This article contains information on

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

played in 2006. The season commenced with the

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

in England in February and concluded with the Tri-Nations Final in Australia in November.

January

World Club Challenge

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

won the one-off match against

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

30–10 at

Galpharm Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to naming rights, sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Association football, football club ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

February

National Rugby League trial matches

Week 1

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

def. Nth Qld 36–4. Rockhampton, NSW. 11/2/2006
Report
*

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

def.

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

28–16. Auckland, New Zealand
Report
*

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

def.

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

38–18. Ballina, NSW. 11/2/200
report

Week 2

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

and the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

played their annual Charity Shield match. The Rabbitohs narrowly took the shield with a score of 14–12, while most of the Dragons' top grade players were being rested on the bench in preparation for weeks to come. Other results from this week of trials included: *

def.

28–20. Port Macquarie, NSW. *

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney ...

def.

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

34–30. Mollymook, NSW. * Nth Qld def.

26–10. Cairns, Qld. Crowd: c. 15,000. *

def.

30–24. Exies Oval, Griffith, NSW. Crowd: 6,831. * Penrith def.

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

38–30. Alice Springs, NT. *

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

def. Manly 44–14. Central Coast Stadium, Gosford, NSW. Crowd: c. 10,000.

Week 3

* Manly def. Wests 42–18. Brookvale Oval, Sydney, NSW. *

def.

58–10. Toowoomba Stadium, Toowoomba, QLD. *

def.

24–20. Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast, Qld. *

def.

22–4 *

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

def. Souths 42–0 * Penrith def.

26–14. Regional Stadium, Port Macquarie, NSW. *

def.

St George Illawarra The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-v ...

16–12. WIN Stadium, Wollongong, NSW.

May

5 -

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

: The 2006 ANZAC Test is played at

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

between Australia and New Zealand is won by the Kangaroos 50-12.
12 -

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

: In the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydne ...

match, Country NSW defeated City NSW 12–10 at

Apex Oval Apex Oval, also known as Caltex Park is a sports ground located in the city of Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is managed by the Dubbo City Council and is located within the East Dubbo Sporting Complex. Opened in 2005, the Bruce N ...

before a crowd of 11,423.

July

5 July -

Telstra Dome Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was ...

before a crowd of 54,833 the

2006 State of Origin series The 2006 State of Origin series was the 25th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' sele ...

concludes with Queensland defeating New South Wales

August

*3rd – Australia: Rugby league film ''

Footy Legends ''Footy Legends'' is a 2006 Australian film, directed and co-written by Khoa Do, produced by Megan McMurchy, starring Khoa's older brother and co-writer Anh Do, Angus Sampson, Emma Lung and Claudia Karvan. It was filmed in and around the Sydne ...

'' is released.

September

*21st – Sydney, Australia: The 8th annual

Tom Brock Lecture The Tom Brock Lecture is an annual scholarly lecture organised by the Australian Society for Sports History at the bequest of Australian sports historian Tom Brock. The topic of the lecture is the history of rugby league football. It has been give ...

, entitled ''The Stuff of Dreams, or the Dream Stuffed? Rugby League, Media Empires, Sex Scandals, and Global Plays'' is delivered by Dr. David Rowe.

October

*The

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

win the NRL Premiership after defeating first-placed

in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

November

*8:

, Australia – The

Great Britain national rugby league team The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

plays against

for the last time, losing 10–33 at

before a crowd of 44,358

Regular season matches

Super League XI

The

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

kicked off the weekend after the World Club Challenge with

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

defeating the newly promoted

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

42–18. This season saw the entry of

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

, who are the first French team to compete since the demise of

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

at the end of

Super League II Stones Bitter Super League II was the official name for the year 1997's Super League championship season, the 103rd season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the second to be played in summer. Teams Twelve teams were ...

. The regular season would finish with St. Helens taking out the minor premiership and the

being relegated to division one. The Super League Grand Final saw St. Helens claim a twelve championship with victory over

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in front of 73,000.

National Rugby League – Season 2006

The 99th season of first grade rugby league in Australia was controversial before competition even began. The

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

were fined and penalised four competition points for

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

breaches in 2004 and 2005. They were fined and started the season on -4 points. The season began on Friday, 10 March, when defending premiers

and early favourites

played at

Telstra Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stadi ...

. Melbourne Storm won the Minor Premiership, however, lost to the Brisbane Broncos in the Grand Final in front of over 79,000.

