The National Rugby League (NRL), formed in 1998, is the pre-eminent rugby league club competition in Australia and New Zealand. It contains some clubs from the original Sydney club Rugby League competition, which had been running continuously since 1908. A single team from New Zealand also plays in the league. The NRL formed in the aftermath of the 1990s' Super League war as a joint partnership between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and media giant News Corporation-controlled Super League, after both Watch NRL Online organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997. This partnership was dissolved in February 2012, with control of the NRL going solely to the re-constituted ARL which was re-structured with an independent board of directors and renamed as the Australian Rugby League Commission. NRL matches are played in Australia and New Zealand from March to October. The season culminates in the premiership-deciding game, the NRL Grand Final, traditionally one of Australia's most popular sporting events In addition, the NRL premiers also play in the World Club Challenge against the champions of the Super League competition. The reigning premiers are the Penrith Panthers, having won their third premiership at the conclusion of the 2021 season. The New South Wales Rugby League ran the major rugby league competition of New South Wales from its inception in 1908 until 1994.
Following the introduction of a new format for interstate rugby league, the State of Origin series 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 having a negative effect on the Brisbane Rugby League premiership. Following the 1983 season, Sydney foundation club Newtown Jets were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competition because of how to Watch NRL Games 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.[10] 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 attempted 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. Ultimately this competition failed, but in its demise the National Rugby League was born, incorporating the traditional Sydney clubs, successfully coercing the Sydney market to follow the newly created national competition.
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