User:Bongomanrae/NRL

The National Rugby League (NRL) is the highest level of professional rugby league football in Australia, and is widely considered the preeminent professional rugby league football competition in the world.

The NRL traces its origins to 1908 when nine clubs created the New South Wales Rugby Football League in Sydney, Australia. Today it consists of sixteen clubs, fifteen from Australia and one from New Zealand. It is regarded as the world's elite rugby league championship and, per season, is the single most viewed and attended rugby football competition in the world.

NRL matches are played over twenty-six regular season and four finals series rounds throughout Australia and New Zealand from autumn, through winter until spring. The season culminates in the premiership-deciding game, the Grand Final, traditionally one of Australia's most popular sporting events and one of the largest attended club championship events in the world. The National Rugby League is governed by the Australian Rugby Football League (ARL).

The clubs of the National Rugby League
The NRL consists of sixteen clubs, fifteen in Australia and one in New Zealand. The majority of clubs come from the eastern states of Australia, reflecting the population distribution in Australia generally and also that the origins of Australian rugby league football began in Sydney. The league operates on a single group system, with no divisions or conferences and no relegation and promotion from other leagues.

All but four clubs (the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Gold Coast Titans, New Zealand Warriors and the North Queensland Cowboys) have won the premiership. For a complete list of all teams no longer competing in the NRL see here

Premiership winners
Note – Melbourne Storm were stripped of their 2007, 2009 premiership titles and their 2006, 2007, 2008 minor premiership titles due to their 2010 salary cap breaches. Although they have been stripped, the NRL does not wish to make the second placed team the premiers/minor premiers.

Origins
The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) ran the major rugby league competition of New South Wales from its inception in 1908 until 1994, by which time its powers had expanded to run the code nationally. Following the introduction of a new format for interstate rugby league, State of Origin in 1980, the decade of the 1980s brought about expansion of the NSWRL premiership, with the introduction of commercial sponsorship, the Winfield Cup, and the addition of non-Sydney-based teams, Canberra and Illawarra in 1982. Although this move brought 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 as well as the Brisbane Rugby League premiership. Following the 1983 season, foundation club Newtown Jets were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competition because of financial difficulties.

Further expansion of the league followed in 1988, with another three teams based outside Sydney introduced to the competition; the Newcastle Knights and the first two Queensland teams, the Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. The Brisbane and Newcastle sides proved to be successful and popular and paved the way towards a push for a truly national competition. This was undertaken in 1995 with control of the premiership passing from the NSWRFL to the Australian Rugby League (ARL), who invited four more teams from outside NSW to participate in 1995.

Establishment


The prospect of a truly national rugby league competition in addition to the introduction of pay television in Australia attracted the attention of global media organisation, News Corporation, and it followed that professional rugby league was shaken to its very foundations in the mid-1990s with the advent of the Super League war. Initially a conflict over broadcasting rights, it became a dispute as to who controlled the sport, as News Limited formed their own Super League and admitted some former ARL clubs, poaching players from the original ARL league with high salaries. With twenty-two teams of highly varying quality playing in two competitions that year, crowd attendances and corporate sponsorships were spread very thinly, and many teams found themselves in financial difficulty. The ARL undertook moves to invite the traditional clubs that had moved to the Super League competition back into a re-unified competition. Following a period of negotiation with News Corporation, on 23 September 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to conduct the competition in 1998. On 7 October News' Rupert Murdoch announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998. On 19 December, representatives of clubs affiliated with the Australian Rugby League gathered at the Sydney Football Stadium to decide whether to accept News Limited's offer of a settlement – eventually voting in favour by 36 votes to 4. As a result, in the following months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL and News Limited, was formed.

It was announced that the inaugural National Rugby League (NRL) season of 1998 would have 20 teams competing, 19 remaining Super League and ARL teams plus the Melbourne Storm, who were created by Super League for their 1998 season. Clubs on both sides of the war were shut down. Super League decided to close the Hunter Mariners and the financially ruined Perth Reds, who were $10 million 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. Additionally, at the end of 1998 the NRL decided to close down former Super League club, the Adelaide Rams and former ARL club, the Gold Coast Chargers, despite the Gold Coast franchise being one of the few clubs to make a profit during the Super League war.

1998–2002: 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. The St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers were the first clubs to take up the offer, forming the joint-venture St. George Illawarra Dragons at the end of the 1998 season.

The 1999 NRL Grand Final brought about a new official world record attendance for a game of rugby league. 107,999 spectators saw the Melbourne Storm defeat the newly-created St. George Illawarra Dragons in the decider at Stadium Australia.

