Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	National Rugby League
current season	2011 NRL season
logo	NRL logo.svg
pixels	150px
alt	National Rugby League logo
formerly	Australian Rugby League
founded	1997
inaugural	1908 (1998 as NRL)
ceotag	Chief executive
ceo	David Gallop (2002– )
teams	16
country	(15 teams)
country2	(1 team)
championtag	Premiers
champion	St George Illawarra Dragons
season	2010
most champs	South Sydney Rabbitohs
count	20
top pointscorer
tv
website	www.nrl.com
related comps	}}

The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation), is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand. It is regarded as the world's elite rugby league championship and, per season, is the single most viewed and attended rugby football competition in the world.

The National Rugby League is the present-day embodiment of Australia's top-level domestic club competition, which in turn grew from Sydney's club competition, and which has been running continuously since 1908. The NRL formed in the aftermath of the 1990s' Super League war as a joint partnership between the sport's already-existing national 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.

NRL matches are played throughout Australia and New Zealand from Autumn until Spring. The season culminates in the premiership-deciding game, the NRL Grand Final, traditionally one of Australia's most popular sporting events and one of the largest attended club championship events in the world. In addition, the NRL premiers also play in the World Club Challenge, an additional match against the champions of the European Super League competition.

Teams

Since 2007 the NRL has consisted of sixteen teams: eight clubs based within Greater Sydney, two elsewhere in New South Wales, three in Queensland, one in Victoria, one each in the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The league operates on a single group system, with no divisions or conferences and no relegation and promotion from other leagues. Below the NRL however are regional affiliated leagues operating in all states and territories of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Pacific Islands.

The map below indicates the locations of teams currently competing in the National Rugby League competition. The inset is of greater Sydney.

The following sixteen clubs are competing in the National Rugby League during the 2010 NRL season. All but four of them (the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys, New Zealand Warriors, and the Gold Coast Titans) have won premierships.

A total of twenty-three clubs have played in the National Rugby League since its first season in 1998. For a list of all clubs past and present see National Rugby League Teams. For a complete list of all teams no longer competing in the NRL see here

Eleven clubs have been members of the National Rugby League for every season since its inception in 1998. This group includes Brisbane, Canberra, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cronulla, Melbourne, New Zealand, Newcastle, North Queensland, Parramatta, Penrith and Roosters.

Foundation clubs

Two current NRL teams have existed since the 1908 foundation of the NSWRL, the predecessor of the NRL. These teams are the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters (founded as 'Eastern Suburbs'). The Wests Tigers team resulted from a merger between the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers, both of which were foundation clubs which played in the first grade competition between 1908 and 1999. Despite fielding a join-venture team in the NRL, Western Suburbs and Balmain remain independent clubs and field their own teams in lower-level competitions.

The North Sydney Bears were also a foundation club of the NSWRL in 1909 though are currently playing in the NSW Cup instead of the top level of rugby league. This was after a failed merger with arch rivals the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2000 which they ran under the banner of the now defunct Northern Eagles. The North Sydney Bears have proposed readmission to the NRL for the 2013 season which they will be called the Central Coast Bears and play their home games at Gosford where they built their homeground Graham Park.

Former top-grade side Newtown Jets were also a foundation club, but were forced out of the competition after the 1983 season for financial reasons. They now field a team in the NSW Cup.

There also existed Newcastle (who withdrew after 1909 to start a local premiership) and Glebe (also known as "The Dirty Reds" because their colour was maroon) who were removed from the NSWRL premiership in 1929 for "unsporting behaviour". 23 days after the kickoff on 20 April 1908, another team entered from Cumberland. They only ever won one game as they won the wooden spoon in 1908 and did not participate after that.

Famous NRL rivalries

List of premiers

For the list of NSWRL premiers 1908 – 1994 see – New South Wales Rugby League premiership

For the list of ARL premiers 1995 – 1997 see – Australian Rugby League

For the Super League premier 1997 see – Super League (Australia) season 1997

Season	Grand Final Information	Minor Premiers
!Premiers	!Score	Runners-Up
	Melbourne Storm
	File:Canterbury colours.svg
			[[Melbourne Storm	(Melbourne Storm stripped of minor premiership) (44 pts)
	(Melbourne Storm stripped of premiership)			(Melbourne Storm stripped of minor premiership) (44 pts)
			Melbourne Storm	(Melbourne Storm stripped of minor premiership) (38 pts)
	(Melbourne Storm stripped of premiership)

History

Origins

The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) ran the major rugby league competition of New South Wales from its inception in 1908 until 1994, by which time its powers had expanded to run the code nationally. Following the introduction of a new format for interstate rugby league, State of Origin in 1980, the decade of the 1980s brought about expansion of the NSWRL premiership, with the introduction of commercial sponsorship, the Winfield Cup, and the addition of non-Sydney-based teams, Canberra and Illawarra in 1982. Although this move brought more interest in the competition statewide in New South Wales, it would spell the beginning of the demise of some of the traditional Sydney-based clubs as well as the Brisbane Rugby League premiership. Following the 1983 season, foundation club Newtown Jets were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competition because of financial difficulties.

Further expansion of the league followed in 1988, with another three teams based outside Sydney introduced to the competition; the Newcastle Knights and the first two Queensland teams, the Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. The Brisbane and Newcastle sides proved to be successful and popular and paved the way towards a push for a truly national competition. This was undertaken in 1995 with control of the premiership passing from the NSWRFL to the Australian Rugby League (ARL), who invited four more teams from outside NSW to participate in 1995.

Establishment

The prospect of a truly national rugby league competition in addition to the introduction of pay television in Australia attracted the attention of global media organisation, News Corporation, and it followed that professional rugby league was shaken to its very foundations in the mid-1990s with the advent of the Super League war. Initially a conflict over broadcasting rights, it became a dispute as to who controlled the sport, as News Limited formed their own Super League and admitted some former ARL clubs, poaching players from the original ARL league with high salaries. With twenty-two teams of highly varying quality playing in two competitions that year, crowd attendances and corporate sponsorships were spread very thinly, and many teams found themselves in financial difficulty. The ARL undertook moves to invite the traditional clubs that had moved to the Super League competition back into a re-unified competition. Following a period of negotiation with News Corporation, on 23 September 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to conduct the competition in 1998. On 7 October News' Rupert Murdoch announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998. On 19 December, representatives of clubs affiliated with the Australian Rugby League gathered at the Sydney Football Stadium to decide whether to accept News Limited's offer of a settlement – eventually voting in favour by 36 votes to 4. As a result, in the following months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL and News Limited, was formed.

It was announced that the inaugural National Rugby League (NRL) season of 1998 would have 20 teams competing, 19 remaining Super League and ARL teams plus the Melbourne Storm, who were created by Super League for their 1998 season. Clubs on both sides of the war were shut down. Super League decided to close the Hunter Mariners and the financially ruined Perth Reds, who were $10 million in debt at the end of 1997, while the ARL decided to close down the South Queensland Crushers, who were also in severe financial trouble. Additionally, at the end of 1998 the NRL decided to close down former Super League club, the Adelaide Rams and former ARL club, the Gold Coast Chargers, despite the Gold Coast franchise being one of the few clubs to make a profit during the Super League war.

1998–2002: Rationalisation

One condition of the peace agreement between the ARL and News Limited was that there would be a 14 team competition in 2000. The 20 clubs that played in 1998 would be assessed on various items such as sponsorship, crowds, on-field success and the like. It was also announced that clubs that merged would receive a large sum of money, as well as a guaranteed position in the 2000 NRL Competition. The St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers were the first clubs to take up the offer, forming the joint-venture St. George Illawarra Dragons at the end of the 1998 season.

The 1999 NRL Grand Final brought about a new official world record attendance for a game of rugby league. 107,999 spectators saw the Melbourne Storm defeat the newly-created St. George Illawarra Dragons in the decider at Stadium Australia.

Balmain and Western Suburbs formed the joint-venture club, the Wests Tigers at the end of 1999, while North Sydney and Manly-Warringah created the ill-fated Northern Eagles. As part of another image makeover, a number of teams also released new club logos. The most notable of these was the Sydney Roosters, dropping the ''City'' section of their name for the 2000 season and beyond. Souths were controversially axed from the competition at the end of 1999 for failing to meet the criteria.

