Top-level rugby league in 2014 centred on Australasia's

2014 NRL Auckland Nines The 2014 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the first NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 30 October 2014. ...

2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...

and the Super League XIX. High-profile representative competitions included the

2014 Rugby League Four Nations The 2014 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was the fourth staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament played in Australia and New Zealand over three weeks from Saturday, 25 October to Saturday, 15 November 2014. The series was contested ...

(held in Australia and New Zealand) and the

2014 State of Origin series The 2014 State of Origin series was the 33rd time the annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams has been played entirely under 'state of origin' rules (1980 and 1981 were only 1 game series). It is ...

January

February

7: Super League XIX begins with the Huddersfield Giants upsetting last year's champions Wigan Warriors at the DW Stadium in Wigan.
14 & 15: Inaugural

NRL Auckland Nines The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus. Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to Pert ...

are held at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

in Auckland, New Zealand. The North Queensland Cowboys are inaugural champions after beating Brisbane 16–7 in the final.
22: Sydney Roosters win the

2014 World Club Challenge The 2014 World Club Challenge was the 15th consecutive annual (and 22nd overall) World Club Challenge and was contested by Super League XVIII champions, Wigan Warriors and 2013 NRL Premiers, the Sydney Roosters. The 2014 World Club Challenge mar ...

after beating Wigan Warriors 36–14 at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia.
25: Europe's Bradford Bulls team are deducted six Super League competition points after entering administration.

March

begins with the South Sydney Rabbitohs upsetting last year's champions Sydney Roosters at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

April

May

2: The

2014 ANZAC Test The 2014 Anzac Test was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on 2 May 2014. It was the 15th Anzac Test played between the two nations since the first was played under the Super League ...

is played, with

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 ...

defeating New Zealand 30–18 before 25,429 at Allianz Stadium.
3: The Pacific Rugby League International is played, with Samoa defeating

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

32–16 before 9,063 at Sportingbet Stadium in Penrith, Australia. In doing so they also secured qualification as the fourth and final team to compete at the 2014 Four Nations later in the year.
3: The City vs Country Origin is played, with

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and Country drawing for only the second time since being 'Under origin selection rules'. The match finished 26 points apiece in front of a packed crowd at Dubbo's

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 ...

.
17 & 18: The Northern Hemisphere's Super League held its special Magic Weekend. The Magic Weekend was held at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

in Manchester, England. It made several records such as attendance with Day 1 recording the biggest ever attendance with 36,339 fans attending the ground on one day. While the total aggregate attendance of 64,552 is the biggest ever attendance recorded for Super League's showcase weekend.

June

14: New South Wales made history, finally winning the State of Origin series after losing 8 consecutive. New South Wales won the historic third-match in the series 6–4 before 83,421 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales.

July

13:

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

are relegated from 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 ...

.
19: Canada have beaten Jamaica in the fourth annual Caribbean Carnival Cup.
27: Barrow Raiders are relegated from the Championship.

August

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known s ...

are relegated from the Championship.
10: Rochdale Hornets are relegated from the Championship.
10: The lone Colonial Cup series match is played, with Canada making history and defeating USA 52–14 before 7,356 at Lamport Stadium to win their first ever Colonial Cup since the competition inaugurated in 2010.
11: North Wales Crusaders are relegated from the Championship.
23: The

2014 Challenge Cup The 2014 Challenge Cup (also known as the Tetley's Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 113th staging of the rugby league tournament. The defending champions Wigan Warriors were knocked out in the quarter finals 4 - 16 at home to the Cas ...

final is played, with the Leeds Rhinos defeating the

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 ...

23–10 before 77,914 at Wembley Stadium.

September

7 : Keighley Cougars are relegated from the Championship on a dramatic final day of the regular season. They finished just one point behind 8th placed Batley Bulldogs and 9th placed Whitehaven.
12: Bradford Bulls are relegated from the

. They have been participating in the Super League since its inauguration in 1996 and have won four titles being 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005.

October

2014 NRL Grand Final The 2014 NRL Grand Final was the concluding and premiership-deciding match of the 2014 NRL season. Played on the evening of Sunday 5 October 2014 at ANZ Stadium, the match was contested by the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Canterbury-Bankstown B ...

is played and South Sydney are the new premiers after defeating the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

30–6 in front of a record 'Rectangular Shaped (ANZ) Stadium' crowd of 83,833 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. This is also the Rabbitohs' first premiership title in 43 years
7: Hunslet Hawks win promotion to the Championship for the 2015 season.
11: 2014 Super League Grand Final is played and St. Helens are the new champions after defeating a '12-man' Wigan Warriors team 14–6 before 70,102 at

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 Strentford, England.
19:

2014 Hayne/Mannah Cup Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrelea ...

is played and

are the champions after defeating Lebanon 40–28 at Remondis Stadium in Woolooware, New South Wales.

November

2014 European Cup The 2014 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place in England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland between 17 October and 2 November. It was announced beforehand that the winner of the tournamen ...

is won by Scotland for the first time. Scotland have therefore qualified to play alongside

, England and New Zealand in the

2016 Four Nations The 2016 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (known as the 2016 Ladbrokes Four Nations, for sponsorship purposes) was the fifth staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament and was played in England in October and November. The series was c ...

.
15: 2014 Four Nations Final is won by New Zealand who defeated

22–18 before 25,093 at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand.

December

19: New Zealand halfback,

Shaun Johnson Shaun Johnson (born 9 September 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League (NRL) and the New Zealand Kiwis at international level. He has played pr ...

is announced as the best official player in 2014 after being awarded the Golden Boot.

Test Matches

ANZAC Test

Pacific Rugby League International

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

2014 Four Nations

*With the victory, New Zealand retained the Peter Leitch QSM Challenge Trophy * Sione Mata'utia made his international test début for

and becoming the youngest ever player to play for the 'Kangaroos' at age of 18 years and 129 days, eclipsing Israel Folau's seven-year-old record by 65 days.

Final

Other Test Match results

Regional Tournaments – Europe

Regional Tournaments – Asia/Middle East & The Atlantic

Trans-Continental

Domestic Competitions

Australasia

NRL Auckland Nines

The 2014 NRL Auckland Nines tournament will run over two days from 14 to 15 February 2014. All the matches are held at Auckland's

National Rugby League

The 2014 NRL Season will run from 6 March 2014 to 5 October 2014, with the latter date hosting the Grand Final at Sydney's ANZ Stadium.

State of Origin

Europe

Super League XIX

The Super League is the top club competition in Europe. In 2014 there are thirteen English teams and one French team in the 2014 season, known as Super League XIX with the bottom two teams on the table set to be relegated at the end of the regular season. (* – Bradford Bulls deducted 6 points on 25 February 2014 for entering administration)

Carnegie Challenge Cup

The 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. It features teams from across Europe including England, Scotland, Wales, France and Russia. The final of the 2014 Cup is held at the prestigious Wembley Stadium in London on 23 August.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Test Matches

ANZAC Test

Pacific Rugby League International

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

2014 Four Nations

Final

Other Test Match results

Regional Tournaments – Europe

Regional Tournaments – Asia/Middle East & The Atlantic

Trans-Continental

Domestic Competitions

Australasia

NRL Auckland Nines

National Rugby League

State of Origin

Europe

Super League XIX

Carnegie Challenge Cup

Other competition results

Australia & Oceania

Europe

Africa

Asia & the Middle East

The Americas

See also

References