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, Sydney and New Zealand ]] The National Rugby League ('''NRL''') Telstra Premiership is one of the most popular sporting competitions in Australia and, in recent times, New Zealand , consisting of fifteen teams playing Rugby League football against each other. TEAMS HISTORY OF THE COMPETITION BEFORE THE NRL Although much structural re-organisation occurred 1995-1998, the NSWRL, ARL, Super League and the NRL are, by convention, considered to be a single continuous competition, from the first competition in 1908 to present. For example, the Brisbane Broncos have won five titles, two were in the NSWRL, one in Super League, and two in the present day NRL. Each of these premierships carry an equal status, and do not need to be qualified. Playing records, such as points scored, do not differentiate between the various incarnations of the top level competition. The NRL Trophy itself features a depiction of a famous photo , that of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons after the 1963 NSWRL Grand Final. 1908-94: The NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) Premiership began in 1908, and was made up of 8 Sydney-based teams and 1 team from Newcastle. The teams being: Other clubs that entered the NSWRL after 1908 are: 1995-97: ARL Premiership The Australian Rugby League took over control of the Winfield Cup in 1995. Due to Government laws prohibiting the Advertising Of Tobacco Products introduced in the 1990s , the competition was renamed the ARL Optus Cup for 1996 - 97 . It was played for by the 16 NSWRL teams that played in 1994 and four new clubs, being Canterbury won the 1995 Grand Final over Manly, Manly beat St. George in 1996 and Newcastle beat Manly in 1997. At the end of 1995 the Gold Coast Seagulls changed their name to the Gold Coast Chargers and moved from Tweed Heads to Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. 1997: Split Competition - Super League & ARL ''Main Article:'' Super League Super League was a breakaway competition that had its beginnings in 1995, but had its first and only season in 1997. It was made up of 10 teams based in four states , one territory and two countries ( Australia and New Zealand ), with Brisbane defeating Cronulla in the Grand Final at Brisbane 's ANZ Stadium . The clubs that played for the Telstra Cup in 1997, which included the newly created Hunter and Adelaide, were: The ARL continued to run in 1997, with the remaining 12 teams competing for the Optus Cup. THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE 1998: The beginning of the National Rugby League , 19-Mar-2005.]] With twenty-two teams playing in two competitions in 1997 crowd attendances and corporate sponsorships were spread very thinly, and many teams found themselves in financial difficulty. On September 23 , 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to control the competition in 1998 and invited Super League clubs to participate. On October 7 Rupert Murdoch announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998 and in the following months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL and News Limited, was formed. It was announced that the 1998 Season would have 20 teams competiting, 19 Super League/ARL teams and the Melbourne Storm , who were owned by News Limited. Clubs on both sides of the war were shut down. News decided to close the Hunter Mariners and the financially ruined Western Reds , who were $10million in debt at the end of 1997, while the ARL decided to close down the South Queensland Crushers , who were also in severe financial trouble. At the end of 1998 News Limited decided to close down the Adelaide Rams and the ARL closed down the Gold Coast Chargers , even though they were one of the few clubs to make a profit during the Super League war. 1999-2002: Rationalisation One condition of the peace agreement between the ARL and News Limited was that there would be a 14 team competition in 2000. The 20 clubs that played in 1998 would be assessed on various items such as sponsorship, crowds, on-field success and the like. It was also announced that clubs that merged would receive a large sum of money, as well as a guaranteed position in the 2000 NRL Competition. St. George were the first club to take up the offer, and they merged with the Illawarra Steelers at the end of 1998. Balmain and Western Suburbs formed the jointventure club, the Wests Tigers at the end of 1999, while North Sydney and Manly-Warringah merged to form the ill-fated Northern Eagles . Souths were controversially axed from the competition at the end of 1999 for failing to meet the criteria. This move was highly controversial and on 11 November 2001 80,000 marched in protest at their continued exclusion. South Sydney challenged the decision in the Federal Court claiming that the NRL agreement was exclusionary, intended to unfairly exclude South Sydney, and breached the Trade Practices Act. Justice Paul Finn ruled that the agreement did not specifically exclude any club and dismissed the Rabbitohs claims for re-instatement into the national competition. Souths appealed this decision and were re-admitted into the competition in 2002. In 2001, Australia's largest telecommunications provider Telstra became naming rights sponsor of the NRL, with the competition's name becoming the NRL Telstra Premiership, while in 2002 David Gallop took over the CEO role, and the competition has become more and more popular each season. 