This move was highly controversial and on 12 November 2000 approximately 80,000 marched in protest at their continued exclusion. South Sydney challenged the decision in the Federal Court claiming that the NRL agreement was exclusionary, intended to unfairly exclude South Sydney, and breached the Trade Practices Act. Justice Paul Finn ruled that the agreement did not specifically exclude any club and dismissed the Rabbitohs' claims for re-instatement into the national competition. Souths appealed this decision and were re-admitted into the competition in 2002.

The Auckland Warriors experienced much financial hardship in the early part of the decade, ultimately collapsing before being resurrected as the New Zealand Warriors for the 2001 season. They made the Grand Final in 2002.

In 2001, Australia's largest telecommunications provider Telstra became naming rights sponsor of the NRL, with the competition's name becoming the NRL Telstra Premiership, while in 2002 David Gallop took over the CEO role from David Moffett, and the competition has become more and more popular each season.

In 2001 the NRL Grand Final started to be played on Sunday nights, a shift from the traditional Sunday afternoon slot used for over a decade prior.

2003–2005: Record popularity

The 2003 season was widely regarded as the most successful since the beginning of the National Rugby League in 1998. The Penrith Panthers rose from the bottom of the table to win the Premiership, while the Broncos returned to Suncorp Stadium mid-year. Season 2004 proved even more successful than 2003, with the North Queensland Cowboys going from 11th position in 2003 to 3rd in 2004, narrowly missing out on a maiden Grand Final berth.

Crowd average records were broken in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2005, the NRL reached record levels of popularity for its competition. Total crowds for the competition season almost reached the figures for the last year of the competition conducted by the ARL competition of 1995, prior to the Super League war. The average attendance record remained until 2010. From 2004 to 2005, there was a 39% increase in sponsorship, a 41% increase in merchandise royalties, and a 12% increase in playing participation. In 2005, Business Review Weekly ranked the NRL 497 in revenue of Australian private companies, with revenue of A$66.1m (+7%) with 35 employees. In 2004, Canterbury-Bankstown put a year of turmoil and disgrace at the aftermath of the alleged Rape Scandal to hold aloft the NRL trophy and give the Bulldogs their first premiership since 1995. In 2005, a record national audience of 4.1 million tuned in to watch the grand final between the Wests Tigers and the North Queensland Cowboys.

2006: A unique year

The 2006 National Rugby League season kicked off on Friday, 10 March, between defending premiers Wests Tigers and early favourites St. George Illawarra Dragons at Telstra Stadium.

Melbourne, after leading the competition for most of the season, comfortably claimed the minor premiership, with the Bulldogs, Brisbane, and Newcastle making up the top four. Manly, St George Illawarra, Canberra and Parramatta took places five to eight.

The 2006 NRL Grand Final won by the Brisbane Broncos over the Melbourne Storm, 15–8. The matchup was a significant milestone in the history of the NRL, as two interstate teams (teams not from New South Wales, the "heartland" of the NRL) contested the grand final for the first time ever.

The game itself once again enjoyed immense support, with more record TV ratings, particularly capturing Melbourne on Grand Final night. Crowds were down on 2005, however were better than any other year prior to that.

2007: Further expansion

In its tenth season the NRL returned to having a club based on the Gold Coast, Queensland with the inclusion of the Gold Coast Titans. The Titans were the first professional sporting team to occupy the Gold Coast since 1998, when the Gold Coast Chargers were one of the teams removed during the NRL's rationalisation process between the end of the Super League war and the 2000 season.

The 2007 NRL season kicked off on Friday 16 March 2007 with eight games each round. 2007 also saw the return of Monday Night Football and the inclusion of two Friday night games. Both of which turned out to be ratings successes. Another change from the previous seasons was a reduction in the number of byes per team in the season. With an odd number of teams contesting between 2002 and 2006, the draw meant that at least one team would have to have a bye each weekend. With the inclusion of the 16th team for the 2007 season, the National Rugby League had the option of reverting to back to the system used between 2000 and 2001 where every team played each round. That system was not used however, with teams were given just a single bye during the year, grouped in periods that will assist clubs around representative fixtures.

The opening round saw two matches at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, the first featuring reigning champions Brisbane against fellow Queensland side North Queensland, while the second match featured the new club, the Gold Coast playing St George Illawarra. The weather during the middle of the season was less than ideal, with cyclonic conditions severely affecting many NRL games played in Sydney and Newcastle.

The finals series was contested over a period of four weeks and saw the newly privatised South Sydney Rabbitohs return to finals football for the first time in decades. The season culminated with the NRL Grand Final on Sunday 30 September 2007 contested between a resurgent Manly and a Melbourne team looking for redemption from last year's Grand Final loss. Melbourne ran out convincing winners with a 34–8 scoreline and the Grand Final achieved the honour of being the most watched television show in Australia in 2007.

2008: The Centenary

Throughout 2008, the NRL celebrated 100 years since Rugby League was introduced into Australia, with several initiatives to recognise the important milestone, including an extensive marketing campaign called the 'Centenary of Rugby League'. The competition began in March, with a special Heritage round held in mid-April, coinciding with the first round of competition played in 1908.

At a Gala event on 17 April 2008 the Team of the Century was announced, being:

Full-back: Clive Churchill

Wingers: Ken Irvine, Brian Bevan

Centres: Reg Gasnier, Mal Meninga

Five-eighth: Wally Lewis

Half-back: Andrew Johns

Lock: John Raper

Second Row: Norm Provan, Ron Coote

Props: Arthur Beetson, Duncan Hall

Hooker: Noel Kelly

Reserves: Graeme Langlands, Dally Messenger, Bob Fulton, Frank Burge

Coach: Jack Gibson.

For the second year in a row, the Grand Final was played between the Melbourne Storm and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, in the NRL's first ever twilight decider. The Sea Eagles took out the premiership game 40–0, setting the record for the highest winning margin in a Grand Final match (although the club formerly known as St George Dragons were beaten 38–0 in 1975 and using the modern point scale of 4-point tries, this would amount to 44–0.) Furthermore, it was the first time a team had been kept scoreless in a Grand Final since 1978.

2009-2010: The second century begins

After the centenary celebrations of 2008, the 2009 season marks the second century of rugby league competition in Australia. The Grand Final that year was played between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm at the ANZ Stadium; Melbourne defeated Parramatta 23 – 16 to make it two premierships out of the last four grand finals for the Storm. The Storm were stripped of these premierships on 22 April 2010 due to gross long-term salary cap breaches between 2006 and 2010 (read more below, Major breaches of the salary cap).

In 2010 the Inaugural All Stars Match was held on 13 February, in conjunction with the Sorry Day reconciliation anniversary in order to promote Rugby League's long association and involvement with the Aboriginal community. The first match saw the Indigenous All Stars beat the NRL All Stars 16–12. The success of this event has seen it become a permanent fixture on the Rugby League calendar with Queensland awarded the hosting rights for the next three years.

The 29th State of Origin series was also played featuring the world's first live free-to-air 3D TV broadcast. Queensland later made further history by winning an unprecedented fifth series in a row, and winning the 2010 series by a scoreline of 3–0, their first Origin whitewash in a decade.

In October 2010 it was announced that the NRL set a record total season average attendance of 17,367 per game and a record total season aggregate attendance of 3,490,778.

During the 2010 finals series, the second qualifying match between the Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters became the first McIntyre System final to go into extra time, with the One Hundred Minute Epic described in media circles as one of the greatest of the modern era.

The 2010 Grand Final was played between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters. The Dragons won 32–8. This is the first premiership won by the club in its eleven year existence.

After several years of preparation and build up, on 14 December 2010 the Australian Rugby League and News Corporation finally agreed upon a constitutional framework paving the way for the establishment of a new and independent commission to govern the sport in Australia.

Future

National Rugby League Expansion Bid Clubs

When the Gold Coast Titans were admitted into the 2007 season of the NRL they beat out proposals from Gosford, New South Wales (as the Central Coast Bears) and Wellington, New Zealand (as the Southern Orcas).