Balmain and Western Suburbs formed the joint-venture club, the Wests Tigers at the end of 1999, while North Sydney and Manly-Warringah created the ill-fated Northern Eagles. As part of another image makeover, a number of teams also released new club logos. The most notable of these was the Sydney Roosters, dropping the City section of their name for the 2000 season and beyond. 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 12 November 2000 approximately 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.

The Auckland Warriors experienced much financial hardship in the early part of the decade, ultimately collapsing before being resurrected as the New Zealand Warriors for the 2001 season. They made the Grand Final 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 from David Moffett, and the competition has become more and more popular each season.

In 2001 the NRL Grand Final started to be played on Sunday nights, a shift from the traditional Sunday afternoon slot used for over a decade prior.

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 Suncorp Stadium 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.

Crowd average records were broken in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2005, the NRL reached record levels of popularity for its competition. Total crowds for the competition season almost reached the figures for the last year of the competition conducted by the ARL competition of 1995, prior to the Super League war. The average attendance record remained until 2010. From 2004 to 2005, there was a 39% increase in sponsorship, a 41% increase in merchandise royalties, and a 12% increase in playing participation. 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. In 2004, Canterbury-Bankstown put a year of turmoil and disgrace at the aftermath of the alleged Rape Scandal to hold aloft the NRL trophy and give the Bulldogs their first premiership since 1995. In 2005, a record national audience of 4.1 million tuned in to watch the grand final between the Wests Tigers and the North Queensland Cowboys.

2006: A unique year
The 2006 National Rugby League season kicked off on Friday, 10 March, between defending premiers Wests Tigers and early favourites St. George Illawarra Dragons at Telstra Stadium.

Melbourne, after leading the competition for most of the season, comfortably claimed the minor premiership, with the Bulldogs, Brisbane, and Newcastle making up the top four. Manly, St George Illawarra, Canberra and Parramatta took places five to eight.

The 2006 NRL Grand Final won by the Brisbane Broncos over the Melbourne Storm, 15–8. The matchup was a significant milestone in the history of the NRL, as two interstate teams (teams not from New South Wales, the "heartland" of the NRL) contested the grand final for the first time ever.

The game itself once again enjoyed immense support, with more record TV ratings, particularly capturing Melbourne on Grand Final night. Crowds were down on 2005, however were better than any other year prior to that.

2007: Further expansion
In its tenth season the NRL returned to having a club based on the Gold Coast, Queensland with the inclusion of the Gold Coast Titans. The Titans were the first professional sporting team to occupy the Gold Coast since 1998, when the Gold Coast Chargers were one of the teams removed during the NRL's rationalisation process between the end of the Super League war and the 2000 season.

The 2007 NRL season kicked off on Friday 16 March 2007 with eight games each round. 2007 also saw the return of Monday Night Football and the inclusion of two Friday night games. Both of which turned out to be ratings successes. Another change from the previous seasons was a reduction in the number of byes per team in the season. With an odd number of teams contesting between 2002 and 2006, the draw meant that at least one team would have to have a bye each weekend. With the inclusion of the 16th team for the 2007 season, the National Rugby League had the option of reverting to back to the system used between 2000 and 2001 where every team played each round. That system was not used however, with teams were given just a single bye during the year, grouped in periods that will assist clubs around representative fixtures.

The opening round saw two matches at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, the first featuring reigning champions Brisbane against fellow Queensland side North Queensland, while the second match featured the new club, the Gold Coast playing St George Illawarra. The weather during the middle of the season was less than ideal, with cyclonic conditions severely affecting many NRL games played in Sydney and Newcastle.

The finals series was contested over a period of four weeks and saw the newly privatised South Sydney Rabbitohs return to finals football for the first time in decades. The season culminated with the NRL Grand Final on Sunday 30 September 2007 contested between a resurgent Manly and a Melbourne team looking for redemption from last year's Grand Final loss. Melbourne ran out convincing winners with a 34–8 scoreline and the Grand Final achieved the honour of being the most watched television show in Australia in 2007.

2008: The Centenary
Throughout 2008, the NRL celebrated 100 years since Rugby League was introduced into Australia, with several initiatives to recognise the important milestone, including an extensive marketing campaign called the 'Centenary of Rugby League'. The competition began in March, with a special Heritage round held in mid-April, coinciding with the first round of competition played in 1908.