2003-2005: Record popularity The 2003 season was widely regarded as the most successful since the beginning of the National Rugby League in 1998. The Penrith Panthers rose from the bottom of the table to win the Premiership, while the Broncos returned to Lang Park mid-year. Season 2004 proved even more successful than 2003, with the North Queensland Cowboys going from 11th position in 2003 to 3rd in 2004, narrowly missing out on a maiden Grand Final berth. In 2005, the NRL reached record levels of popularity. Crowd average records were broken in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and from 2004 to 2005 there was a 39% increase in sponsorship, a 41% increase in merchandise royalties and a 12% increase in playing participation. [http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16448462%255E23214,00.html In 2005 Business Review Weekly ranked the NRL 497 in revenue of Australian private companies, with revenue of A$66.1m (+7%) with 35 employees. 2005: More legal action In 13 September 2005 , the Seven Network began proceedings in the Federal Court in Sydney naming 22 parties (including the NRL) in a conspiracy to shut down the C7 pay television station. {Link without Title} C7 had unsuccessfully bid $72,000,000 per annum for the right to broadcast the NRL competition on pay television. After News Limited re-signed these rights, C7 was left without a major sport to broadcast and subsequently ceased operation in March 2002. It is alleged that News Limited used its position as half-owner of the NRL to secure the rights. Jonathan Sumption, QC representing the Seven Network, has said :It is inconceivable that News would have been able to get away with this if it had not controlled one, half the NRL, two, the leading pay TV broadcaster and three, the largest cable network in Australia. {Link without Title} The case is being heard by Justice Ron Sackville. The Seven Network is seeking up to $1.1 billion in damages. Sumption also stated that: :Other alternative remedies (to stop Foxtel illegally acquiring sports) would be to make News and PBL divest Fox Sports or stop them buying AFL or NRL rights in a non competitive environment {Link without Title} 2006 Season See Also: 2006 NRL season The 2006 National Rugby League season kicked off on Friday, March 10th, between defending premiers Wests Tigers and early favourites St George Illawarra Dragons at Telstra Stadium . The rivalry for this season-opener was fierce, since St George Illawarra were the team Wests defeated in 2005 to gain entry to the Grand Final. In a complete turnaround to their disasterous 2005 campaign, the Newcastle Knights have recorded stunning results already, while the North Queensland Cowboys are currently premiership favourites, for the first time in the club's history. HOW THE NRL WORKS The draw The fifteen NRL teams play each other in a rotating roster that lasts for twenty-six ''rounds'', typically from the middle of March through to September. This is known as the ''regular season''. The teams are divided into three groups ("pools"), chosen by each teams finishing position after the conclusion of the regular season of the previous year. Using this method, for seasons 2002-2006, teams that finished 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th and 13th are in Pool 1, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th and 14th make up Pool 2 while 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th and 15th are in Pool 3.Each team plays the other teams within their group once (4 games), and the teams outside their group twice (20 games), for a total of 24 games and 2 byes. This system has varied from year to year since 1988, due to changes in the number of teams participating. Indeed, in 2007 with the inclusion of Gold Coast, this will inevitably change again, although it is not yet known how this will be arranged. The rounds There is one round every weekend. Currently, seven games occur in each round, usually on Friday night (7:30pm local time), Saturday (5:30 pm and two games at 7:30pm local time) and Sunday (2:30pm and two games at 3:00pm local time) during the regular season, with one team receiving the bye. However, for two rounds during the season, three teams have the bye in the same round, at State Of Origin time. Players involved in Origin games (held mid-week) cannot participate in club matches on the weekend before, in order to partially address the disadvantage this creates, teams who have supplied the bulk of players to the State of Origin series in the previous season will receive a bye at this time. This will change with the inclusion of the Gold Coast in 2007. As part of the television broadcasting agreement, which applies to the 2007-2011 seasons, there will be two matches on Friday nights, three matches on Saturday nights, two matches on Sunday afternoons, and one match on Monday nights. The arrangements with regards to byes are not yet known. 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. Finals series Currently the NRL is using the McIntyre Final Eight System , this has also varied over the years {Link without Title} . 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. In the first week, the top four seeds play at their respective home grounds. From Week Two onwards, all final matches are scheduled to be played in Sydney; however, some matches have been moved in special circumstances, to some controversy. The top two then play in the Grand Final , which currently takes place in Sydney on the first Sunday of October. 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. NRL PREMIERS Previous premiers: Premiers Under The NSWRL/ARL Banner Premiers Under The Super League Banner Total Premiership Tallies SEE ALSO
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