CEO David Gallop has stated that the NRL will not consider expansion until mid 2011 due to previous failed expansion efforts during the Super League era. He has however spoken specifically about adding a team in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, the Central Coast, the Sunshine Coast, and Wellington, New Zealand. Interest in gaining an NRL franchise has also come from Fiji and from the Toowoomba & Darling Downs Region, a rugby league heartland that has no team in the NRL or the Queensland Cup (since the demise of the Toowoomba Clydesdales).

The NRL also has a fund of $8 million for any club that decides to relocate to a 'strategically identified area'.

The NRL is currently assessing a large number of possible franchise locations around Australasia that have the backing of fans, governments and corporate interests. These include:

New South Wales & Queensland

Bid Area	Home City	Home Ground(s)	Bid Club	Website	Official Launch
Brisbane		Lang Park (52,500)	Brisbane Bombers	brisbanebombers.com.au	2011, January
Central Coast	Gosford, New South Wales	[[Central Coast Stadium (20,119) North Sydney Oval (20,000)	Central Coast Bears	centralcoastbears.com.au	2005
Central Queensland		Browne Park (5,200) New Stadium (25,000)		cqnrlbid.com.au	2009, April
Sunshine Coast		Stockland Park (12,000)	Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles	-
Western Corridor	Ipswich,Logan, Toowoomba,			westerncorridornrlbid.com.au	2011, May

Rest of Australia

Bid Area	Home City	Home Ground(s)	Bid Club	Website	Official Launch
South Australia		Hindmarsh Stadium (16,500)	Adelaide Rams	-
Western Australia		Perth Oval (20,500) Upgrade to (25,500)	WA Reds	waredsrugbyleague.com.au	2006

Oceania

Bid Area	Home City	Home Ground(s)	Bid Club	Website	Official Launch
Central & Southern New Zealand	Wellington, New Zealand Christchurch, New Zealand	Westpac Stadium (36,000) AMI Stadium (38,628)	Southern Orcas	-	2005
Fiji	Suva, Fiji			-
Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea	Lloyd Robson Oval (10,000) Upgrade to (25,000)		pngnrlbid.com	2008, October

Official franchise bids

There are currently six official bids in progress, all intent on joining the NRL when the current media deal comes up for negotiation around 2012/2013.

In 2005 the North Sydney Bears planned on rejoining the league as the Central Coast Bears and basing themselves out of Gosford, New South Wales and will use Central Coast Stadium. The bid team plans to unite the current North Sydney and Central Coast districts under the one team.

In 2006 the Western Australia Rugby League announced that the Perth-based WA Reds were to be resurrected with an aim to re-join the NRL in 2013, playing out of nib Stadium. Currently they contest the under-age S. G. Ball Cup, with an aim to having a number of WA-born juniors when the bid joins the NRL

In October 2008, a Papua New Guinea bid team was launched with government funding and support. An official website was launched in September 2009 detailing the progress of the PNG bid and its aim to provide social and economic benefits for the country as a whole

In April 2009, a consortium from the Central Queensland region declared their intent to launch a bid for an NRL franchise to be based in Rockhampton in the next expansion period. The bid is aiming to be a new club by 2013.

In August 2010, the Ipswich Jets formally announced the creation of a bid team for 2013 with the future club to based in the Ipswich-West Brisbane corridor in order to capitalise on the massive population boom projected for that region. The move would effectively see the promotion of the existing local Queensland Cup side to the higher NRL premiership.

In January 2011, David Gallop, CEO of the NRL, confirmed he had spoken to a bid team delegate seeking to create Brisbane's second team who would be based in south Brisbane area. If their bid is successful they would play at Suncorp Stadium on alternate weekends to the Brisbane Broncos. The club launched its name and branding on 14 July 2011, as the Brisbane Bombers.

Structure

A Partnership Executive Committee administers the agreement between the Australian Rugby League and News Limited as well as making major financial decisions. Three representatives from each party make up this committee. A National Rugby League Board, which is commissioned by the Partnership Committee and is composed of six delegates – three from each party – is responsible for administering the competition. Both bodies nominate a Chairman to lead each board for a term of 12 months on an alternating basis.

The National Rugby League markets the premiership on behalf of the clubs as well as organising the draw and finals matches. When the draw is finalised, teams are responsible for controlling and organising their assigned home games. Clubs each have their own organisational structure but are also bound to the National Rugby League by a common set of rules in club agreements.

In late November/early December each year the NRL holds a conference for CEOs, coaches and players to discuss issues facing the League.

Competition format and sponsorship

Regular season

As rugby league is a winter sport in Australasia, the NRL premiership season usually begins in early March following a brief series of trial matches. Games are then played every weekend until the end of September. In most rounds, two matches are played on Friday night, three on Saturday night, two on Sunday afternoon and one on Monday night.

Special themed weeks include Heritage Round, Women in League Round and Rivalry Round. Separate trophies between rival teams are also presented throughout the season, such as the Ron Coote cup.

Teams receive two competition points for a win, and one point for a draw. The bye also receives two points; a loss, no points. Teams on the ladder are ranked by competition points, then match points differential (for and against) and points percentage are used to separate teams with equal competition points. At the end of the regular season, the club which is ranked highest on the ladder is declared minor premiers.

Finals

150px|thumb|left|The NRL trophy is awarded to the winner of the Grand FinalThe eight highest placed teams at the end of the regular season compete in the finals series, which is contested using the McIntyre Final Eight System. This system has been used for every NRL season with the exception of the first, in 1998. The system consists of a number of knockout and sudden-death games between the top eight teams over four weeks in August and September, until only two teams remain. These two teams then contest the Grand Final, which is usually played on the first Sunday of October. In the first week of the finals, the top four seeds play at their respective home grounds. In week two, matches are played within the home city of the two lower seeded winning teams from week one. In week three, teams play within the home regions of the two seeded winning teams from week one.

The NRL Grand Final is one of Australasia's major sporting events, typically attracting large attendances and high television ratings. The game itself is usually preceded by an opening ceremony featuring entertainment from well-known Australasian and international musical acts. The Prime Minister of Australia is also usually on hand for the trophy-presenting ceremony. In 1998 the Grand Final was held at the Sydney Football Stadium. Since then, it has been contested at Stadium Australia, which was the primary athletics venue for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia, the NRL Grand Final broke the world record for attendance at a rugby league game. In June 2006, the NRL announced that the Grand Final will continue to be held at the Stadium until at least 2012, after which the possibility of the game being moved interstate will be considered if certain circumstances arise. However, in mid 2010 it was announced that the New South Wales Government secured the grand final for Stadium Australia until 2022 for $45 million.

The Grand Final has traditionally been played on Sunday afternoons, but between 2001 and 2007 the Grand Final was played at night, in order to coincide with the primetime period on television. Because this meant that the game finished late at night, the NRL feared losing younger audiences. From 2008, a compromise was reached between official broadcaster Channel 9's preferred starting time of 8 pm and the traditional starting time of 3 pm, with the Grand Final beginning at 5 pm AEST.

The winning team of the grand final is presented with the NRL trophy, which is based on the former premiership trophy, the Winfield Cup. In addition, members of the winning team are presented with premiership rings. The player judged to be the man-of-the-match by the Australian national team selectors is awarded the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal.

Sponsorship

thumb|150px|right|The Telstra Premiership logo.The NRL and its clubs receive significant revenue from sponsorships, with sponsors' logos appearing on most parts of players' and referees' uniforms, the playing surface and even the ball itself. Since 2001, the National Rugby League premiership has been sponsored by Telstra and known as the 'NRL Telstra Premiership'; in earlier seasons, it was simply known as the 'National Rugby League'.

The Telstra Premiership has had three competition logos since 2001. The first, lasting only through the 2001 regular season, was the Telstra logo with an elongated circle enclosing the word ''Premiership''. From the Finals series of 2001 through to the end of 2006 the logo was based around the shape of a football, with the words ''Telstra Premiership'' on respective lines along the bottom, culminating with a small football similar to the one in the official NRL logo. The main colours were blue and orange, the corporate colours of Telstra. The company worked with the NRL to create the current logo (pictured) for the 2007 season onward as part of a new sponsorship deal. This new logo is quite similar to the original National Rugby League emblem.