At a Gala event on 17 April 2008 the Team of the Century was announced, being:


 * Full-back: Clive Churchill
 * Wingers: Ken Irvine, Brian Bevan
 * Centres: Reg Gasnier, Mal Meninga
 * Five-eighth: Wally Lewis
 * Half-back: Andrew Johns
 * Lock: John Raper
 * Second Row: Norm Provan, Ron Coote
 * Props: Arthur Beetson, Duncan Hall
 * Hooker: Noel Kelly
 * Reserves: Graeme Langlands, Dally Messenger, Bob Fulton, Frank Burge
 * Coach: Jack Gibson.

For the second year in a row, the Grand Final was played between the Melbourne Storm and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, in the NRL's first ever twilight decider. The Sea Eagles took out the premiership game 40–0, setting the record for the highest winning margin in a Grand Final match (although the club formerly known as St George Dragons were beaten 38–0 in 1975 and using the modern point scale of 4-point tries, this would amount to 44–0.) Furthermore, it was the first time a team had been kept scoreless in a Grand Final since 1978.

2009–2010: The second century begins
After the centenary celebrations of 2008, the 2009 season marks the second century of rugby league competition in Australia. The Grand Final that year was played between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm at the ANZ Stadium; Melbourne defeated Parramatta 23 – 16 to make it two premierships out of the last four grand finals for the Storm. The Storm were stripped of these premierships on 22 April 2010 due to gross long-term salary cap breaches between 2006 and 2010 (read more below, Major breaches of the salary cap).

In 2010 the Inaugural All Stars Match was held on 13 February, in conjunction with the Sorry Day reconciliation anniversary in order to promote Rugby League's long association and involvement with the Aboriginal community. The first match saw the Indigenous All Stars beat the NRL All Stars 16–12. The success of this event has seen it become a permanent fixture on the Rugby League calendar with Queensland awarded the hosting rights for the next three years.

The 29th State of Origin series was also played featuring the world's first live free-to-air 3D TV broadcast. Queensland later made further history by winning an unprecedented fifth series in a row, and winning the 2010 series by a scoreline of 3–0, their first Origin whitewash in a decade.

In October 2010 it was announced that the NRL set a record total season average attendance of 17,367 per game and a record total season aggregate attendance of 3,490,778.

During the 2010 finals series, the second qualifying match between the Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters became the first McIntyre System final to go into extra time, with the One Hundred Minute Epic described in media circles as one of the greatest of the modern era.

The 2010 Grand Final was played between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters. The Dragons won 32–8. This is the first premiership won by the club in its eleven year existence.

2010–2012: Establishment of the ARLC
After several years of preparation and build up, on 14 December 2010 the Australian Rugby League and News Corporation finally agreed upon a constitutional framework paving the way for the establishment of a new and independent commission to govern the sport in Australia. However, the negotiations of such a framework became drawn out over establishing details, primarily of sponsorship, media rights, funding of state bodies, funding of the Melbourne Storm, debate over News Ltd private ownership of clubs, and also of individual appointments to the new body.

On 10 February 2012, the Rugby League independent commission, known as the Australian Rugby League Commission assumed control of all levels of the game, replacing former state based boards and assuming full control of the NRL from the NRL partnership (comprising the previous ARL board and News Limited).

Season structure
The premiership season usually begins in early March following a brief series of trial matches. It ends in October with the Grand Final.

Teams receive two competition points for a win and a bye, and one point for a draw and no points for a loss. Teams on the ladder are ranked by competition points, then match points differential (for and against) and points percentage are used to separate teams with equal competition points. At the end of the regular season, the club which is ranked highest on the ladder is declared minor premiers and receives the J. J. Giltinan Shield.

The premiers also play in the World Club Challenge in the following pre-season against the champions of the European Super League competition.

Preseason
The preseason usually occurs during February and March, with NRL clubs organising trial games against other NRL clubs and sometimes against non-NRL clubs. The matches are typically played at non-traditional venues or regional areas that would normally not be able to host a full NRL match. Each preseason the Charity Shield is played for between the South Sydney and St. George Illawarra.

The World Club Challenge
In February the reigning premiers travel to the United Kingdom to play the premiers of the Super League competition in a one-off match called the World Club Challenge and the winner is crowned World Club Champion. The first match of its kind was played in 1976 but it did not become a regular part of the international rugby league calendar until the late 1980s. The last Australian club to win this title was St George Illawarra who defeated Wigan in 2011.

Premiership season
The premiership season begins in March and consists of twenty-six rounds which run each week until September. During the season each club will receive two byes, usually allocated during the mid-season representative schedule to lesson player burnout. In most rounds, two matches are played on Friday night, three on Saturday afternoon/night, two on Sunday afternoon and one on Monday night. Special themed weeks include Heritage Round, Women in League Round and Rivalry Round.

