Central Highlands Rugby League

Central Highlands Rugby League
Current season or competition:
2013 Central Highlands Rugby League season
Sport Rugby league football
Ceased 2005
Number of teams 13
Country Central Highlands, Victoria, Australia
Premiers Wendouree Raiders (2012)
Related competition Melbourne Rugby League
Central Highlands Rugby League
copyright 2005 SVAA

The Central Highlands Rugby League (CHRL) is a Rugby League competition District in the Australian state of Victoria. It covers the area of Victoria centered around Ballarat and Ararat, as far north as Creswick, Warrnambool in the south west, Bacchus Marsh in the east, and Horsham in the west.

History

The CHRL District was established and registered with the ARL and VRL in 2005 by founder Ken James (previously Club Manager of MRL team 'Ballarat Highlanders Rugby League Club') after a necessity arose to start a competition in the western region of Victoria separate from the Melbourne Rugby League (MRL) District.

The CHRL competition started with two junior age levels but in 2008 due to the 11-year drought finally taking its toll on Central Victoria the council deemed the sports grounds used in the competition too dangerous for use. This temporarily ended competition for the CHRL (and some clubs in other sports too). After another 2 years of the fields not being used the councils re-allocated the fields to other purposes, ending the ability for clubs in the CHRL to continue until new home grounds are established.

Past Clubs in CHRL

Club Suburb Ground
Ararat Cowboys Ararat
Ballarat Dragons Ballarat Doug Dean Reserve
Wendouree Raiders Wendouree Doug Dean Reserve

Extended competition

The CHRL also hosted matches in Ballarat between combined CHRL teams made up of players from both Balarat Dragons and Ararat Cowboys against Altona Roosters and Sunbury Cougars, both from the MRL District, which expanded the experience of players at district representative level.

Current

Now that the Victorian drought is officially over, the CHRL is getting ready to resume competition and establishing a senior level competition to start in the 2013 or 2014 season. The Ararat Kings, Stawell Devils, and Ballarat Dragons are possibilities of having senior grade teams with others showing interest in setting up teams in Warrnambool, Mortlake and possibly other towns.

External links