Other notable sponsorships include Toyota (official car of the NRL), Powerade (match ball), AAMI (referees), Harvey Norman (video referees), Victoria Bitter (official beer of the NRL), Bundaberg Rum (Friday Night Football), Keno (Saturday Football) and Home Timber and Hardwear (Sunday Football).

Non-traditional venues

Since 1998 NRL clubs have played both trial matches and premiership season games in areas that do not have representation in the NRL.

The Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters have played premiership season games in Christchurch in New Zealand.

The Penrith Panthers, Cronulla Sharks and Canterbury Bulldogs have played premiership season games in Adelaide.

The Bulldogs have also taken games interstate to Brisbane, the Gold Coast as well as Wellington.

In 2003 the Canberra Raiders hosted one game at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

From 2005–2006 The Parramatta Eels played two premiership season games in Waikato in New Zealand.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles generally play one of their two premiership fixtures at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford. Since then, a number of other Sydney based teams have chosen to move one or two home fixtures to the Central Coast location.

From 2008, the West Tigers plays host against South Sydney Rabbitohs at the Sydney Cricket Ground to celebrate the season's annual heritage round.

In 2009:

* The Cronulla Sharks played a home game at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide. They were contracted to play a home game at the venue up until and including the 2011 season. This only lasted for one game and their contract to play in Adelaide was ended.

* The South Sydney Rabbitohs played a home game against the Melbourne Storm at Perth Oval in Perth.

Many teams play in rural and other areas not home to a current NRL club during their pre-season campaign. Matches are played in locations such as Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Gosford, Cessnock, Mackay, the Queensland Sunshine Coast and Coffs Harbour.

Competition rules and representative season

Salary cap

In 1990, the NSWRL introduced a salary cap system to even the playing field of teams in the Winfield Cup. The National Rugby League has adopted the salary cap system from its predecessor. A special team deals with salary cap issues and monitors teams on a yearly basis. Each club is allowed A$4.6875 million per season to contract 25 players, with a minimum salary of $55,000, setting an effective upper limit of about $500,000 for the game's best players.

Payment Structure for the Top 25 Players 2010 +$200,000 Sponsor Servicing Allowance (automatically given to all clubs to compensate players for club sponsorship activities including appearances and endorsements). +$100,000 Long Serving Player Allowance (players who have played eight continuous years of grade football with that club including Toyota Cup and NSW Cup). +$100,000 Paid to the RLPA retirement fund and towards RLPA contributions

Payments under the actual salary cap total $4.6875 million paid directly by clubs across the top 25 players. A further $100,000 is paid into the RLPA retirement fund contribution but is not defined as a salary cap payment.

What Players can earn outside of the Salary Cap +$150,000 Marquee Player Allowance (any or all of the top 10 players at each club can share in payments made by club sponsors seeking to use a player’s intellectual property. A cap of $50,000 per player applies). Unlimited Players can earn unlimited amounts from corporate sponsors who are not associated with the club and who do not use the game’s intellectual property (no club logos, jerseys or emblems) provided these are pre-approved. Unlimited Tertiary education, approved traineeships, medical insurance costs, relocation/temporary accommodation costs are not included in the cap but must be approved. Payments for players outside the Top25 +$350,000 Cap for all players outside of the top 25 who compete in the Telstra Premiership. The cap is actively policed and penalties for clubs found to have breached the NRL salary cap regulations include fines of lesser of half the amount involved or $500,000 and/or deduction of premiership points. For example, six clubs were fined for minor infractions in 2003. These infractions are usually technical in nature, and can sometimes be affected by third-party factors such as loss of sponsorship revenue affecting an allowance. During the 2007 season the NRL implemented ways of creating a fair and more beneficial cap for players and clubs.

In 2010, following the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal, the NRL introduced requirements for players and their agents to sign statutory declarations pledging their contracts comply with salary cap regulations, where previously only club chairmen and chief executives did so for biannual salary cap audits.

Major breaches of the cap

In 2002, the Canterbury Bulldogs were fined the maximum of $500,000 and deducted all 37 premiership points received during the season after it was found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap totaling $2.13 million over the past three years, including $750,000 in 2001 and $920,000 in 2002; these were described by NRL Chief Executive David Gallop as "exceptional in both its size and its deliberate and ongoing nature". The points penalty meant that the club won the 2002 wooden spoon (Souths would have finished last if not for the breaches), and as the club had been leading the competition table prior to the imposition of the penalties, this was a shattering outcome for the club and its fans. Two senior club officials were jailed for fraud as a result of these breaches.

In 2005, the New Zealand Warriors were fined $430,000 and were ordered to start the 2006 season with a four premiership point deficit and cut their payroll by $450,000 after club officials revealed that their former management had exceeded the salary cap by $1.1 million over the last two years. The points penalty meant that the Warriors missed a finals berth in 2006.

On 22 April 2010, the Melbourne Storm were stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships, 2006–2008 minor premierships and the 2010 World Club Challenge trophy, fined a record $1.689 million ($1.1 million in NRL prize money which will be equally distributed between the remaining 15 clubs, $89,000 in prize money from the World Club Challenge which will be distributed to the Leeds Rhinos, and the maximum of $500,000 for breaching the salary cap regulations), ordered to cut their payroll by $1.0125 million, deducted all eight premiership points received during the season and barred from receiving premiership points for the remainder of the season after Storm officials revealed that the club had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations between 2006 and 2010 by running a well-organized dual contract and bookkeeping system that concealed a total of $3.78 million in payments made to players outside of the salary cap from the NRL, including $303,000 in 2006, $459,000 in 2007, $957,000 in 2008, $1.021 million in 2009 and $1.04 million in 2010. The points penalty meant that the club won the 2010 wooden spoon (North Queensland would have finished last if not for the breaches). Legal action by the former directors of the club against the penalties collapsed, and the matter has been referred to ASIC, the Australian Tax Office, the Victorian State Revenue Office, and the Victoria Police. The club's former CEO Brian Waldron and financial officers Matt Hanson, Paul Gregory and Cameron Vale are all facing lifetime suspensions. Players were still eligible for Test and/or State of Origin selection.

Judiciary

The NRL judiciary is made up of former players who convene in three-man panels to rule on on-field incidents. The judiciary is currently chaired by Wollongong district court judge Paul Conlon and made up of former players, Mal Cochrane, Michael Buettner, Bradley Clyde, Sean Garlick, Don McKinnon and Bob Lindner.

Representative season

As well as playing for their club in the premiership, NRL players are regularly selected to play in a number of representative competitions that are conducted throughout each season. These include:

The pre-season NRL All Stars Game

The New South Wales City vs Country Origin match

The State of Origin three match series – one of the fiercest sporting rivalries in the world

The mid-year ANZAC Test

The Four Nations tournament

The quadrennial World Cup tournament

Media coverage

The NRL provides six of the top seven and 78 of the top 100 programs on Australian subscription television. It is the most watched sport on Australian television, with an aggregate audience of 128.5 million viewers in 2009.

Coverage history

Professional club rugby league in Australia has been revolutionised by television, with a shift away from daytime games to night-time games over recent years to better suit the official television broadcasters, Channel 9 and Fox Sports. This even extended to the Grand Final, which from 2001 to 2007 was shifted from 3 pm on Sunday to 7 pm Sunday night to better suit broadcasters. It has been moved back to 5 pm Sunday from 2008 onwards.

Free-to-air coverage for Channel 9 viewers in states other than New South Wales or Queensland is delayed until later at night to make way for other programming by Channel 9. The late showing has upset fans in those state, especially in Victoria, but their call for change had remained unheard by the NRL and Channel 9.

The Fox Sports, which broadcast its first rugby league matches during the 1997 Super League season, has broadcast the remaining National Rugby League matches exclusively live since the competition's inception in 1998. In 2007, "Monday Night Football" was added to Fox Sport's rugby league coverage.