Separate trophies between rival teams are also presented throughout the season, such as the Ron Coote Cup between the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs, Jack Gibson Cup between Parramatta Eels and the Sydney Roosters, the 1989 League Legends Cup between Wests Tigers and Canberra Raiders and the Bandage Bear Cup between the Canterbury Bulldogs and Parramatta Eels.

Finals series
The eight highest placed teams at the end of the regular season compete in the finals series, which is contested using the McIntyre System. The McIntyre System consists of a number of games between the eight teams over four weeks in August and September, until only two teams remain. These two teams then contest the Grand Final, which is usually played on the first Sunday of October.

Previously, the McIntyre Final Eight System was used between 1998 and 2011.

Grand final
The NRL Grand Final determines the season's premiers and is one of Australia's major sporting events. The game itself is usually preceded by an opening ceremony featuring entertainment from well-known Australian and international musical acts. The Prime Minister of Australia is also usually on hand for the trophy-presenting ceremony.

Since 1999, it has been contested at Stadium Australia, which was the primary athletics venue for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia, the Grand Final broke the world record for attendance at a rugby league game.

Grand Final traditions
Each year the grand final breakfast, a function that is attended by both teams, hundreds of guests and screened live on Australian television is held during the week before the game.

It has become traditional for the premiership trophy to be delivered to the stadium by an Australian Army helicopter shortly before kick off. The Grand Final has traditionally been played on Sunday afternoons, but since 2001 it has been played in the late afternoon or night in order to coincide with the primetime period on television. The states of New South Wales and Queensland have a public holiday on the following Monday.

The player judged to be the man-of-the-match by the Australian national team selectors is awarded the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal. The Australian Prime Minister usually presents the winning team of the grand final with the trophy after the match. In addition, members of the winning team are presented with premiership rings.

Sponsorship
The NRL and its clubs receive significant revenue from sponsorships, with sponsors' logos appearing on most parts of players' and referees' uniforms, the playing surface and even the ball itself. Since 2001, the National Rugby League premiership has been sponsored by Telstra and known as the 'NRL Telstra Premiership'; in earlier seasons, it was simply known as the 'National Rugby League'.

The Telstra Premiership has had four competition logos since 2001. The first, lasting only through the 2001 regular season, was the Telstra logo with an elongated circle enclosing the word Premiership. From the Finals series of 2001 through to the end of 2006 the logo was based around the shape of a football, with the words Telstra Premiership on respective lines along the bottom, culminating with a small football similar to the one in the official NRL logo at the peak. The main colours were dark blue and orange, the corporate colours of Telstra. The company worked with the NRL to create the third logo (pictured) for the 2007 season onward as part of a new sponsorship deal. This new logo is quite similar to the original National Rugby League emblem. From the 2011 Finals Series, a newer logo was commissioned in concert with a corporate re-brand undertaken by Telstra. The 2007 logo remained on club jerseys during 2012 due to the lateness of the change and the older logo will be phased out in time for the 2013 NRL Season.

Other notable sponsorships include Toyota (official car of the NRL), Coca-Cola Amatil (match ball), AAMI (referees), Harvey Norman (video referees), Victoria Bitter (official beer of the NRL), Bundaberg Rum (Friday Night Football), Keno (Saturday Football) and Home Timber and Hardware (Sunday Football).

Non-traditional venues
Since 1998 NRL clubs have played both trial matches and premiership season games in areas that do not have representation in the NRL.


 * The Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters have played premiership season games in Christchurch in New Zealand.
 * The Penrith Panthers, Cronulla Sharks and Canterbury Bulldogs have played premiership season games in Adelaide.
 * The Bulldogs have also taken games interstate to Brisbane, the Gold Coast as well as Wellington.
 * In 2003 the Canberra Raiders hosted one game at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
 * From 2005–2006 The Parramatta Eels played two premiership season games in Waikato in New Zealand.
 * The South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles generally play one of their two premiership fixtures at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford. Since then, a number of other Sydney based teams have chosen to move one or two home fixtures to the Central Coast location.
 * From 2008, the Wests Tigers plays host against South Sydney Rabbitohs at the Sydney Cricket Ground to celebrate the season's annual heritage round.
 * In 2009:
 * The Cronulla Sharks played a home game at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide. They were contracted to play a home game at the venue up until and including the 2011 season. This only lasted for one game and their contract to play in Adelaide was ended.
 * The South Sydney Rabbitohs played a home game against the Melbourne Storm at Perth Oval in Perth.
 * Many teams play in rural and other areas not home to a current NRL club during their pre-season campaign. Matches are played in locations such as Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Gosford, Cessnock, Mackay, the Queensland Sunshine Coast and Coffs Harbour.
 * In 2011:
 * The Cronulla Sharks played a home game at Owen Delany Park in Taupo. They were contracted to play three home games against the New Zealand Warriors. However after one game the contract was cancelled.

