User:Mdmanser/Sandbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mdmanser/Sandbox | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | Rugby League |
| Founded | 1998 |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Country |  Australia New Zealand |
| Current champions | Brisbane Broncos |
| Official website | NRL.com |
The National Rugby League (often referred to as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is a competition for rugby league clubs in Australia and New Zealand, and is Australia's primary rugby league competition. It is the world's most attended rugby league competition and often considered the most competitive.
The National Rugby League was formed in 1998 following the merging of the Australian Rugby League and Super League competitions, and is currently contested by sixteen clubs. In a total of nine seasons, the title has been won by seven teams: Brisbane Broncos, Canterbury Bulldogs, Melbourne Storm, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers. Of these, the most successful is Brisbane Broncos, who have won the title three times and only team to have won the title more than once. They are also the current National Rugby League, who won the title in the 2006 season.
Contents |
[edit] History
| Season | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Brisbane Broncos |
| 2005 | Wests Tigers |
| 2004 | Bulldogs |
| 2003 | Penrith Panthers |
| 2002 | Sydney Roosters |
| 2001 | Newcastle Knights |
| 2000 | Brisbane Broncos |
| 1999 | Melbourne Storm |
| 1998 | Brisbane Broncos |
[edit] Origins
- For more details on this topic, see History of the National Rugby League
The 1980s brought about much expansion to the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, with new teams Canberra and Illawarra being introduced into the compeition in 1982. Although this move brought out 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. Following the 1983 season, foundation club Newtown Jets were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competiton because of financial difficulties. In 1988, another three teams were introduced in the competition, including the Newcastle Knights and two Queensland teams Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. These new teams proved to be much more successful both financially and in popularity than their traditional counterparts and paved the way towards a push for a more nationalised game.
[edit] Structure
[edit] Competition format and sponsorship
[edit] Competition
There are currently sixteen clubs in the National Rugby League. Teams are divided into two equal pools of eight at the completition of each season, with each pool of equal strength based on that season's results. During the course of the regular season (which lasts from March to August) each club plays a total of two games against teams in the opposite pool, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents for a total of 16 games for each club. Teams play six of those seven others in their own group just once during the season, and play the remaining club twice. In total, each team plays 24 games in the 25-week regular season and a total of 192 games in a National Rugby League season. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then points difference and then points percentage. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is declared minor premiers.
[edit] Qualification for finals series
The eight highest placed teams then contest the finals series, which is contested using the McIntyre System. This has been for every National Rugby League season with the exception of 1998.[1]. This system consists of a number of knockout and sudden-death games over four weeks between the top eight teams in August and September until there are only two teams remaining. These two teams then play in the Grand Final, on the first Sunday of October. In the first week, the top four seeds play at their respective home grounds. From week two onwards, all finals matches are scheduled to be played in Sydney, either at Aussie Stadium or Telstra Stadium.
In 1998 the Grand Final was held at Sydney Football Stadium. Since 1999 the Grand Final has been contested at Telstra Stadium, the primary athletics venue during the 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney. In June 2006, the NRL announced that the National Rugby League Grand Final will continue to be held at Sydney's Telstra Stadium until at least 2012, when it will be considered to be moved interstate if certain circumstances arose.[2]
[edit] Sponsorship
Since 2001, the National Rugby League has been sponsored by Telstra. In the years beforehand, the premiership was simply known as the "National Rugby League". The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:
- 1998–2000: National Rugby League
- 2001–2007: Telstra (NRL Telstra Premiership)
[edit] How the NRL works
[edit] The draw
Prior to 1988 (where 14 teams or less have competed), each team played the others, once at home and once away. However, since then the system used to produce the draw and number of rounds to be played has varied from year to year, due to changes in the number of teams participating.
In 2007, the sixteen NRL teams will play each other in a rotating roster that lasts for twenty-five rounds, each round having eight games, from the middle of March through to September. This is known as the regular season.
The sixteen teams are divided into two pools. as follows:
Pool A: Storm, Knights, Sea Eagles, Eels, Cowboys, Panthers, Sharks, Titans.
Pool B: Bulldogs, Broncos, Dragons, Raiders, Warriors, Tigers, Roosters, Rabbitohs.
Teams in different pools play each other twice (16 games) and teams in their pool once (7 games), with an additional game against a team within their own pool, for 24 games.
[edit] The rounds
There is one round every weekend, consisting of eight games. Two games are played on Friday night (7:30 p.m. local time), three on Saturday (5:30 p.m. and two at 7:30 p.m. local time), two on Sunday (2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. local time), and one on Monday (7.00 p.m.)
Four rounds (6, 10, 13 and 16) have six games, with four teams receiving a bye. This serves to lighten the playing load during the representative season.