Powergen Challenge Cup 2006

The Powergen Rugby League

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

is the most prestigious knock-out competition in the world of Rugby League and the 2006 competition saw over a hundred clubs competing from countries including England, France,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, Scotland and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The final would see St. Helens take victory 41–12 over the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

in front of 65,187.

UK National Leagues

The National Leagues kicked off on 7 April. There are three divisions, and the top team in National One has the opportunity to enter SuperLeague, subject to minimum standards.

AMNRL – Season 2006

The

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

kicked off on Wednesday 17 June with the Glen Mills Bulls defeating the

Philadelphia Fight The Philadelphia Fight are a semi professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They currently compete in the USA Rugby League, having formerly competed in the now defunct AMNRL. They play their home games at A. A. ...

48–26. This season saw the entry of three new competition teams the

Jacksonville Axemen The Jacksonville Axemen are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They currently play in the USA Rugby League (USARL). They play their home games at the North Practice Soccer Fields at the University of North F ...

New Haven Warriors The New Haven Warriors were a rugby league football team based in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. They played in the American National Rugby League (AMNRL) from 2006 to 2010 and in the USA Rugby League (USARL) from 2011 to 2012 before withdrawing. T ...

and the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

. At the conclusion of the AMNRL regular season, the Glen Mills Bulls won the Minor Premiership, only to lose lost to the Connecticut Wildcats in the Grand Final Championship match in front of over 2,500.

International

Summary

Tests

Internationals

'A'/'B' internationals

Other international teams

Results

Sources

Trial matches

"Noble hails Bradford team effort"
BBC website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"2006 Charity Shield"
Rleague.com website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"2006 NRL Trials"
Rleague.com website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

State of Origin

Sydney Morning Herald website. Retrieved 25 May 2006

International

"Lionhearts Jet Off to Serbia"
England Lionhearts website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Serbia 6 England Lionhearts 46"
England Lionhearts website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Serbia 4 England Lionhearts 50"
England Lionhearts website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Aussies crush NZ in Johns finale"
BBC website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"World Cup European Preliminary Qualifying Tournament – Euro B"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

New Zealand Rugby League website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Lions to face Kiwis in June Test"
BBC website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

Sydney Morning Herald website. Retrieved 11 May 2006

The Adelaide Advertiser website. Retrieved 12 May 2006
"Rugby League World Cup 2008 – European Qualifying Group"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 15 May 2006

Sporting Life. Retrieved 24 May 2006
"GB Police Set For Serbia"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 24 May 2006
"Belgrade Cup"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 25 May 2006
"Impressive Georgia Outrun Dutch in 2nd Half"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 28 May 2006
"European Preliminary Qualifying Group – Match 4"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 5 June 2006
"BARLA set for Italy"
British Amateur Rugby League Association website. Retrieved 6 June 2006

South African Rugby League website. Retrieved 6 June 2006

Cymru Rugby League website. Retrieved 7 June 2006

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 7 June 2006

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 8 June 2006
"BARLA convincingly wins their double header against Italy and South Africa"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 12 June 2006
"Scotland A v. France Federale"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 20 June 2006
"Euro Development Tri-nations"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 27 June 2006
"Great Britain 46–14 New Zealand"
bbc.co.uk website. Retrieved 28 June 2006.
"European Federation Development International"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 11 July 2006
"Wolfhound A v. Lionheart A Match Report"
Rugby League Ireland website. Retrieved 19 July 2006.

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 19 July 2006.
"Estonia 24 Germany 38 – Tallinn"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 26 July 2006
"Rugby League World Cup Pacific Qualifiers Loom"
Pacific Magazine Website. Retrieved 13 August 2006.
"Slavic Cup"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 14 August 2006

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 16 August 2006
"England set for new tournament"
bbc.co.uk website. Retrieved 18 August 2006.

The National website. Retrieved 23 August 2006.
"Wolfhounds A triumph in Wales"
Rugby League Ireland website. Retrieved 23 August 2006.

Italia RL XIII website. Retrieved 23, August 2006.
"New Europe-Pacific tournament for Mate Ma’a Tonga"
Matangi Tonga Online, 29 August 2006. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
"RLEF Development Tri-nations"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 4 September 2004.

Cymru Rugby League website. Retrieved 20 September 2006. {{Portal, Sports Rugby league by year