Salary cap
In 1990, the NSWRL introduced a salary cap system to even the playing field of teams in the Winfield Cup. The National Rugby League has adopted the salary cap system from its predecessor. A special team deals with salary cap issues and monitors teams on a yearly basis. Each club is allowed A$4.6875 million per season to contract 25 players, with a minimum salary of $55,000, setting an effective upper limit of about $500,000 for the game's best players.

Payment Structure for the Top 25 Players 2010 +$200,000 Sponsor Servicing Allowance (automatically given to all clubs to compensate players for club sponsorship activities including appearances and endorsements). +$100,000 Long Serving Player Allowance (players who have played eight continuous years of grade football with that club including Toyota Cup and NSW Cup). +$100,000 Paid to the RLPA retirement fund and towards RLPA contributions

What Players can earn outside of the Salary Cap +$150,000 Marquee Player Allowance (any or all of the top 10 players at each club can share in payments made by club sponsors seeking to use a player’s intellectual property. A cap of $50,000 per player applies). Unlimited Players can earn unlimited amounts from corporate sponsors who are not associated with the club and who do not use the game’s intellectual property (no club logos, jerseys or emblems) provided these are pre-approved. Unlimited Tertiary education, approved traineeships, medical insurance costs, relocation/temporary accommodation costs are not included in the cap but must be approved. Payments for players outside the Top25 +$350,000 Cap for all players outside of the top 25 who compete in the Telstra Premiership. The cap is actively policed and penalties for clubs found to have breached the NRL salary cap regulations include fines of lesser of half the amount involved or $500,000 and/or deduction of premiership points. 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. During the 2007 season the NRL implemented ways of creating a fair and more beneficial cap for players and clubs.
 * Payments under the actual salary cap total $4.6875 million paid directly by clubs across the top 25 players. A further $100,000 is paid into the RLPA retirement fund contribution but is not defined as a salary cap payment.

In 2010, following the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal, the NRL introduced requirements for players and their agents to sign statutory declarations pledging their contracts comply with salary cap regulations, where previously only club chairmen and chief executives did so for biannual salary cap audits.

Major breaches of the cap
In 2002, the Bulldogs were fined the maximum of $500,000 and deducted all 37 premiership points received during the season after it was found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap totaling $2.13 million over the past three years, including $750,000 in 2001 and $920,000 in 2002; these were described by NRL Chief Executive David Gallop as "exceptional in both its size and its deliberate and ongoing nature". The points penalty meant that the club won the 2002 wooden spoon (Souths would have finished last if not for the breaches), and as the club had been leading the competition table prior to the imposition of the penalties, this was a shattering outcome for the club and its fans. Two senior club officials were jailed for fraud as a result of these breaches.

In 2005, the New Zealand Warriors were fined $430,000 and were ordered to start the 2006 season with a four premiership point deficit and cut their payroll by $450,000 after club officials revealed that their former management had exceeded the salary cap by $1.1 million over the last two years. The points penalty meant that the Warriors missed a finals berth in 2006.

On 22 April 2010, the Melbourne Storm were stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships, 2006–2008 minor premierships and the 2010 World Club Challenge trophy, fined a record $1.689 million ($1.1 million in NRL prize money which will be equally distributed between the remaining 15 clubs, $89,000 in prize money from the World Club Challenge which will be distributed to the Leeds Rhinos, and the maximum of $500,000 for breaching the salary cap regulations), ordered to cut their payroll by $1.0125 million, deducted all eight premiership points received during the season and barred from receiving premiership points for the remainder of the season after Storm officials revealed that the club had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations between 2006 and 2010 by running a well-organized dual contract and bookkeeping system that concealed a total of $3.78 million in payments made to players outside of the salary cap from the NRL, including $303,000 in 2006, $459,000 in 2007, $957,000 in 2008, $1.021 million in 2009 and $1.04 million in 2010. The points penalty meant that the club won the 2010 wooden spoon (North Queensland would have finished last if not for the breaches). Legal action by the former directors of the club against the penalties collapsed, and the matter has been referred to ASIC, the Australian Tax Office, the Victorian State Revenue Office, and the Victoria Police. The club's former CEO Brian Waldron and financial officers Matt Hanson, Paul Gregory and Cameron Vale are all facing lifetime suspensions. Players were still eligible for Test and/or State of Origin selection and other individual awards including the Clive Churchill Medallists from 2007 and 2009 will still continue to be recognised.

