The NSWRL celebrates its 112th birthday today (Thursday 8 August) and it’s already been a season to remember following the move into the multi-million dollar Centre of Excellence before wins in the Holden State of Origin and Women’s State of Origin series.
It was on 8 August, 1907 that the NSWRL formed after players became disenchanted with the New South Wales Rugby Union over the rejection of compensation payments for injuries and lost wages.
The following year the Sydney premiership started with nine teams taking part including the Balmain Tigers, Cumberland Fruitpickers, Eastern Suburbs Roosters, Glebe Dirty Reds, Newcastle Rebels, Newtown Jets, North Sydney Bears, Western Suburbs Magpies and South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Fast forward to the present day and the organisation is still going from strength to strength. The NSWRL Centre of Excellence opened in 2019 and provides all NSW-based representative teams with a state of the art facility to maintain excellence on the field.
The Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues claimed the Holden State of Origin series to make it consecutive series wins for the first time since 2005 while the Harvey Norman Women’s Origin team maintained their recent dominance over Queensland after winning again to make it four in a row.
The CABE NSW Under-20s comfortably beat Queensland, the NSW Under-16s proved too strong for an Under-16 Pasifika team, while the NSWRL has also launched several new programs to involve more players in Rugby League including Monarch Blues Tag and Try League.
“The NSWRL is an extremely healthy position as we celebrate our 112th birthday and it’s a wonderful time to be involved with Rugby League,” NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said.
“The longevity of the organisation would not have bene possible without all the tireless work of so many people over such a long period of time including the supporters, the volunteers, the officials, the administrators and of course the players.
“I would like to thank everyone who has supported us and look forwards to continued success.”
