One of the most competent governing bodies in the world of sports, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) was formed in 1924 in the month of December. The main aim in the establishment of the League was to have an official board to administer the running of the national rugby team of Australia.
The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) are the two members who constitute the Australian Rugby League. The New South Wales Rugby League was in charge of the Australian Rugby League until 1984 and this made the Queenslanders believe that they were being denied a fair chance at the national level. But in 1995, the control of the Winfield Cup competition was taken over by the Australian Rugby League from the New South Wales Rugby League as teams from Perth, Auckland and Townsville were included. The Australian Rugby League held the Australian Rugby League competition in 1997 inspiring the creation of a rival competition called Super League (Australia) by the News Limited. The two competitions ran parallel in 1997 to merge the next year to form the National Rugby League.
The Australian Rugby League and the National Rugby League have established a non-profit organization called the ARL Foundation which has taken up the responsibility of developing the game of rugby from an introductory level to the age of 18 years. A number of new modified codes have been developed for this which initially restrict the international rugby rules and then gradually release the restrictions to help the players move into the international level through a specific process.
The two introductory modified codes are the mini footy and the mod league. The steps taken in these two stages include smaller size of the fields, three halves of less time each ion place of two halves and others. On completion of the latter, a player moves on to full international rugby league laws.
Apart from its two members, the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League, the Australian Rugby League also has five affiliated states- Northern Territory Rugby League, South Australian Rugby League, Western Australia Rugby League, Victorian Rugby League and Tasmanian Rugby League. The Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League, Australian Universities Rugby League, School Sports Australia, Australian Police Rugby League and Australian Women's Rugby League are the affiliated leagues of the Australian Rugby League.
It has been success story all the way for the national rugby team of Australia. They have been World Champions a record nine times and triumphant in the Rugby League Tri-Nations three times in the four times the tournament was held. The Australian Rugby League would surely try its best to continue the run of success and emerge as one of the superpowers in the world of rugby.