Judiciary
The NRL judiciary is made up of former players who convene in three-man panels to rule on on-field incidents. The judiciary is currently chaired by Wollongong district court judge Paul Conlon and made up of former players Mal Cochrane, Michael Buettner, Bradley Clyde, Sean Garlick, Don McKinnon and Bob Lindner.

Representative season
As well as playing for their club in the premiership, NRL players are regularly selected to play in a number of representative competitions that are conducted throughout each season. These include:


 * The pre-season NRL All Stars Game
 * The New South Wales City vs Country Origin match
 * The State of Origin three match series – one of the fiercest sporting rivalries in the world
 * The mid-year ANZAC Test
 * The Four Nations tournament – Australia, New Zealand and England plus another qualifier
 * The quadrennial World Cup tournament

Media coverage
The NRL provides six of the top seven and 78 of the top 100 programs on Australian subscription television. It is the second most watched sports league on Australian television, with an aggregate audience of 113,025,367 million viewers in 2009.

Coverage history
Professional club rugby league in Australia has been revolutionised by television, with a shift away from daytime games to night-time games over recent years to better suit the official television broadcasters, the Nine Network and Fox Sports. This even extended to the Grand Final, which from 2001 to 2007 was shifted from 3 pm on Sunday to 7 pm Sunday night to better suit broadcasters. It has been moved back to 5 pm Sunday from 2008 onwards.

Free-to-air coverage for the Nine Network viewers in states other than New South Wales or Queensland is delayed until later at night to make way for other programming by the Nine Network. The late showing has upset fans in those state, especially in Victoria, but their call for change had remained unheard by the NRL and the Nine Network.

The Fox Sports, which broadcast its first rugby league matches during the 1997 Super League season, has broadcast the remaining National Rugby League matches exclusively live since the competition's inception in 1998. In 2007, "Monday Night Football" was added to Fox Sport's rugby league coverage.

In 2003 the Grand Final was broadcast live in the United States by Fox Sports World.

Domestic

 * Friday Night Football starts at 7:30 pm and consists of two matches shown on the Nine Network free-to-air television in New South Wales and Queensland. Both games are played concurrently, with one broadcast live and the other shown on delay immediately after the first, usually at 9:30 pm. In many cases, the order in which the games are shown differs in different television markets. For instance, a match featuring a Queensland team, would usually be shown first in Queensland markets, but might be broadcast second in New South Wales if a popular Sydney team were playing in the other match. Both matches are broadcast on GEM as per the NSW schedule in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
 * Super Saturday includes one Toyota Cup afternoon game at 3:15 pm, followed by that game's corresponding Telstra Premiership match at 5:30 pm. This is then followed by two NRL matches beginning at 7:30 pm, both of which are shown live, one on Fox Sports 2 and the other on Speed (during the Super Rugby season) or Fox Sports 3 (after the completion of the Super Rugby season).
 * NRL Sunday is a 2:00 pm match broadcast live on Fox Sports.
 * Sunday Football is broadcast on the Nine Network. The match normally kicks off at 3:00 pm, but the broadcast is delayed until 4:00 pm, running until 6:00 pm in order to provide a strong lead-in to Nine News and for nine to take a broadcast break every 10 minutes or so to show commercials. In Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania these broadcasts are aired at 4:00 pm in HD on GEM and replayed on 9 after midnight on Monday mornings.
 * Monday Night Football is televised live from 7:00 pm by Fox Sports.

Note: Friday, Saturday and Sunday broadcast schedules and the number of games broadcast can also vary. This is dependent on the scheduling of matches for the New Zealand Warriors played in Auckland, New Zealand, byes during the middle of the season(where 2 or more teams don't play that weekend) and daylight saving time early in the season.


 * The State of Origin series is shown live in most states on the Nine Network. Viewers in Adelaide and Perth usually receive alternative programming such as episodes of the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men before a delayed telecast of the game is broadcast later in the evening.


 * The NRL Grand Final is shown live in every state on the Nine Network, with New South Wales and Queensland receiving up to 10 hours of continuous pre-game and post-game coverage. The game is also shown live in New Zealand, with ratings improving since the introduction of a 7 pm (NZST) kick-off – plus in various other countries around the world via local broadcasters.

International
The NRL is televised internationally with the following channels being the main telecast partners overseas.


 * Australia Network – Provides free-to-air coverage to overseas locales in the Asia-Pacific region and India. Covers the Grand Final live.


 * Sky Sport in New Zealand has coverage of all the NRL games including both LIVE games on Sunday with a delayed option available later in the night.


