Rugby league in Australia
Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2022, it was the most watched sport on Australian television with an aggregate audience of 137.3 million viewers. The premier club competition is the National Rugby League (NRL), which features ten teams from New South Wales, four teams from Queensland, and one team each from Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The premier representative competition is the annual Rugby league State of Origin featuring two sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is often referred to as "Australian sport's greatest rivalry", it is one of Australia's premier sporting events, attracting huge interest and television audiences.
Darren Lockyer (fourth from bottom), Australia's most-capped player, kicking off for the national team in 2009.
Annie Frances Messenger (née Atkinson) mother of Rugby League Champion, Dally Messenger
Wests Tigers vs Canberra Raiders, 2006
A 2004 match between Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury Bulldogs in Brisbane
The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons.
The first State of Origin shield, depicting Queensland's Wally Lewis and New South Wales' Brett Kenny.
The first of the 2018 games, played at Melbourne Cricket Ground
2021 State of Origin Game 1 Queensland Country Bank Stadium Performing the Australian National Anthem
Queensland Country Bank Stadium for State of Origin Game 1 2021 in Townsville