In 2003 the Grand Final was broadcast live in the United States by Fox Sports World as it had been since 2001.

Current television coverage

Domestic

Friday Night Football starts at 7:30 pm and consists of two matches shown on Channel 9 free-to-air television in New South Wales and Queensland. Both games are played concurrently, with one broadcast live and the other shown on delay immediately after the first, usually at 9:30 pm. In many cases, the order in which the games are shown differs in different television markets. For instance, a match featuring a Queensland team, would usually be shown first in Queensland markets, but might be broadcast second in New South Wales if a popular Sydney team were playing in the other match. Both matches are broadcast after midnight on Saturday morning in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. Despite this, the total national TV ratings for the NRL during this timeslot consistently outperforms all other competing football codes.

Super Saturday includes one Toyota Cup afternoon game at 3:15 pm, followed by that game's corresponding Telstra Premiership match at 5:30 pm. This is then followed by two consecutive NRL matches beginning at 7:30 pm, one of which is shown live and one on delay immediately after the conclusion of the 7.30 pm game. Providing that the viewer has Foxtel Digital or Austar Digital, they can use a tool called Viewer's Choice. Viewer's Choice gives the viewer a choice of either game played at 7:30 pm to be shown live. All four games are shown on Fox Sports.

NRL Sunday is a 2:00 pm match broadcast live on Fox Sports.

Sunday Football is broadcast on Channel 9. The match normally kicks off at 3:00 pm, but the broadcast is delayed until 4:00 pm, running until 6:00 pm in order to provide a strong lead-in to Channel 9's evening news. These broadcasts are aired after midnight on Monday mornings in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Monday Night Football is televised live from 7:00 pm by Fox Sports.

Note: Saturday and Sunday broadcast schedules can also vary, with less Saturday and more Sunday matches. This is dependent on the scheduling of matches for the New Zealand Warriors played in Auckland, New Zealand and a number of other factors including daylight saving time.

The State of Origin series is typically shown live in every state on Channel 9.

The NRL Grand Final is shown live in every state on Channel 9, with New South Wales and Queensland receiving up to 10 hours of continuous pre-game and post-game coverage. The game is also shown live in New Zealand, with ratings improving since the introduction of a 7 pm (NZST) kick-off – plus in various other countries around the world via local broadcasters.

International

The NRL is televised internationally with the following channels being the main telecast partners overseas.

Australia Network – Provides free-to-air coverage to overseas locales in the Asia-Pacific region and India. Covers the Grand Final live.

Sky Sport in New Zealand has coverage of all the NRL games including both LIVE games on Sunday with a delayed option available later in the night.

Setanta Sports: From 2006 until June 2009 (when Setanta went into administration and then ceased broadcasting in Great Britain), viewers in the UK, Republic of Ireland, USA and Canada would receive 2–3 LIVE and/or replayed games from each of the weekly rounds, plus all the playoffs, the Grand Final and all three State of Origin matches live. This deal included test matches involving Australia, except for those when Australia played Great Britain. Setanta still broadcasts in Canada as of 2010 and provides live and delayed coverage of several NRL games a week during the summer when soccer goes on hiatus.

Spike TV – A landmark deal was agreed in 2009 whereby NRL finals matches would be beamed into 100 million homes in the United States and Canada. It is the first time NRL games have become available on basic cable in the U.S. *America One's One World Sports have announced a 3 year deal starting in 2010 to broadcast NRL games in the United States and the Caribbean. The broadcast will potentially reach an audience of 35 million households.

The 2009 NRL preliminary finals and Grand Final were broadcast LIVE on TV in the UK and Ireland on the new ESPN UK channel. BigPond and the NRL have reached an agreement to stream selected remaining games live into the UK and Ireland, over BigPond's web portal service.

For the remainder of the 2010 Telstra Premiership, and for the 2011/2012 seasons, sports channel Premier Sports, (channel 433 on the Sky platform) will feature at least three Telstra Premiership games from each round of matches.

Games will be shown free of charge for the first two months from 16 April 10:30 am UK Time, after which they will be available via subscription. The NRL Grand Final, State of Origin series and all International matches will be screened LIVE in the UK and Republic of Ireland on Sky Sports to all customers that subscribe to the Sky Sports channels.

Omnisport (owned and operated by Perform Media Channels Limited) performgroup.com/omnisport has also signed a similar agreement to stream matches on pay-per-view LIVE in selected territories around the world through the omnisport.tv website.

The UK secured new broadcasting rights in 2010 which will see 3 games televised each week including international and representative matches. Fans will also be able to see the NRL’s new weekly half-hour international highlights show, ‘NRL Full-time’, with Sky Sports joining Starhub (Singapore), Dahlia TV (Italy), Orbit Showtime Network (Middle East) and V Australia (in-flight) in broadcasting the program.

These new agreements have seen the NRL significantly expand its international television broadcast reach to now include North America, Africa, Italy, the Middle East, PNG and the Asia Pacific region, as well as online subscription services for international supporters.

NRL-related television programs

In Australia, there are several television shows dedicated to talking about NRL. These programs, as of March 2011, are:

The NRL Footy Show (airs Thursdays, 9.30 pm, Channel Nine in NSW, Qld, NT and the ACT: screens after 11.15 pm in all other areas of Australia): a variety show with discussions about current-round games and issues, competitions, live bands, and sketches

The Sunday Footy Show (Sundays, 11.00 am, Channel Nine in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT): a recap of Friday and Saturday's games, and preview of Sunday's and Monday's games

The Sunday Roast (Sundays, Midday, Channel Nine in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT), a show dedicated to discussing the heavy issues, controversies, and playing tactics currently developing

The Game Plan (Thursdays, 8.30 pm, on ONE HD)

One Week at a Time (Mondays, at 9.30 pm, on ONE HD), recapping the weekend games

There also exists numerous off-beat rugby shows on Fox Sports, typically on the Monday/Tuesday after the round.

Former shows:

The Matty Johns Show (Thursdays, 7.30 pm, Channel Seven in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT except Darwin: after midnight in all other regions of Australia), a more sketch-and-regular-segment-oriented version of The Footy Show and

Internet

Replays of NRL matches, as well as highlights and NRL-related informational programming are available in Australia from BigPond. Telstra's ISP. Outside of Australia, these programs are sold by Aussie Sport TV.

Radio coverage

The NRL has several games broadcast live on the radio.

2GB 873AM Radio has the commercial rights to one Friday game, the 5:30 pm Saturday game, and a Sunday game of their choice, covering the game through the Continuous Call Team program. They also air many representative games, as well as all matches throughout the finals series, and all three matches on Grand Final day. The coverage is networked to stations across the country, typically those owned by Southern Cross Media Group, Grant Broadcasters and other station groups on the Macquarie Radio Network.

ABC Local Radio has the rights to all NRL matches in the ACT, Queensland and New South Wales except Monday night games. Exceptions to this include Monday night games of regional teams including the Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders, those games still air on their respective local ABC stations.

Triple M (Sydney) covers the Monday Night game and is broadcast on commercial stations across the country.

Print

In print media, there are two major magazines: Rugby League Week is produced by ACP Magazines and is generally released on Wednesdays between rounds; Big League is the competition's official publication, released Thursday and produced by News Magazines. Another News Magazines publication, ALPHA Magazine, regularly publishes league-related stories and interviews.

Theme songs

1985 – 1988: The Boys Are Back In Town – Thin Lizzy 1989: What You Get Is What You See – Tina Turner 1990 – 1995: Simply The Best – Tina Turner 1997 (SL): Two Tribes – Frankie Goes To Hollywood 1997 (ARL): It's My Game – NSWRL 1998: Tubthumping – Chumbawamba 1999: Blow That Whistle – Thomas Keneally 2000: What A Game – Tom Jones 2001: Racing Car Noises over Action Highlights 2003 – 2007: That's My Team – Hoodoo Gurus 2008: Centenary of Rugby League Campaign 2009: Feels Like Woah – Wes Carr 2010: Fan Voices over Action Highlights 2011: This Is Our House – Bon Jovi

Players

National Rugby League footballers are some of Australasia's most famous athletes, commanding multi-million dollar playing contracts as well as sponsorship deals. Each club in the NRL has a "top squad" of twenty-five players, who are signed under the salary cap, as described above. For the most part, the players who play in NRL matches are sourced from these top squads. Occasionally during a season, however, the need may arise for a club to use players outside these 25, and in this case players are usually sourced from the club's corresponding Toyota Cup side or feeder club (such as the relevant New South Wales Cup or Queensland Cup squad).

