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 ...

is one of the most popular codes of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

. The

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

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 ...

became the Territory's first professional sports team when they were established in 1982. For decades before that

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 ...

clubs in the area had been competing and providing footballers for representative sides that played against domestic and foreign teams.

Governing body

The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and the

National Rugby League Teams

The

(NRL) is Australia's top-level competition for the sport of rugby league. The

are Canberra's

team, being admitted to the competition in 1982.

Canberra Rugby League

The Canberra Rugby League competition is more commonly known as the Canberra Raiders Cup, covering the

and surrounding

towns Queanbeyan, Goulburn and Yass. The competition is run under the auspices of the

Country Rugby League The Country Rugby League of New South Wales (CRL), formed in 1934 and disbanded in 2019, was the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in areas of New South Wales outside the Sydney metropolitan area until it merged with NSW Rug ...

and players are eligible for selection in the Monaro Division of the CRL Divisional Championships.

Representative rugby league

ACT players are eligible to represent Country in the NSWRL

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 ...

in an annual match against a City side selected by the NSWRL. It is played before the

Rugby League State of Origin The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

series and is often referred to as a selection trial for the New South Wales Blues team. They can also go onto play for New South Wales Blues in the

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 Oval ...

series against

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of O ...

. An Australian Capital Territories representative side took part in the early

Affiliated States Championship The Affiliated States Championship is an annual rugby league competition run by the Australian Rugby League involving the four affiliated states (Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia) plus the Australian Federal Po ...

External links

Official New South Wales Rugby League Site

Rugby league clubs in ACT and surrounding area

References