National Rugby League Australia: Amongst the topmost played team sport in Australia, besides cricket and hockey, the sport of rugby league football is also popular. Since its origin in England, dating back to 1823, this full-contact team sport has evolved and grown in Australia since its split from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in 1907.
Following Northern Union rules, Rugby League was created, which has established itself as a popular recreational sport, played at both international and domestic levels, in Australia and around the world.
The National Rugby League Australia is a major professional competition for the sport of rugby league played in Australia and New Zealand. Also known through its sponsors as the ‘Telstra Premiership' since 2001, it is famous worldwide and is the most competitive event being Australia's ‘premier' rugby league competition.
The National Rugby League Australia was founded in 1998, which was jointly owned by the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Limited. It saw the merger of the ARL and the Super league competitions, with numerous clubs joining the fray or some even being shut down due to financial crunches. A Partnership Committee formed manages the operations and administration, as well as organizes the draws and finals of the premiership matches, while the clubs follow through with their individual organizational structure. Besides playing in the NRL, players are also entitled to participate in representative matches. The NRL also adopted a ‘salary cap' system amongst the participating clubs, where they can be fined monetarily for breaches caused to the system.
The results of the team's regular matches (from March to August) for a season involve 24 total matchups amongst the pool and group stages, which lead to the qualifiers for the finals (from August to September) where eight highest ranked teams vie against each other in knock-out and sudden-death following the ‘McIntyre playoff system'. The grand final for this event is held in October.
The venue for the grand final has always been spectacular. For the finals of the 1998 inaugural event the Sydney Football Stadium was selected. However, since 1999 onwards, the Telstra Stadium in Sydney (also the venue of the 2000 Olympics game) has been the prized location.
There are at present 16 clubs that will participate in the 2007 National Rugby League season and are listed below as:
- Brisbane Broncos
- Canterbury Bulldogs
- Canberra Raiders
- Cronulla Sharks
- Gold Coast Titans
- Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
- Melbourne Storm
- New Zealand Warriors
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- Newcastle Knights
- North Queensland Cowboys
- Parramatta Eels
- Penrith Panthers
- St George Illawarra Dragons
- South Sydney Rabbitohs
- Sydney Roosters
- Wests Tigers
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The current champions of the National Rugby League are the Brisbane Broncos. They hold the record for being the most successful until now and the only team to win the title thrice, including the 1998 inaugural event. Hazem El Masri playing for the Canterbury Bulldogs is the leading scorer of this event since 1998 with an amazing 1754 points.
Such is the popularity of the National Rugby League Australia that this event receives top media coverage, being covered by major television networks such as Foxtel and Channel 9 and broadcast across the globe. It has promoted the growth for the sport of rugby league immensely, also inspiring fans and players alike, throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as all over the world, cheering on their beloved team to become champions.