The players voted to be the best in each position at the end of the season are honoured at the annual Dally M Awards, with the player of the year awarded the Dally M Medal. The man of the match in the Grand Final is awarded the Clive Churchill Medal.

Africans in the NRL

There are only a handful of Africans in the NRL. There are South Africans Jarrod Saffy who plays for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, JP Du Plessis and Brian Skosana both signed to the Sydney Roosters. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs centre Jamal Idris is of Nigerian background, Gold Coast Titans backrower Selasi Berdie is of Ghanaian background and is believed to be the first ever player of Ghanaian background to play in the NRL, North Queensland Cowboys forward Willie Mason, St. George Illawarra Dragons winger Peni Tagive and Penrith Panthers forward Daine Laurie also have African backgrounds

Asians in the NRL

There are very few Asian players in the NRL, one of them currently being Gold Coast Titans winger Kevin Gordon who is of Chinese and Filipino background as well as former South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters hooker Craig Wing who is of Filipino background joined Japanese Rugby Union at the end of the 2009 season.

Europeans in the NRL

There are few European-born players in the National Rugby League, despite the significant number of Australians in Europe's Super League. However, those who do play in the NRL (such as, in recent times, Adrian Morley who is English of Welsh descent and Brian Carney who is Irish) are often stars of the game.

Europeans currently playing in the NRL include England representative Gareth Ellis who plays for the Wests Tigers, the Melbourne Storm's Gareth Widdop and Sam Burgess who has signed with the South Sydney Rabbitohs for 2010. Other Europeans include former Wigan Warriors loose forward Mark Flanagan who is playing with the Wests Tigers in 2010 and Scottish international Ian Henderson of the New Zealand Warriors,. Ellis won Wests Tigers 'best and fairest' award in his inaugural season.

There are also a huge number of players in the NRL with European backgrounds, such as Sydney Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello and his brother Mark, the second rower for the Gold Coast Titans who is an Italian international. There are also players with Italian backgrounds such as Rocky Trimarchi, Cameron Ciraldo and Anthony Laffranchi.

Players with Greek backgrounds include John Skandalis, Nick Kouparitsas and Iwi Hauraki, players with Maltese backgrounds include Mario Fenech, Jarrod Sammut, Shane Shackleton and Danny Galea. There are also a lot of other players of European backgrounds in the NRL from such as countries as Ireland and Scotland.

Indigenous Australians in the NRL

The first Indigenous Australian to play in the precursor to the NRL was New South Wales Rugby League premiership player George Green, who debuted in 1909. Since that time, many high profile indigenous athletes have played in the competition, including standout rugby league test players Arthur Beetson (the first Aborigine to captain an Australian national team in any sport) and current Test match representatives Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis. A Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report found that 11% of NRL players in 2006 were of Aboriginal descent, (By way of comparison, only 2.3% of the Australian population identified themselves as Indigenous in the 2006 Australian census.). A 2009 survey of NRL players showed that 47 players, or 10.9 per cent, in its clubs' full-time squads are indigenous with a slightly higher figure for under-20s competition.

On 13 February 2010 at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, the NRL will hold an "indigenous all stars" game. It is to be a indigenous Australian verse non-indigenous Australian and New Zealander game of the top players from their respective backgrounds. The Indigenous All-Stars will be a 20 man squad voted by the public. The non-indigenous squad will consist of the Australian and New Zealand national teams captains and vice captains and one player from each of the sixteen NRL clubs.

Middle Eastern in the NRL

TBC

Pacific Islanders in the NRL

There are increasing numbers of both New Zealand and Pacific Island born players being selected by clubs. In recent years, Polynesian players have made up 75 per cent of junior representative teams in New South Wales. It has been suggested that by 2011–2012 50% of NRL players could be of Polynesian or Melanesian descent.

Record statistics (1998+)

+Top scorers in the National Rugby League			!Rank!!Player!!Points
1		2,418
2		2,176
3	style="text-align:left;"	2,107
4		2, 034
5=		1,604
5=		1,604
7		1,549
8		1,500
9		1,356
10		1,304

The Brisbane Broncos (1998, 2000 and 2006) have the distinction of winning the most premierships (three) since the creation of the National Rugby League. The Melbourne Storm had also won three premierships until being stripped of two of these premierships in April 2010.

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs hold the record for the most consecutive wins, having won 17 matches in a row between 31 March 2002 and 3 August 2002. However this was the year that it was discovered that they had gone over the salary cap by $2 million. The Parramatta Eels set the records for the highest score and margin of victory in a 74–4 victory over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 23 August 2003. The most victories achieved within a regular season is 21 (excluding a further 3 wins in the finals series), was held by the Melbourne Storm in 2007.

Since the first National Rugby League season in 1998, a total of six players have topped the scorers list in a season. However, the only player to have won the title more than once is Hazem El Masri, the overall top scorer in the National Rugby League's history, having claimed the title in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. Hazem El Masri was leading the top scoring table in 2005 until sidelined through injury. His tally of 342 points in 2004 remains the most points scored by an individual in a season. He is also the 2000s' most-served player with 249 games (out of 259); at a match in 2004 he equaled the record for most successful goals with 35 (a feat which he also nearly matched that year in international tests); he is the third most successful goal-scorer in the NRl with 891 two-pointers to his name (beaten by Jason Taylor with 941 and Andrew Johns with 917); and he is tied fifth on most tries scored with 159.

Nigel Vagana's 154 tries scored across all nine seasons of the National Rugby League makes him the most prolific try scorer in the competition's history ( as Ken Irvine and Steve Menzies, the games actual highest try scorers, played before the creation of the NRL). Nathan Blacklock holds the record for the most tries in a season, with 27 scored in 2001 for his team, the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Terry Campese holds the record for the most points scored in a game with 36 points in a match featuring Canberra vs Panthers Round 22 2008 (Canberra 74 defeated Penrith 12). Only four players have scored five tries in a game; Francis Meli, Jamie Lyon, Nigel Vagana, and Nathan Merritt.

It should be noted, however, that none of these are official records, as the NRL does not differentiate between the various top level competitions.

Match officials

Referees

Tony Archer

Gavin Badger

Matt Checchin

Ben Cummins

Tony De Las Heras

Adam Devcich

Phil Haines

Shane Hayne

Chris James

Ashley Klein

Steve Lyons

Jared Maxwell

Gavin Morris

Henry Perenara

Luke Phillips

Alan Shortall

Gerard Sutton

Brett Suttor

Gavin Reynolds

Jason Robinson

See also

History:

Rugby League

History of Rugby League

New South Wales Rugby League premiership

Super League war

List of NRL records

List of Australian rugby league stadiums by capacity

National Rugby League Teams

List of sports attendance figures – the NRL's attendance in a worldwide context

Dally M Medal for best and fairest

Clive Churchill Medal

Rugby League Live (First NRL video game to be released on PS3 and Xbox 360. It is currently scheduled for release in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and France on 2 September 2010)

NRL Dream

Other Governing Bodies/Teams/Competitions:

Australian Rugby League

Australia national Rugby League team

New Zealand Rugby League

New Zealand Kiwis

Rugby league in Papua New Guinea

Pacific Islands Rugby League Federation

New South Wales Rugby League

New South Wales Cup

Bundaberg Red Cup

Country Rugby League

Queensland Rugby League

Queensland Cup

Western Australia Rugby League

Victorian Rugby League

South Australian Rugby League

Northern Territory Rugby League

Tasmanian Rugby League

Rugby League World Cup

References

External links

National Rugby League

Australian Rugby League

NRL Latest News Headlines

Complete NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL Stats

FOX Sports Australia Rugby League Section

NRL on 7 Sports News

Fairfax coverage of National Rugby League

Regular NRL News & Information

SportsAustralia.com League

Massey Ratings for NRL

ESPN UK website link.

