Country v City (Sydney) has long played a part in New South Wales sporting history, with the first traces of the concept being linked back as far as 1886. The then Southern Rugby Football Union (later to become NSWRU) would hold an annual "test match' between Combined Countrymen and Metropolis sides, with the match to be used by the organisation for picking players for NSW.
The concept took off and by the early 1900's 'Country Week" as it was titled became a major component of the Rugby Calendar. This rivalry between City and Country continued after Rugby League was formed in 1907, However, it took League till 1911 before its first recorded City v Country clash, there is some indication that a match may have been played in 1910, however most likely due to the code still in its infancy it is not of a high enough standard to be published in the media of the time.
The respective match was played on a laze-faire basis in League until 1928 when Country Rugby League and New South Wales Rugby League saw the value in making the tournament an annual match. This was understandable at the time for the League, as many areas in Country NSW had not even heard of League, let alone seen the code till closer to 1928.
Newcastle was the first to take up the code in 1909 in its own domestic competition, which was boosted by the participation of the "Rebels" in the NSWRL Sydney competition in 1908 and 1909, with Illawarra region soon to follow in 1910, but further out of Sydney it took longer for the code to start to make an impact.
By the time the match was made a permanent fixture, interest in the concept was high enough to make it sustainable. The only problem for the clash was it saw a large number of the best from Country Rugby League snapped up by the richer Sydney clubs, draining the regional representative sides, and as a result assisting City to dominate the concept.
It wasn't till 1987 that the issue was addressed of 'player drain' especially with the recent inclusions of Canberra, Illawarra and Newcastle in the NSWRL competition. The Origin rule, which was also used to revive the State of Origin concept proved to be quite valuable in giving Country basis it has needed to be a lot more competitive outfit, it however wasn't till 1992 that the men in Maroon and Gold recorded their first victory, however, in the new style of competition.
Country then won three out of the five years after their first Origin victory before the City v Country concept was cut from the representative scene (much like World Sevens and Kangaroo Tours) as a result of the Super League War.
The competition wasn't revived again till four years later, when the Australian Rugby League saw a value in the match in terms of media exposure, television ratings as well as the merit in taking games to the bush.
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PRE-ORIGIN ERA (1928-1986)
Matches: 64
City: 53 wins / NSW Country: 10 wins / Drawn: 1
All matches were held at the Sydney Cricket Ground or Sports Ground except where otherwise noted
1928: Country 35 d. City 34
1929: City 16 d. Country 5
1930: Country 35 d. City 26
1931: City 17 d. Country 15
1932: City 27 d. Country 15
1933: City 47 d. Country 6
.........City & Country 17-all
1934: City 28 d. Country 14
........ City 32 d. Country 29
1935: City 20 d. Country 5
1936: City 41 d. Country 8
1937: Country 20 d. City 12
........ Country 15 d. City 5
1938: City 42 d. Country 12
1939: City 38 d. Country 17
1940: City 28 d. Country 10
1941: City 44 d. Country 21
1942: Country 14 d. City 11
1943: City 37 d. Country 25
1944: City 17 d. Country 10
1945: City 41 d. Country 12
1946: City 31 d. Country 10
1947: City 33 d. Country 10
1948: City 28 d. Country 13
........ City 6 d. Country 5
1949: City 23 d. Country 2
1950: City 51 d. Country 13
1951: City 24 d. Country 6
1952: City 23 d. Country 21
1953: Country 28 d. City 27
1954: City 50 d. Country 9
1955: City 31 d. Country 18
| 1956: City 32 d. Country 17
1957: City 53 d. Country 2
1958: City 55 d. Country 14
1959: City 37 d. Country 7
1960: City 20 d. Country 2
1961: Country 19 d. City 5
1962: Country 18 d. City 8
1963: City 35 d. Country 11
1964: City 27 d. Country 4
1965: City 32 d. Country 2
1966: City 18 d. Country 14
........ Country 16 d. City 12
1967: City 18 d. Country 17
1968: City 34 d. Country 14
1969: City 27 d. Country 20
1970: City 22 d. Country 18
1971: City 17 d. Country 0
1972: City 35 d. Country 8
1973: City 33 d. Country 17
1974: City 23 d. Country 0
1975: Country 19 d. City 9
1976: City 47 d. Country 0
1977: City 36 d. Country 0
1978: City 30 d. Country 13
1979: City 29 d. Country 0
1980: City 55 d. Country 2
1981: City 38 d. Country 7 in Canberra
1982: City 47 d. Country 3 in Newcastle
1983: City 30 d. Country 14 in Newcastle
1984: City 38 d. Country 12
1985: City 18 d. Country 12 in Newcastle
1986: City 34 d. Country 18 in Newcastle |
POST STATE OR ORIGIN (1987- present)
Matches: 22
City: 12 wins / NSW Country: 9 wins / Drawn: 1
1987: City 30 d. Country 22 at Parramatta
1988: City 20 d. Country 18 at SFS
1989: City 16 d. Country 8 at Newcastle
1990: City 28 d. Country 26 at SFS
1991: City 22 d. Country 12 at SFS
1992: Country 17 d. City 10 at SFS
1993: City 7 d. Country 0 at Parramatta
1994: Country 22 d. City 2 at Newcastle
1995: City 16 d. Country 8 at Wollongong
1996: Country 18 d. City 16 at Wollongong
1997: Country 17 d. City 4 at Newcastle
1998: not held
1999: not held
2000: not held
2001: Country 42 d. City 10 at Bathurst
2002: City 26 d. Country 16 at Wagga Wagga
2003: City 17 d. Country 16 at Gosford
2004: Country 22 d. City 18 at Gosford
2005: City 29 d. Country 22 at Lismore
2006: Country 12 d. City 10 at Dubbo
2007: City 12 d. Country 6 at Coffs Harbour
2008: City 22 Country 22 at Wollongong
2009: City 40 d. Country 18 at Orange
2010: Country 36 d. City 18 at Port Macquarie
2011: Country 18 d. City 12 at Albury
2012: City 24 d. Country 22 at Mudgee
ALL-TIME RESULTS (1928-2011)
Matches: 87
City: 66 wins / NSW Country: 19 wins / Drawn: 2