A Centenary of League Simplified

As Rugby League celebrates its centenary this year, here is a brief history of the 100 years that have made this simple game, such a large part of Australian life.

Rugby League originated in northern England in 1895 and began in Australia in 1908 as a breakaway from Rugby Union. This was mainly because Rugby Union prohibited clubs from compensating players for loss of wages and for providing compensation for injuries. One of the key reasons for its success in Australia was the conversion of the great H. H. "Dally" Messenger from Rugby Union to Rugby League.

Some of the initial differences between the breakaway Rugby League and Rugby Union included the reduction of players from 15 to 13 and the introduction of a play-the-ball.

Rugby League has traditionally been a Sydney-based competition with deep roots in specific areas of Sydney. The original teams in the 1908 competition were Eastern Suburbs, South Sydney, Western Suburbs, North Sydney, Balmain, Newtown, Glebe, Cumberland and Newcastle. Newcastle left the league in 1910 to form its own local competition and was replaced by Annandale. As Sydney continued to grow, more clubs were added to represent new areas. In 1920 and 1921, University and St George joined followed by Canterbury- Bankstown in 1935, Many- Warringah and Parramatta in 1947 and Cronulla- Sutherland and Penrith in 1967. Up until 1970 there had been seven new clubs added. However, the competition also lost teams: Newcastle, Cumberland, Annandale, Glebe and University.

During this time there were more changes made that further separated it from Rugby Union. The four- tackle rule was introduced in 1967. This was mainly due to St George’s 11 consecutive premiership dominance of the competition, which coincidently ended when the rule was introduced. In 1971 this four- tackle rule was changed to the current six- tackle rule and a field goal was changed from two- points to one.

In the 1980s a number of new clubs were added from outside the Sydney metropolitan area. Illawarra and Canberra were introduced in 1982, followed in 1988 by Brisbane, Gold Coast and the re-instatement of Newcastle. It also saw the loss of Newtown in 1983, argued to be Australia’s first Rugby League club. This meant that not only had the competition expanded into regional New South Wales but also into southern Queensland. State of Origin, one of Australia’s most successful sporting competitions, also commenced. This was where players would represent the state they were born in or first played their senior football. This continues to be the pinnacle of Rugby League in Australia, still hotly contested and producing some of the best Rugby League contests in the world.

In 1995 it became an Australian competition, changing its name from the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) to the Australian Rugby League (ARL). It introduced the North Queensland Cowboys (Townsville), South Queensland Crushers (Brisbane) and the Western Reds (Perth), as well as the Auckland Warriors, making the competition not just a national one but an international one. This may have been a result of increased popularity or an attempt to compete with the Australian Football League (AFL) as the main football code in Australia. This was a big move away from a Sydney suburban competition to an Australian-based competition.

In 1997 the Murdoch-backed Super League split the game into two competitions. The Super League competition was a much more entertainment-based Rugby League competition. This was to be faster and more visually appealing for television. It also introduced the Adelaide Rams and the Hunter Mariners (Newcastle). Games were broadcast on pay TV, with most being broadcast live.

The two competitions merged in 1998 as the National Rugby League (NRL) with two important conditions. One was that Murdoch (News Limited) and the ARL would each have a 50% control of the new competition and the other was that the number of teams would be reduced from twenty to fourteen by 2000. The Hunter Mariners, South Queensland and Western Reds were dropped and the Melbourne Storm was introduced in 1998. Adelaide and Gold Coast were cut from the competition at the end of 1998. Along with this, St George merged with Illawarra in 1999, Wests with Balmain and Norths with Manly in 2000. Put simply, this meant many of Rugby League’s traditional teams were lost. South Sydney was dropped from the competition in 2000 after a criteria assessment, bringing the number of teams to the agreed fourteen. Souths fought this decision in the courts and the High Court of Australia reinstated South Sydney in 2002. In 2005, the Gold Coast Titans were announced as the 16th team to enter the competition in 2007.

In 1989, Canberra had become the first non- Sydney team to win a Grand Final but it was 2006 that saw the first Grand Final contested between two non- Sydney teams when the Brisbane Broncos defeated the Melbourne Storm, demonstrating how far this game has come.

Schwarzer Saves The Day

This may be the difference between Australia missing out and Australia going to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Without a host of their big name stars for this World Cup qualifier, the Socceroos had a good draw against China in Kunming, mainly thanks to this save by Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
Australia seemed to be on top for the start of the match but were unable to capitalise on the few half- chances they had in front of China’s goals. Australia’s defence held strong for most of the match, but were missing key strikers Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald, along with Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill to give them the edge in attack. China had a few chances at goal in the second half before a penalty in the box to China in the 88th minute had Australia reliving the World Cup match against Italy, where they lost in the last few minutes to a similar penalty goal. This time it was Schwarzer who was penalised and it was Schwarzer who saved the day with a great save to hold China to 0-0.

Qatar’s 2-0 upset of Iraq has left Australia on top of the group table after two games on 4 points. Qatar is second on 3 followed by China on 2 and Iraq on 1 point. Australia continues their campaign playing Iraq next in Australia.

Picture from http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2008/03/27/2200197.htm

Devastating Start for Massa

It was a devastating round 2 of the Formula 1 season for Brazilian driver Felipe Massa. After qualifying first for the Malaysian Grand Prix with teammate Kimi Raikkonen second, it looked set to be a Ferrari 1-2 with both drivers looking very quick in practice and qualifying.

