Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, or simply league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules gradually changed with the purpose of producing a faster, more entertaining game for spectators. It has been cited as the toughest, most physically demanding of team sports.

In rugby league, points are scored by carrying the ball and touching it to the ground beyond the opposing team's goal line; this is called a try, and is the primary method of scoring. The opposing team attempts to stop the attacking side scoring points by tackling the player carrying the ball. In addition to tries, points can be scored by kicking goals. After each try, the scoring team gains a free kick to try at goal with a conversion for further points. Kicks at goal may also be awarded for penalties, and field goals can be attempted at any time.

Outback Rugby League

The Outback Rugby League Cup is a New South Wales Country Rugby League (NSWCRL) Group Competition which is based in Broken Hill in the far west of New South Wales and surrounding districts such as Wilcannia and Menindee.

The competition folded in 1998 but was revived in 2007.

Teams

The founding clubs of the competition are:

History

The Outback Rugby League was formed in 2007 after a long absence of regular A-Grade rugby league from Broken Hill. The last regular rugby league competition in the area was in 1997 as the Group 12 competition which also included clubs from Broken Hill, Menindee & Wilcannia.

The new competition features clubs from the same areas. A new club was formed before the opening season, the Wilcannia Tigers. The inaugural competition saw a total of 266 registered players across all grades, from under-sixes up. Broken Hill is traditionally dominated by Australian Rules Football.

The 2007 Grand final was a close game between Wilcannia Tigers and Menindee Yabbies. The Yabbies eventually won by one point, 36–35, at Lamb Park in Broken Hill in front of 1,000 spectators. Recently, for the 2008 Outback Rugby League Season, CFMEU (the major sponsor of such teams as the Canberra Raiders) has signed on to become the competition's major sponsor from 2008 and beyond. This will be a massive boost for the competition, financially speaking.

Grand final

A Grand final is a game that decides a sports league's championship (or premiership) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North American sports, grand finals have become a significant part of Australian culture. The earliest competitions to feature a Grand final were Australia's AFL (Australian rules football) and NRL (rugby league football). They influenced other competitions such as soccer's A-League, the National Basketball League, netball's ANZ Championship and European rugby league's Super League to adopt grand finals as well. Most grand finals involve a prestigious award for the player voted best on field.

History

The Anglo-Norman term "grand" to describe a sporting event, documented in England as "grand match" in 1836, was used in Australia from the 1850s. A steeplechase in England has been called the "Grand National Steeple Chase" ("Grand National" alone for short) since at least 1839.

Use of the term in Australian Football dates back to the first organised and widely publicised match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College on August 7, 1858 at Yarra Park, Melbourne (formerly Richmond Park). The game was advertised as the "grand football match" in the Melbourne Morning Herald and several other local newspapers.

Broken Hill, New South Wales

Broken Hill is an isolated mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. The "BH" in the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton, refers to "Broken Hill" and its early operations in the city.

Broken Hill is located near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is 315 m (1,033 ft) above sea level, with a hot desert climate, an average rainfall of 235 mm (9 in). The closest major city is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, which is more than 500 km (311 mi) to the southwest.

Broken Hill has been referred to as "The Silver City", the "Oasis of the West", and the "Capital of the Outback". Although over 1,100 km (684 mi) west of Sydney and surrounded by semi-desert, the town has prominent park and garden displays and offers a number of attractions such as the Living Desert Sculptures.

Unlike the rest of New South Wales, Broken Hill (and the surrounding region) observes Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30), the same time zone used in South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is because at the time the Australian dominions adopted standard time, Broken Hill's only direct rail link was with Adelaide, not Sydney.