NRL on Austadiums

Category:Australian rugby league competitions Category:News Corporation subsidiaries Category:Nine's Wide World of Sport Category:Professional sports leagues Category:Sports leagues in Australia Category:Organizations established in 1998 Category:Sports competitions Category:Sports leagues Category:Sports events Category:Australian culture

ca:National Rugby League de:National Rugby League fr:National Rugby League ko:내셔널 럭비 리그 id:National Rugby League it:National Rugby League ja:ナショナルラグビーリーグ pt:National Rugby League simple:National Rugby League uk:Національна регбійна ліга (Австралія)

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Sonny Bill Williams
birth name	Sonny William Williams
nickname	SBW, Superman
birth place	Auckland, New Zealand
height
weight
ru position	Inside centre
allblackno	1108
allblackid	1108
ru nationalteam	New Zealand
ru nationalcaps	7
ru nationalpoints	0(0)
ru ntupdate	21 November 2010
super14	Crusaders
super14caps	15
super14points	25
super14years	2011
ru province	Toulon Canterbury
ru provinceyears	2008-2010 2010-present
ru provincecaps	33 6
ru provincepoints	30 15
other	yes
relatives	Niall Williams (New Zealand international Touch Football player)
occupation	Professional rugby union player, Heavyweight boxer, former professional rugby league player
school	Mount Albert Grammar
birth date	August 03, 1985 }}

Position
Club1	Bulldogs
Year1start	2004
Year1end	2008
Appearances1	73
Tries1	31
Goals1	0
Fieldgoals1	0
Points1	124
Teama	New Zealand
Yearastart	2004
Yearaend	2008
Appearancesa	7
Triesa	2
Goalsa	0
Fieldgoalsa	0
Pointsa	8
Ru appearances2	6
Ru tries2	3
Ru goals2	0
Ru fieldgoals2	0
Ru points2	15
Source	RLP, Toulon profile }}

Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985), better known as Sonny Bill Williams, is a New Zealand rugby union player and a heavyweight boxer. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for New Zealand in rugby league, and the first to do so since Karl Ifwersen in the 1920s. He is also the only athlete to simultaneously pursue careers in both professional boxing and international rugby and both his offloading in the tackle and shoulder charges have been cited as benchmarks in both rugby league and union.

He started his professional rugby league career with the Canterbury Bulldogs in the Australian NRL. In 2008 he controversially left the Bulldogs to play rugby union with French club Toulon. In 2010 Williams signed with the New Zealand Rugby Union in a bid to play for the All Blacks at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He played for Canterbury Rugby Football Union in the 2010 NPC ITM Cup before being selected for the All Blacks end of year tour in 2010, making his debut against England at Twickenham. He played for the Crusaders in the 2011 season of Super Rugby.

Early life

Williams was born on 3 August 1985, in Auckland, New Zealand, the son of John and Lee. He is of Samoan descent from his fathers side. He grew up in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert and attended Owairaka Primary School, Wesley Intermediate, and Mount Albert Grammar School. Though his father was an accomplished rugby league player, Williams said it was his mother who introduced him to the game.

Career

Rugby league

Williams was a Marist Saints junior when he was spotted playing in Auckland by Bulldogs talent scout John Ackland. In 2002 he was offered a contract and moved to Sydney (as the youngest player to ever sign with the Bulldogs) to play in the Bulldogs junior grades. He advanced up the ranks quickly, becoming a starting player in the forward pack for the Bulldogs Jersey Flegg Cup side in his first year. The following year Williams cemented a starting spot in the Premier League side. In 2004, when only 18 years old, he made his National Rugby League debut against the Parramatta Eels at Telstra Stadium. He experienced Premiership success in his rookie year and became the youngest person to play for the Bulldogs in a Grand Final when playing off the bench in the Bulldogs 16–13 victory over the Sydney Roosters in the 2004 Grand Final. Williams capped off a successful debut season by being named the International Newcomer of the Year Award and was named in the BBC's 2003 World XIII squad.

In 2004, he was selected to represent his country after only a handful of NRL matches and on 23 April made his debut for the New Zealand national rugby league team as their youngest-ever test player in the 2004 ANZAC Test against Australia. Williams played 15 NRL premiership matches during the season, firmly establishing himself in the Bulldogs squad. His contract was due to expire in 2005 and Williams received several lucrative offers to attempt to lure him away from the Bulldogs, with the largest rumoured to be from Super League club St. Helens in the UK worth about $3 million. Williams decided to stay with the Bulldogs and signed on for a further two years. It was later revealed that the amounts may have been exaggerated, with St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus saying they hadn't made an offer to him.

Williams had a disappointingly short 2005 season after sustaining a severe knee injury plus several other minor injuries. Williams only played five games through the year and he subsequently missed several international fixtures for New Zealand. Williams had publicly expressed his frustration at his limited participation through the season stating "You've got to be pretty strong mentally when you have injuries, and I've had a few." Williams would later dismiss claims he was injury prone as "bullshit".

Williams stayed relatively injury-free throughout the 2006 season, playing in 21 matches. He scored 8 tries and just missed out on a Grand Final berth, losing to eventual winners the Brisbane Broncos in the Preliminary Final. Despite having been mostly injury free throughout the year, off-season surgery forced him to miss the Tri-Nations for the Kiwis for the second year running. At the start of the 2007 NRL season, Williams' contract status was a frequent news item in the Australian print media. The speculation ended when Williams re-signed with the Bulldogs on 9 March 2007, with a 5 year contract believed to be worth over $2.5 million, that would have seen him stay with the club through to the 2012 season.

Commenting on the re-signing, Williams said: "I'm happy to be staying here with the boys and I'm happy to be here with the Club. I want to be a Bulldog for life. The club is just as much a part of me as I am of the club. I love the Bulldogs." Coach Steve Folkes said: "Sonny is a great athlete, a great footballer and will only get better over the next few years." Williams played in 21 matches and scored 14 tries during the season, although it did not end well as Williams broke his forearm in a tackle on Nathan Hindmarsh during the Semi Final against the Parramatta Eels. His team lost the match and Williams was again ruled out from representing his country in the post-season 2007 Great Britain Tour. For the first time in his career Williams was nominated for 'Second-Rower of the Year' at the 2007 Dally M Awards but lost the award to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles second-rower Anthony Watmough. That year he also became the first player of the 21st century to be sent to the sin bin in a first-round game.

Rugby union

In July 2008 Williams left Australia to join French rugby union club Toulon citing salary cap concerns in a controversial exit. In 2005 it had been suggested that the NRL's salary cap restrictions could prove problematic for trying to keep top-grade players in rugby league. Canterbury Bulldogs club officials and players were not notified of his defection until after Williams had already departed for Europe. Williams was 18 months into a five year contract with the Canterbury Bulldogs, which was resolved when Toulon paid a transfer fee of around £300,000 to the Bulldogs. According to Bulldogs CEO Todd Greenberg, Williams was "our best player" before he "walked out".

Williams' highest honour with Toulon was finishing runners-up in the 2009-10 European Challenge Cup. His contract with Toulon ended in June 2010, and in 2010 Toulon reportedly tabled a three-year offer to Williams worth $6 million, while the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) could only come up with $550,000 per year. Sonny Bill Williams rejected the largest offer in rugby union history and opted to sign with the NZRU in a bid to play for the All Blacks. He chose to play with Canterbury in the ITM Cup, and the Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition.

Williams' Canterbury debut was against Bay of Plenty on 3 September 2010. He was named in the reserves, but 18 minutes into the game he replaced second five-eight Ryan Crotty, who injured an ankle. Williams scored his first try in the ITM Cup against Taranaki, and followed up with tries against Wellington, Otago, and Counties Manukau. On the 5th November, Canterbury were crowned ITM Cup Champions after defeating Waikato 33-13. On 17 October 2010 he was named in the All Black squad to tour Hong Kong and the Northern Hemisphere.