[edit] Points and ladder
The winner of each game per round is awarded two points on the League Ladder. The team with the bye is also awarded two points automatically. If a game is drawn between the two teams, each team is awarded one point each. (However, drawn matches are first subject to the golden point process, introduced in 2003.).
At the end of the regular season, the eight teams with the highest point totals on the ladder qualify for the finals. In the event of two or more teams sharing the same competition points, the finishing order is decided by points differential i.e. points scored during games minus points conceded.
Prior to 1995, however, a team could not be excluded from the finals system by points differential alone, in these cases, a mid-week playoff (or, if required, series of playoffs, such as in 1960) was held to determine the finalists.
[edit] Finals series
Currently the NRL is using the McIntyre Final Eight System, this has also varied over the years [3]. This consists of a number of knockout and sudden-death games over four weeks between the top eight teams in August and September until there are only two teams remaining. These two teams then play in the Grand Final, on the first Sunday of October.
In the first week, the top four seeds play at their respective home grounds. From week two onwards, all finals matches are scheduled to be played in Sydney, either at Aussie Stadium or Telstra Stadium. (although more recently, the NRL has taken steps to facilitate some matches being played outside Sydney).
Since 1999 the Grand Final has been contested at Telstra Stadium, the primary athletics venue during the 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney. From 1988 to 1998 the Grand Final was held at Sydney Football Stadium, and until 1987 was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground for around eighty years.
The NRL announced in June 2006 that the National Rugby League Grand Final will continue to be held at Sydney's Telstra Stadium until at least 2012, when it will be considered to be moved interstate if certain circumstances arose.[4]
[edit] Salary Cap
The National Rugby League adopted a salary cap based on the Australian Football League model in the early 1990s. In the NRL, clubs found to have breached the salary cap rules usually incur a fine. 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.
However in mid-2002, the Bulldogs were found guilty of serious and systemic breaches. In addition to a more substantial fine, they were stripped of their competition points accumulated to that date, and hence denied a place in the finals. As the club had been leading the competition table prior to the penalty's imposition, this was a shattering outcome for the club and its fans. Furthermore, in the 2006 pre-season the New Zealand Warriors revealed that their former management had rorted the salary cap in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. As a punishment the club was stripped of four competition points for 2006 and fined 430,000 Australian dollars. They also must play 2007 under a reduced salary cap.
[edit] National Rugby League clubs
[edit] Current National Rugby League members
The following twenty clubs will compete in the FA Premier League during the 2006-07 season.
| Club |
Finishing position in 2006 |
First season in top division |
First season of current spell in top division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Broncos [5][6] | 1st | 1988 | 1988 |
| Bulldogs [5][6] | 4th | 1935 | 1935 |
| Canberra Raiders [6] | 6th | 1982 | 1982 |
| Cronulla Sharks | 13th | 1967 | 1967 |
| Gold Coast Titans | DNP | 2007 | 2007 |
| Manly-Warringhah Sea Eagles | 5th | 1947 | 2003 |
| Melbourne Storm [5][6] | 2nd | 1998 | 1998 |
| New Zealand Warriors [5][6] | 10th | 1995 | 1995 |
| Newcastle Knights | 5th | 1988 | 1988 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 9th | 1995 | 1995 |
| Parramatta Eels [5][6] | 3rd | 1947 | 1947 |
| Penrith Panthers [6] | 12th | 1967 | 1967 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons [5][6] | 3rd | 1999 | 1999 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 15th | 1908 | 2002 |
| Sydney Roosters [6] | 14th | 1908 | 1908 |
| Wests Tigers | 11th | 2000 | 2000 |
[edit] Former National Rugby League members
A total of twenty-three clubs have played in the National Rugby League between 1998 and 2006. For a list of all clubs past and present see National Rugby League Teams.
Eleven clubs have been members of the National Rugby league for every season (9) since its inception. This group includes Brisbane, Bulldogs, Canberra, Cronulla, Melbourne, New Zealand, Newcastle, North Queensland, Parramatta, Penrith and Sydney.
[edit] See also
- Australian Rugby League
- New South Wales Rugby League
- Super League (Australia)
- World Club Challenge
- 2005 NRL Finals Series
- 2002 NRL Finals Series
- NRL records
- Team Performances
- Sports league attendances
- Dally M Medal for best and fairest
[edit] External links
- National Rugby League
- Australian Rugby League
- Complete NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL Stats
- FOX Sports Australia Rugby League Section
- NRL Club Criteria]
[edit] References
| Rugby League in Oceania |
|---|
|
Competitions |
|
National teams |
|
Federation Links |
