board, and many Queensland players and administrators throughout this period believed that the NSWRL used this power to the detriment of Queenslanders, especially with respect to national team selection. In 1986 the ARL was incorporated under the name Australian Rugby Football League Limited as a separate entity and Ken Arthurson was the first executive chairman of the new body.
With national expansion of the competition[ clarification needed ] implemented for the 1995 season the NSWRL passed control of the Winfield Cup competition to the ARL.
Following Kerry Packer's announcement that his Optus Vision company owned both free-to-air and pay television broadcasting rights for the sport in Australia, News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, undertook a bold bid to create a rival competition, Super League (Australia). Super League successfully attracted eight of the ARL clubs. [1]
In the 1995 State of Origin series, the ARL forbade the players of those eight clubs from participating in the interstate competition. However, those clubs were allowed to participate in the premiership seasons of 1995 and 1996, while the ARL fought in the courtroom to stop the Super League competition from eventuating. However, Super League conducted a rival competition in 1997.
Both the ARL and Super League competitions ran parallel to each other that year. At the close of the season, despite having the financial backing of Optus, the ARL decided that it could not survive if two competitions were run and undertook moves to approach News Corporation and join the national competition that had been created by Super League. As a consequence of the negotiations that followed, the National Rugby League was formed before the 1998 season from the ARL and Super League competitions.
From 1998 to 2012, the National Rugby League Partnership, a power-sharing arrangement between News Corporation and the Australian Rugby League (ARL), ran the National Rugby League competition as a consequence of the Super League war. Between the 1998 season and the first few months of the 2012 season the ARL had six out of twelve seats on the NRL Partnership board. In 2012 News Limited exited the partnership on condition that the ARL was restructured with an independent board.
The ARL was renamed as the Australian Rugby League Commission and restructured on 10 February 2012 and took control of the National Rugby League competition. [2]
Sport | Rugby league |
---|---|
Inaugural season | 1995 |
Ceased | 1997 |
Replaced by | National Rugby League |
Number of teams | 10 |
Country | Australia |
Broadcast partner | Nine Network C7 Sport |
From 1995 to 1997, the ARL directly administered the national club premiership competition. Although they only won one ARL premiership in 1996, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles dominated the competition in its three years under the ARL name, winning each minor premiership (1995-1997), and appearing in all three Grand Finals.
Season | Grand Final Information | Minor Premiers | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Premiers | Score | Runners-Up | ||
1995 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 17–4 | Manly-Warringah | Manly-Warringah |
1996 | Manly-Warringah | 20–8 | St. George | Manly-Warringah |
1997 | Newcastle Knights | 22–16 | Manly-Warringah | Manly-Warringah |
ARL Development is a non-profit company that was formed by the ARL to develop the sport from an introductory level to the age of 18 years. In achieving this, ARL Development has developed new modified codes that gradually introduce children to rugby league. This is done by restricting the rules and then gradually releasing these restrictions.
The two introductory modified codes currently in use are mini footy and mod league . On completion of mod league, players make a move to full international rugby league laws.
The ARL Commission is the peak governing body of rugby league football in Australia.[ clarification needed ][ citation needed ] It is headquartered in Sydney at Rugby League Central, Moore Park, New South Wales.
All 17 National Rugby League clubs and the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League are members of the commission. [3] This means that the commission has 19 shareholder members in total.
The primary objects of the ARL are to:
The appointment of the original nine commissioners was intensely followed by the media. Placement firm Spencer Stuart shortlisted a list of potential members and the NRL Partnership whittled it down to the current members. Commissioners were required to not have had any link to any rugby league football governing body or organisation for the previous 2 years to ensure their independence.
The inaugural ARL Commissioners were agreed by representatives of the NRL Partnership, the Leagues and the NRL clubs. Future Commissioners are appointed by the Commission itself. [3]
The Commissioners are appointed into different groups and, initially, for differing terms. Each Commissioner must, at a nominated time, resign and seek re-election at an Annual General Meeting. [3]
Commissioners in Group A must stand down before the 2013 Annual General Meeting, where they may re-apply for their position. Group B members must stand down before the 2014 AGM and Group C members must stand down before the 2015 meeting. [3]
Ten members may, with the additional support of both the NSW and Queensland Rugby Leagues, vote to remove a Commissioner. [3]
Fourteen members are required to remove a Commissioner without the support of both the NSW and Queensland Rugby Leagues. Should either of these events occur, the remaining Commissioners would appoint a replacement.