The two McLaren's qualified third and fourth but were penalised and dropped back five spots to start the race at eight and nine after officials declared that they blocked other drivers during qualifying.


At the start of the race the Ferrari's were never really troubled, easily braking away from the pack and racing between themselves for first place. Raikkonen was able to manoeuvre himself in front of Massa after a quick pit stop and they were both destined for an easy podium finish. That was until Massa’s car seemed to spin out on its own on lap 31, putting him into the sand trap and out of the race.


Back in Pit Lane, he told ITV Sports reporter Louise Goodman "I don’t know what happened, I just lost the car completely. There was strange behaviour on the rear, so I don’t know [what caused it]."



Championship leader Louis Hamilton had an interesting race moving from ninth to fifth in the first lap before a problem with the front right wheel in pit lane led to a nearly twenty second pit stop and put him well back in the pack.


For Kimi Raikkonen however it was him and then daylight, finishing 19.5 seconds in front of BMW’s Robert Kubica, followed by Kovalainen, Trulli, Hamiliton, Heidfeld and Webber with Alonso rounding out those in the points.

Louis Hamilton still leads the championship on 14 points with Raikkonen and Heidfeld on 11. McLaren lead the constructors’ championship on 24 with BMW on 19 and Ferrari on 11. That is sure to change once Massa starts to finish some races as he has looked good for the last two qualifying fourth and first only to have two DNFs.


Pictures from
http://www.f1press.com/fullstory/view/250417/Massa_spins_out_in_Malaysia/

NSW PURA CUP GLORY

The NSW Blues have clinched the Pura Cup for the 2007/08 season after a dominant final test match against Victoria.

Blues captain Simon Katich continued his incredible series with scores of 86 and 92 as well as the man- of the match award. He has also broken the record for the most runs in a Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup season, scoring 1506 runs with an incredible average of 94.12. He passed Michael Bevan’s previous record of 1,464 runs, which he scored for Tasmania in 2004-05. This total included a century against each state and national selectors now have to be seriously considering him for selection, especially after Australia’s poor batting performance in the one- day series over the summer.

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh commented to Fox Sports about Katich after the victory. "He is too good to be playing just domestically. He is a class player and he gets runs in all situations, particularly when it's tough."

After taking first innings points scoring 281 and restricting Victoria to 216, NSW went on to score a massive declaring at 8/ 563 after Brett Lee was caught and bowled on 97, falling 3 runs short of his century. This left Victoria a target of 629 from 108 overs NSW had them all out for 370.

The NSW side was stacked with Australian players available for selection. NSW has used 25 different players over the summer due to the loss of these Australian players who included Phil Jaques, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee, Nathan Braken, Stuart Clark and Stuart MacGill. Captain Simon Katich has also played twenty- three tests for Australia. This proves the incredible depth that NSW has to fall back on.

Stuart MacGill also staked his claim for the Australian team with a great return from injury producing figures of 2-36 and 2-118. This included an incredible bowl that beat Brad Hodge, proving he is still Australia’s best spin bowler.

Now NSW only needs to improve on their one- day form with their side incredibly finishing last this year in a series won by Tasmania over Victoria.

Can Young Gun Lewis Hamilton Win In 2008 Or Will It Be A Repeat Of 2007?

Lewis Hamilton has started 2008 off in the best way possible, winning the Australian Grand Prix. The 22-year- old McLaren driver, who nearly won the Formula One Championship in his first year in 2007, led from pole position and never really looked troubled. Hamilton’s new teammate Heikki Kovalainen also had a good first race finishing fifth and recording the fastest lap of the race.

While the McLaren's led from the front, it was the Ferrari's that did all of the entertaining from the back. Defending champion Kimi Raikkonen broke down during qualifying but had the best possible start moving from fifteenth to seventh in his first lap. Felipe Massa fought back from last after being put into a wall in his first lap. However his Ferrari showed some great speed moving quickly through the pack before another spectacular incident, this time with Red Bull’s David Coulthard.

Out of the twenty-two drivers that started the race, only seven finished. Some of the big names that failed to cross the line included Raikkonen, Massa, Australia’s Mark Webber and BMW’s Robert Kubica who started from second on the grid.

It seems that BMW are surely in a class of their own now, showing they are able to compete with Ferrari and McLaren. During qualifying they were some of the final cars out on the track and were able to produce some very quick laps to start second and fifth.
Two time world champion Fernando Alonso, now back with Renault after leaving McLaren last year, battled his way to finish fourth however it will be interesting to see if his car will be fast enough to compete for the championship this year.

While Hamilton has firmed as favourite on TAB Sportsbet to win the championship in front of Raikkonen, Kovalainen and Massa, it is yet to be seen if he will be able to do what he couldn’t last year and win the championship. In 2007 Hamilton impressed by making the podium twelve times, four of those wins and was leading the championship in the final few rounds before Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came from third to steal the championship in the final race in Brasil. Hamilton is young and influential and 2008 will be a test of his determination, especially since all of the pressure is on him this year to perform after his incredible first year.

Hamilton is in for some very tough competition this year. His team- mate Heikki Kovalainen has a great chance to perform well now that he has the right car. The two BMW drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica appear to be very competitive this year. Yet again the tow Ferrari’s Raikkonen and Massa will be very fast. The dark horse still remains Alonso who has won two championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006. Will he be able to repeat this feat again or has Renault lost too much ground since then?