 * Setanta Sports: From 2006 until June 2009 (when Setanta went into administration and then ceased broadcasting in Great Britain), viewers in the UK, Republic of Ireland, USA and Canada would receive 2–3 LIVE and/or replayed games from each of the weekly rounds, plus all the playoffs, the Grand Final and all three State of Origin matches live. This deal included test matches involving Australia, except for those when Australia played Great Britain. Setanta still broadcasts in Canada as of 2010 and provides live and delayed coverage of several NRL games a week during the summer when soccer goes on hiatus.


 * Spike TV – A landmark deal was agreed in 2009 whereby NRL finals matches would be beamed into 100 million homes in the United States and Canada. It is the first time NRL games have become available on basic cable in the U.S. *America One's One World Sports have announced a 3 year deal starting in 2010 to broadcast NRL games in the United States and the Caribbean. The broadcast will potentially reach an audience of 35 million households.

The 2009 NRL preliminary finals and Grand Final were broadcast LIVE on TV in the UK and Ireland on the new ESPN UK channel. BigPond and the NRL have reached an agreement to stream selected remaining games live into the UK and Ireland, over BigPond's web portal service.

For the remainder of the 2010 Telstra Premiership, and for the 2011/2012 seasons, sports channel Premier Sports, (channel 433 on the Sky platform) will feature at least three Telstra Premiership games from each round of matches.

Games will be shown free of charge for the first two months from 16 April 10:30 am UK Time, after which they will be available via subscription. The NRL Grand Final, State of Origin series and all International matches will be screened LIVE in the UK and Republic of Ireland on Sky Sports to all customers that subscribe to the Sky Sports channels.

Omnisport (owned and operated by Perform Media Channels Limited) has also signed a similar agreement to stream matches on pay-per-view LIVE in selected territories around the world through the omnisport.tv website.
 * The UK secured new broadcasting rights in 2010 which will see 3 games televised each week including international and representative matches. Fans will also be able to see the NRL’s new weekly half-hour international highlights show, ‘NRL Full-time’, with Sky Sports joining Starhub (Singapore), Dahlia TV (Italy), Orbit Showtime Network (Middle East) and V Australia (in-flight) in broadcasting the program.

These new agreements have seen the NRL significantly expand its international television broadcast reach to now include North America, Africa, Italy, the Middle East, PNG and the Asia Pacific region, as well as online subscription services for international supporters.

NRL-related television programs
In Australia, there are several television shows dedicated to talking about NRL. These programs, as of March 2011, are:
 * The Footy Show (airs Thursdays, 9.30 pm, on Channel Nine in NSW, Qld, NT and the ACT: screens after 11.15 pm in all other areas of Australia): a variety show with discussions about current-round games and issues, competitions, live bands, and sketches
 * The Sunday Footy Show (Sundays, 11.00 am, on Channel Nine in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT, from 2.00 pm on GEM in all other areas of Australia): a recap of Friday and Saturday's games, and preview of Sunday's and Monday's games
 * The Sunday Roast (Sundays, Midday, on Channel Nine in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT, from 3.00 pm on GEM in all other areas of Australia), a show dedicated to discussing the heavy issues, controversies, and playing tactics currently developing
 * The Game Plan (Thursdays, 8.30 pm, on Channel Ten)
 * There also exists numerous off-beat rugby league shows on Fox Sports, typically on the Monday/Tuesday after the round.

Former shows:
 * The Matty Johns Show (Thursdays, 7.30 pm, Channel Seven in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT except Darwin: after midnight in all other regions of Australia), a more sketch-and-regular-segment-oriented version of The Footy Show and The Game Plan.
 * One Week at a Time (Mondays, at 9.30 pm, on One), recapping the weekend games

Internet
Replays of NRL matches, as well as highlights and NRL-related informational programming are available in Australia from BigPond. Telstra's ISP. Outside of Australia, these programs are sold by Aussie Sport TV.

Radio coverage
The NRL has several games broadcast live on the radio.

2GB 873AM Radio has the commercial rights to one Friday game, the 5:30 pm Saturday game, and a Sunday game of their choice, covering the game through the Continuous Call Team program. They also air many representative games, as well as all matches throughout the finals series, and all three matches on Grand Final day. The coverage is networked to stations across the country, typically those owned by Southern Cross Media Group, Grant Broadcasters and other station groups on the Macquarie Radio Network.

ABC Local Radio has the rights to all NRL matches in the ACT, Queensland and New South Wales except Monday night games. Exceptions to this include Monday night games of regional teams including the Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders, those games still air on their respective local ABC stations.