A Commissioner who has been removed from office may not seek re-appointment for a period of three years. [3]
Name | Role | Group | Appointed |
---|---|---|---|
Peter V'landys AM | Chairman | B | 2019 |
Todd Greenberg | Chief Executive Officer | n/a | 2016 |
Gary Weiss | Commissioner | C | 2016 |
Tony McGrath | Commissioner | A | 2014 |
Wayne Pearce OAM | Commissioner | C | 2012 |
Amanda Laing | Commissioner | B | 2018 |
Megan Davis | Commissioner | B | 2017 |
Peter Beattie Commissioner A
David Gallop was the initial chief executive officer of the restructured ARL Commission. He was previously the CEO of the NRL and his contract extension to become inaugural ARL CEO was a condition placed by News Limited with the ARL. [4] On 5 June 2012 the ARL announced Gallop's departure from the CEO position [5] and he will take a position at the FFA in 2013. [6] David Smith was announced as the new ARL CEO in November 2012, taking charge on 1 February 2013. [7]
Gary Pemberton, a former chairman of Qantas, Billabong and Racing NSW, and one of the seven commissioners appointed to the newly restructured ARL in February 2012, announced in July 2013 that he would retire from his role on 31 October. [8]
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 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.
Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australia and New Zealand for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the pay television rights to rugby league in Australia. After two years of legal battles the competition was played for a single season in 1997 alongside the rival Australian Rugby League (ARL) competition before the two merged in 1998 to form the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Queensland Rugby Football League (QRL) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission and selects the members of the Queensland rugby league team.
The Adelaide Rams was an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super League competition in 1997 and the second in the first season of the National Rugby League (NRL) in 1998. The Rams were not a successful club, winning only 13 out of 42 games. However crowd numbers in the first season were the fifth highest of any first-grade club that year, but dwindled to sixteenth in the second season. The Adelaide club was shut down at the end of the 1998 season as a result of poor on-field performances, dwindling crowd numbers, financial losses and a reduction in the number of teams in the NRL. They remain the only team from the state of South Australia to have participated in top-level rugby league in Australia.
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.
Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2022, it was the most watched sport on Australian television with an aggregate audience of 137.3 million viewers. The premier club competition is the National Rugby League (NRL), which features ten teams from New South Wales, four teams from Queensland, and one team each from Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The premier representative competition is the annual Rugby league State of Origin featuring two sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is often referred to as "Australian sport's greatest rivalry", it is one of Australia's premier sporting events, attracting huge interest and television audiences.
John Ribot, also known by the nickname of "Reebs", is an Australian sports administrator, former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 1980s. Once a Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative, Ribot was the 1980 NSWRFL season's equal top try-scorer. Also a member of the 1982 "Invincibles" Kangaroo touring squad, he played club football in Brisbane for Fortitude Valley, Wests and Redcliffe, and in Sydney for Newtown, Wests and Manly-Warringah.
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.
Mark Coyne is an Australian former rugby league footballer, a state and international representative player and an Insurance Executive. His football club career was with the St George Dragons and the joint-venture of the St George Illawarra Dragons – he captained both sides. He played principally at centre but sometimes as a wing in his notable representative career. He was also the brother of another first grade footballer, Peter Coyne.
David Gallop is an Australian sports administrator, lawyer and served as the chief executive of the Football Federation Australia until December 2019. He previously served as the chief executive officer of the National Rugby League between February 2002 and June 2012. He was also the Secretary of the Rugby League International Federation from its inception in 1998 up until his resignation on 5 June 2012.
The history of the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club stretches back from their inception in the mid-1980s to the present day. They were introduced to the NSWRL's Winfield Cup premiership in 1988, taking the competition by storm in winning their first six games. The Broncos participated in 18 consecutive finals series from 1992–2009, winning premierships six times, including the 1992 and 1993 NSWRL premierships, the Superleague premiership in 1997 and then the 1998, 2000 and 2006 National Rugby League premierships.
The history of the National Rugby League (NRL), the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia, goes back to December 1997, when it was formed in the aftermath of the Super League war of the mid-1990s. The NRL has, in its relatively brief history, enjoyed growth and record attendance figures.
Steve Walters, also known by the nickname of "Boxhead", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s who at the peak of his career was considered the best hooker in the game. An Australian Kangaroos and Queensland Maroons representative, he played in the Canberra Raiders' 1st, 2nd and 3rd NSWRL grand final victories.
The Australian rugby league premiers are the winners of the top grade competition in Australian rugby league, which is currently the National Rugby League. From 1908 until 1995, when the ARL Premiership was formed, there were two premiers, one each from Sydney and Brisbane. This occurred again in 1997 during the Super League war.
Rugby league in Queensland is the most watched winter sport in the state and the second most participated football code after soccer. Rugby league was introduced in 1908 and within just a few years it surpassed rugby union there to become the most popular football code as players switched to play professionally in the Queensland Rugby League. In the 1920s, Queenslanders began leaving to play professionally in the New South Wales Rugby League which became a more popular competition. However Queensland maintained a strong rugby league culture, with the state continuing to perform well in interstate rugby league. The later advent of the State of Origin series ensured that players would return to represent their state.
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 Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s.