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Rugby league
New Zealanders have played rugby league for more than 100 years, and the World Cup is a coveted trophy. This page lists local clubs, competitions, history and library resources about this popular sport.
Competitions
Christchurch has a long tradition of rugby league played at club level, as well as interprovincial competitions. In recent years the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competiton, featuring the New Zealand Warriors, has dominated the sport.
Find a club
Interested in learning to play rugby league in Christchurch? Local clubs can be found on CINCH, our community information directory. The Canterbury Rugby League website has news, draws, ground locations and more information for those wanting to play the game locally.
National Rugby League (NRL)
The NRL is Australia's professional rugby league competition, also known as the Telstra Championship. The season begins in March, and ends with the grand final on October 2. New Zealand is represented by The Warriors in this competition, which is televised here. Some matches are played in Christchurch each year. Visit the official site of the Australian National Rugby League.
History
Rugby League has a fascinating history in Aotearoa. John Coffey and Bernie Wood’s book 100 years: Māori Rugby League, 1908-2008 provides a comprehensive account of Māori league and is well worth a read.
Rugby League Football from Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand provides an interesting history and tells the story of a touring team that left New Zealand before the game was played in this country.
Rugby League World Cup
The Rugby League World Cup was first contested in 1954, and has changed format several times over the years.
The Kiwis, our national league team, are the current world champions. They won the 2008 World Cup, beating arch-rivals Australia 32-20. It is the first time since 1975 that any team other than Australia have won the competition.
New Zealand will hold the cup until 2013 when the next tournament takes place in Great Britain.
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was contested by ten teams. Australia, England, France, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand were given automatic entry and Fiji, Ireland, Samoa, Scotland and Tonga qualified. It was the 13th Rugby League World Cup.
Four Nations
The Kiwis are also Four Nations champions after beating Australia 16-12. Full results are available on the Four Nations website.
Rugby League resources
Our online resources
- Local rugby league clubs can be found on CINCH, our community information directory.
Internet Gateway
- Canterbury Rugby League
- New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL)
- NRL — Official site of the Australian National Rugby League
- Rugby League Football from Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- Rugby League in New Zealand scoreboard, forums and news website
- Rugby League news websites can be found on our Internet Gateway including:
Resources in our libraries
- Baring My Soul
- Monty Betham's biography
- Rugby league football
- General books and other resources about league
- Rugby league football players
- Player biographies
- Rugby league football coaches
- Coaches' biographies
- Matches
- Books and DVDs of famous matches
- Rugby league Magazines and other periodicals
- League magazines in our libraries