Triple M (Sydney) covers the Monday Night game and is broadcast on commercial stations across the country.

Print
In print media, there are two major magazines: Rugby League Week is produced by ACP Magazines and is generally released on Wednesdays between rounds; Big League is the competition's official publication, released Thursday and produced by News Magazines. Another News Magazines publication, ALPHA Magazine, regularly publishes league-related stories and interviews.

Theme songs
1985–1988: The Boys Are Back In Town – Thin Lizzy 1989: What You Get Is What You See – Tina Turner 1990–1995: Simply The Best – Tina Turner 1997 (SL): Two Tribes – Frankie Goes To Hollywood 1997 (ARL): It's My Game – NSWRL 1998: Tubthumping – Chumbawamba 1999: Blow That Whistle – Thomas Keneally 2000: What A Game – Tom Jones 2001: Racing Car Noises over Action Highlights 2003–2007: That's My Team – Hoodoo Gurus 2008: Centenary of Rugby League Campaign 2009: Feels Like Woah – Wes Carr 2010: Social Currency – Children Collide 2011–2012: This Is Our House – Bon Jovi

Players
National Rugby League footballers are some of Australasia's most famous athletes, commanding multi-million dollar playing contracts as well as sponsorship deals. Each club in the NRL has a "top squad" of twenty-five players, who are signed under the salary cap, as described above. For the most part, the players who play in NRL matches are sourced from these top squads. Occasionally during a season, however, the need may arise for a club to use players outside these 25, and in this case players are usually sourced from the club's corresponding Toyota Cup side or feeder club (such as the relevant New South Wales Cup or Queensland Cup squad).

The players voted to be the best in each position at the end of the season are honoured at the annual Dally M Awards, with the player of the year awarded the Dally M Medal. The man of the match in the Grand Final is awarded the Clive Churchill Medal.

Indigenous Australians in the NRL
The first Indigenous Australian to play in the precursor to the NRL was New South Wales Rugby League premiership player George Green, who debuted in 1909. Since that time, many high profile indigenous athletes have played in the competition, including standout rugby league test players Arthur Beetson (the first Aborigine to captain an Australian national team in any sport) and current Test match representatives Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis. A Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report found that 11% of NRL players in 2006 were of Aboriginal descent, (By way of comparison, only 2.3% of the Australian population identified themselves as Indigenous in the 2006 Australian census.). A 2009 survey of NRL players showed that 47 players, or 10.9 per cent, in its clubs' full-time squads are indigenous with a slightly higher figure for under-20s competition.

On 13 February 2010 at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, the NRL will hold an "indigenous all stars" game. It is to be a indigenous Australian verse non-indigenous Australian and New Zealander game of the top players from their respective backgrounds. The Indigenous All-Stars will be a 20 man squad voted by the public. The non-indigenous squad will consist of the Australian and New Zealand national teams captains and vice captains and one player from each of the sixteen NRL clubs.

Records and statistics
Official NRL statistics encompass all first grade competitions, namely the New South Wales Rugby League, Australian Rugby League, Super League, and the present day NRL.

Souths have won the most titles, 20. St. George have 15, with the Sydney Roosters on 12.

Greatest winning margin in a game is 85 points, when St. George defeated Canterbury 91–6 in 1935. St. George's score of 91 is also the highest team score.

Sydney Roosters won 19 successive games in 1975, and went undefeated for 35 games from 1935–1938. University lost 42 games in a row during 1934–36.

Darren Lockyer holds the record for most games played at 355, with Terry Lamb having played 350 and Steve Menzies at 349.

Leading pointscorer is Hazem El Masri, who scored 2,418 points (159 tries, 891 goals) for Canterbury 1996–2009. Leading tryscorer is Ken Irvine with 212 tries for Norths and Manly.

El Masri also has scored the most points in a season, 342 (16 tries, 139 goals in 2004. Most tries in a season is 38, by Dave Brown for Easts in 1935.

Most points scored in a single game is 45, by Dave Brown for Easts versus Canterbury in 1935. Most tries in a game is by Frank Burge, who scored eight for Glebe vs University in 1920.

Referees

 * Tony Archer
 * Gavin Badger
 * Matt Checchin
 * Ben Cummins
 * Tony De Las Heras
 * Adam Devcich
 * Phil Haines
 * Shane Hayne
 * Chris James
 * Ashley Klein


 * Steve Lyons
 * Jared Maxwell
 * Gavin Morris
 * Henry Perenara
 * Luke Phillips
 * Alan Shortall
 * Gerard Sutton
 * Brett Suttor
 * Gavin Reynolds
 * Jason Robinson