''Big League'' was the official magazine of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. Its predecessor, ''The Rugby League News'', was first published in 1920; in 1974 it was rebranded as ''Big League''. In 2020, due to the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

and the initial suspension of the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-seaso ...

, production of the magazine was suspended and has not resumed; leaving the game without an official program. The magazine served as a game-day program, containing team line-ups, stats and feature stories. It went on sale every Thursday at newsagents and exclusively at all active NRL grounds on weekends. Since 2005 it had been published by

News Magazines A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or ne ...

; previously it was published by Text Magazines and

Pacific Magazines Pacific Magazines was a magazine publisher operating in Australia owned by Seven West Media. In March 2020, it was acquired by Bauer Media Australia in April 2020. In June 2020, Mercury Capital acquired Pacific Magazines as part of its purch ...

. The editor of the magazine was Maria Tsialis and the sub-editor was David Piepers. Senior writer was Pamela Whaley and staff writers were Michael Blok and Ben Lonergan. Craig Loughlin-Smith was the art director, who had been with the title since 1999. Along with the 30 weekly issues of the magazine, ''Big League'' also offered the following publications: A5-sized Season Guide, Season Preview, 100-page Grand Final Souvenir, Year In Review issue,

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

and Test souvenir programs and the Official Rugby League Annual, compiled by rugby league historian David Middleton.

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* {{NRL 1920 establishments in Australia Sports magazines published in Australia Weekly magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1920 Magazines published in Sydney News Corp Australia National Rugby League Rugby football magazines Rugby league mass media

See also

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External links