He made his All Black debut, at Twickenham, against England on 6 November. He started at outside centre, and combined with Ma'a Nonu to form a 212 kg midfield partnership, the "heaviest in All Black history." His debut was highly anticipated in New Zealand. On 13 November 2010, in his second game for the All Blacks, Williams was awarded the man of the match for his performance against Scotland. His contract with New Zealand Rugby Union expires at the end of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He is reported to have been approached from a variety of sources, including his former French rugby union club Toulon, the Parramatta Eels league club, Russell Crowe, co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs league club, the Sydney Roosters and the proposed Brisbane NRL bid team the Brisbane Bombers.

2011

On 4 March 2011 Williams made his Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders against the Waratahs in which he scored a try and set-up another. This was followed a week later with Williams scoring his second try in as many matches, against the ACT Brumbies. On 27 March he returned to Twickenham to play in his fourth match for the Crusaders against the Sharks, in the first Super Rugby match played outside of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. On 9 April, in his fifth game for the Crusaders, Williams scored his 3rd try. On 23 April Williams experienced his first rugby defeat since his All Black debut more than five-and-a-half months earlier whilst playing off the reserves bench against the Otago Highlanders. A week later he scored his fourth try while playing against the Western Force. On 7 May Williams played his first rugby match on South African soil in the Crusaders victory over the Stormers at Newlands Stadium. On 29 May he played against the Queensland Reds in his first match on Australian soil since playing for the Barbarians against the Wallabies in 2009. At the time, the match set a new attendance record for an Australian Super Rugby game with 48,301 fans at Suncorp Stadium. On 25 June he scored his fifth try whilst playing against the Sharks in the first finals week of the Super Rugby competition. A week later against the Stormers in Cape Town he was part of the Crusaders team that became the first side to win a semifinal on foreign soil since 1999. On 9 July Williams was part of the Crusaders team that lost to the Queensland Reds in the Grand-Final held at Suncorp Stadium before a crowd of 52,113 – an Australian provincial attendance record. He ended the Super Rugby season with the most off-loads, was second to Quade Cooper for linebreak assists, was in the top ten for try assists, and was 13th overall for run metres; while no other centre came close to Williams's off-load and linebreak assist figures.

On the 30th July Williams played his first home test match during the second game of the 2011 Tri Nations Series.

Boxing

Weight	Heavyweight
|nationality
Style	Orthodox
Total	4
Wins	4
Ko	2
Losses by ko	}}

On 27 May 2009, Williams made his debut as a professional boxer and defeated Garry Gurr with a Technical knockout (TKO) in the second round in Sydney. On 30 June 2010, he defeated Ryan Hogan in a bout that ended by way of TKO after only two minutes and 35 seconds. Williams described the preparation for the fight as "good off-season training" for his imminent debut for the Canterbury rugby team.

Williams fought in his third professional match against Australian Scott Lewis (on 29 January 2011 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre) in his first fight as the main event. Lewis' trainer Terry Devlin named his youngest son after Sonny Bill Williams, whom he calls a "superb athlete". Williams was initially scheduled to fight Lewis on 29 January at Newcastle Entertainment Centre. However, the bout was moved to the Gold Coast to cross-promote Williams's Super rugby team, the Crusaders, and their pre-season trial against the Queensland Reds. Due to the 2010-2011 Queensland floods occurring at the same time as Williams's preparation for his bout against Scott Lewis, as well as his chief sparring partner Alex Leapai being stranded by the flooding in Gatton, Williams donated 200 tickets to his 29 January fight to flood victims. Williams won the bout against Lewis- which went the full six rounds- by unanimous points decision. He was scored favourably 60-55, 60-55 and 60-54 by the three judges. A fan paid $3,890 for an autographed pair of Williams's gloves from the bout, with the money going towards the Queensland flood relief fund.

Williams fought in his second of three allowed boxing bouts (under the agreement with NZRU) on 5 June, during the week in which the Crusaders had a bye in round 16. The bout was contested at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, with the opponent being Tongan Alipate Liava'a. Williams won the bout by unanimous points decision after being scored favourably 60-54 by all three judges. It was promoted as a February 2011 Christchurch earthquake charity fight dubbed "The Clash For Canterbury". The fight became one of the single biggest fundraisers for the 2011 Christchurch earthquake appeal with Sky donating its profits from the pay-per-view sales of the fight and Williams making a $NZ100,000 donation from his share of TV sales- one of the biggest individual donations by an athlete to a disaster appeal.

Personal life

Sonny Bill Williams became a Muslim after converting to Islam in 2008. He is the first Muslim to represent the All Blacks, Crusaders and Barbarians.

His younger sister Niall Williams is a New Zealand international Touch Football player, having won gold at the Youth World Cup in 2005 and silver at the 2011 Touch Football World Cup.

Williams was in Christchurch when both the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes struck.

Controversies

Williams has been involved in a number of controversial off-field incidents. On 17 August 2005 it was reported he had been charged with drunk driving; the Bulldogs fined Williams $5,000 over the incident and he was forced to appear in Waverley Local Court on 7 September. He was convicted of drunk driving, with a blood alcohol level of .075. In 2007, Williams was caught in a compromising position with Australian model/ironwoman Candice Falzon. A photo taken by a mobile phone of the incident was published on the ''Daily Telegraph'' website. Williams later apologised to his girlfriend (Genna Shaw) over this incident and said he was "ashamed and embarrassed". On 17 June 2007, Williams was caught by police urinating on a wall in a dark alleyway near a well known nightclub in Cronulla in Sydney and was handed an infringement notice and fine worth $650. Williams subsequently admitted he had an alcohol problem and would seek professional help for his problem. He also said in an official statement that he would be "taking drastic measures to make sure this doesn’t happen again." On 25 August 2010, Williams was reprimanded by his Canterbury provincial rugby team for skiing while on injury leave. A Canterbury Rugby Union spokesman confirmed Williams had not been given clearance to go on a skiing trip on the day of Canterbury’s fourth-round NPC match against Tasman, and said Williams had been “reminded of his responsibilities.”

Statistics

NRL

4 5 21 21 11

Season !! Matches !! Tries !! Goals !! Points
National Rugby League season 2004	2004	15	|	0	16
National Rugby League season 2005	2005	|	1	0	4
National Rugby League season 2006	2006	|	8	0	32
National Rugby League season 2007	2007	|	14	0	56
National Rugby League season 2008	2008	|	4	0	16

Professional boxing

|- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|4 Wins (2 knockouts), 0 Losses, 0 Draws |- |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Res. |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Record |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Opponnent |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Type |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Rd., Time |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Date |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Location |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Notes |-align=center |Win |align=center|4-0||align=left| Alipate Liava'a | | | |align=left| Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, Auckland Region}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|3-0||align=left| Scott Lewis | | | |align=left| Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|2-0||align=left| Ryan Hogan | | | |align=left| Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Queensland}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|1-0||align=left| Garry Gurr | | | |align=left| Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Queensland}} |align=left|

Honours

Individual

2004: International Newcomer of the Year

2004: World XIII

2005: Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards "Fave Rising Star"

References

External links

RC Toulon profile

Sonny Bill Williams’ NRL playing statistics

League of his own- Part 1234 video by 20/20 (New Zealand)

BBC Article ''Williams has world at his feet''

BBC Article ''Making big hits with Sonny Bill''

Sonny's runner Essay on Williams' 2008 mid-season move by Rugby league historian Sean Fagan

League's most hated player?

Profile on itsrugby.co.uk

Category:1985 births Category:People from Auckland Category:New Zealand people of Samoan descent Category:New Zealand national rugby league team players Category:New Zealand rugby league players Category:Marist Saints players Category:Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Category:New Zealand rugby union players Category:New Zealand international rugby union players Category:Living people Category:Converts to Islam Category:RC Toulonnais players Category:Expatriate rugby union players in France Category:Former students of Mount Albert Grammar School Category:Dual-code rugby internationals Category:New Zealand boxers Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports Category:Heavyweight boxers Category:New Zealand Muslims Category:Barbarian F.C. players Category:Rugby union centres Category:Rugby league second-rows Category:Rugby league centres Category:Rugby league locks

fr:Sonny Bill Williams ja:ソニー・ビル・ウィリアムズ