NRL-The National Rugby League

<-----------------Knight's Shrine Entrance

The NRL is Australia's Rugby League code and contains fourteen teams all competing for the honour of being premiers. Australia is the world's most powerful Rugby League Nation with only New Zealand holding a candle to the Australia game. The upcoming World Cup should prove Australia's dominance over the sport but I expect to see teams such as Ireland, New Zealand, New Zealand Maoris and Lebanon to make a strong charge.

A Brief History of the Game

The NSWRL (New South Wales Rugby League) was started by 'rebel' Rugby Union executives and players who were not satisfied with the quality of medical care and conditions in the Rugby Union. It was in 1908 that the innaugaral NSWRL season began with North Sydney, South Sydney, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs, Balmain, Newcastle, Glebe and Cumberland all competing in the first season. The game continued to expand for decades with the addition of strong clubs including:Canterbury, Parramatta, St George, Newtown, Penrith and Cronulla. These teams came in gradually over the period between 1908 and the late 80s. St George holds the remarkable record of capturing the NSWRL premiership eleven times in a row. The record for most premierships is with the now defunct South Sydney Rabbitohs. Over the years developments to the game have changed it from a new Rugby code to a game of its own. Limited tackles, a compulsory Grand Final and the change of the scoring system. The eighties brought about the greatest change to the NSWRL when it included four non-Sydney teams and became the ARL (Australian Rugby League). Newcastle rejoined after leaving the NSWRL in its early years to pursue its own league. The Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Giants also joined following in the footsteps of Canberra who had joined earlier. Of the three 1988 teams (Brisbane, Newcastle and Gold Coast) Brisbane did the best, missing the finals by a few points..

The game continued to thrive and in 1995 began a massive expansion with the addition of the Western Reds, South Queensland Crushers, Auckland Warriors and North Queensland Cowboys. For the first two seasons of this new expanded competition everything was going well. In 1996 twenty teams were competing for the title and it was Manly who captured it against a gutsy St George side. But at the end of the 1996 season disaster struck the ARL. Rupert Murdoch purchased a number of teams and offered huge contracts to join his new 'Superleague'. The ARL was all but destroyed except for the loyalty of its foundation clubs and other clubs. What had been a proud twenty team competition was reduced to twelve low-rank teams competing. In fact, the only premiership winning side in the last decade to stay loyal was the Manly Sea Eagles. Other winners such as Canterbury, Brisbane, Canberra and Penrith were lured into the Superleague by big contracts. The ten teams competing in 1997 were Manly Sea Eagles, Newcastle Knights, Gold Coast Chargers, South Queensland Crushers, Illawarra Steelers, North Sydney Bears, Sydney City Roosters, Western Suburbs Magpies, South Sydney Rabbitohs, St George Dragons, Parramatta Eels and Balmain Tigers.

In the Superleague Rupert Murdoch formed two new teams known as the Melbourne Storm and the Hunter Mariners. In the ARL season it was the working class Newcastle Knights who upset the Manly Sea Eagles in the dying seconds to bring gold to Newcastle for the first time. In the Superleague Grand Final the Brisbane Broncos aboslutely crushed the Cronulla Sharks.

A court ruling at the end of 1997 made it impossible for another Rugby League code other than the ARL to run and forced the two codes to merge together again. South Queensland were forced out of the competition when Brisbane re-entered and the Western Reds were cut but otherwise it was business as usual. For the first time in Rugby League history there were two reigning premiers fighting to keep the title. The year was a success on many levels, with the games being close and the season closer. In the end it came down to fairytale finalists Canterbury and the Brisbane Broncos who recorded the second biggest Grand Final win of 38-12 over the Bulldogs. In 1999 it was decided that the NRL should become a fourteen team competition. Criteria were published as Gold Coast and Adelaide faded from the competition. The powerful St George Dragons merged with the Illawarra Steelers to form the St George/Illawarra Dragons and then there were 17 teams. The season was another thriller with the three year old Melbourne Storm clashing with the newly formed St George/Illawarra Dragons in front of a world record crowd. The Dragons made a perfect start before surrendering the biggest ever half-time lead to fall to Melbourne. The end of 99 saw more cuts and changes. The Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers (both foundation clubs) were forced to merge into the Wests Tigers, North Sydney and the Manly side became the Northern Eagles and foundation club South Sydney were cut. 2000 was a season of controversy as the referees and administration came under fire. The battle was the closest season ever and everyone tipped a Newcastle vs Brisbane final after the two teams had played so well all season. Sydney City made a late charge however and in a spiriting game downed the Knighst to book their first Grand Final in twenty years. The Grand Final was arguably one of the dullest on record and the Roosters went down 14-6.

The Current Teams

Newcastle Knights

Auckland Warriors

Brisbane Broncos

Melbourne Storm

Sydney Roosters

Parramatta Eels

Penrith Panthers

Canberra Raiders

Canterbury Bulldogs

Wests Tigers

North Queensland Cowboys

St George/Illawarra Dragons

Northern Eagles

Cronulla Sharks

According to the NRL they will eventually expand the game to become a more 'national' league with the return of Western Reds (Perth) and Adelaide Rams. If Souths win their court case then the NRL will be forced to include another team eventually to make up numbers.

International and Interstate Results

NSW-20 def Queensland-16

NSW-28 def Queensland-10

NSW-52 def Queensland-16

Australia-52 def New Zealand-0

South Sydney-82 def USA-12

South Sydney-42 def Lebanon-24

World Cup 2000 Results

Australia-22 def England-2

Tonga-66 def South Africa-18

Papua New Guinea-23 def France-20

Ireland-30 def Samoa-16

2000 Final Series

Canberra-34 def Penrith-16-Qualifying Final

Newcastle-30 def Melbourne-16-Qualifying Final

Parramatta-32 def Sydney-8-Qualifying Final

Brisbane-34 def Cronulla-20-Qualifying Final

Sydney-38 def Canberra-10-Minor Semi

Parramatta-28 def Penrith-10-Minor Semi

Sydney-26 def Newcastle-20-Major Semi

Brisbane-16 def Parramatta-16-Major Semi

Brisbane-14 def Sydney-6-Grand Final

2001

The full 2001 draw can be downloaded at www.nrl.com.au