World Club Series
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The World Club Series is an annual rugby league football competition played between the clubs from the Australasian National Rugby League and the European Super League. The competition includes the World Club Challenge, a single match played between the two champions of each league.
The first series was played in 2015, while the World Club Challenge was first contested in 1976.
Contents
History
1976–2014: World Club Challenge
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The competition began unofficially in 1976 as a match between Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Premiership winners St Helens. In 1987, another unofficial match took place when Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay invited Manly-Warringah to Central Park.[2]
The first official World Club Challenge was between Widnes and Canberra in 1989. Three further matches, each involving Wigan, were staged in the early 1990s with the 1994 match being staged in Australia. This would be the last time for 20 years that this would happen.<templatestyles src="Template:Quote_box/styles.css" />
If only we could see a genuine contest between Wigan and Brisbane – a World Club final. Alas, it will never happen. Oh sure, a game might be arranged, but logistics dictate that one side would be out of season, rusty or tired, and away from home.
After the 1994 match logistical issues meant the concept was put on hiatus until it was revived in 1997. With the outbreak of Australia's Super League War in 1995, the World Club Challenge was not staged again until 1997 when the competition was restructured to include twenty-two clubs from the Australian and European Super Leagues. With six rounds in two hemispheres and $1,000,000 prize money, the competition was prohibitively expensive to stage and reportedly lost over $5,000,000. This, coupled with the poor ratings and attendances both in Australia and Europe, led to the competition being postponed for two seasons.
Returning to a one-off match between the League champions in 1998, a World Club Challenge as a show-piece fixture at Ellis Park in Johannesburg was mooted.[4] However this didn't eventuate.
2015-present: World Club Series
In September 2014 it was announced that the World Club Challenge would be expanded, with four extra clubs participating in the World Club Series.[5] The first edition took place between 20 and 22 February 2015 and featured three matches, the first and second essentially being two exhibition games and the final game being for the World Club Challenge match between the two respective premiers as in previous years.[6] The first World Club Series was won outright by the Australians with St. George Illawarra Dragons and Brisbane Broncos narrowly beating Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors in the first two games to win the series and South Sydney beating St Helens RFC 39-0 in the World Club Challenge, which was the biggest winning margin in the history of the competition.
Qualification
Super League
The three teams from Super League that's qualify to play in the World Club Series are:
- Challenge Cup Winners
- League Leaders
- Grand Final Winners
If a team wins both Challenge Cup and League Leaders Shield then the Grand Final runners up will qualify. If a team completes the treble then the RFL will decide who the third team will be.
NRL
During the first Series in 2015, the NRL did not specify any specific qualification to play in the World Club Series. From 2016 however the three teams that qualify are:
- Minor Premiership Winners
- Grand Final Runners Up
- Grand Final Winners
If a team were to win both Minor Premiership and Grand Final then the team finishing second in the league would qualify unless they reached the Grand Final in which case the third placed team would qualify.
List of participants
- Only contains clubs who appeared in the World Club Series from 2015 onwards.
| World Club Series Participants | ||||||
| Colors | Club | Established | City | Stadium | Capacity* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Brisbane Broncos | 1987 | Brisbane, Queensland | Suncorp Stadium | 52,500 | |
|
|
Leeds Rhinos | 1864 | Leeds, West Yorkshire | Headingley Carnegie Stadium | 21,000 | |
|
|
North Queensland Cowboys | 1995 | Townsville, Queensland | 1300SMILES Stadium | 26,500 | |
 |
South Sydney Rabbitohs | 1908 | Redfern, New South Wales | ANZ Stadium | 84,000 | |
|
|
St George Illawarra Dragons | 1998 | Sydney, New South Wales | WIN Jubilee Oval | 22,000 | |
 |
Sydney Roosters | 1908 | Sydney, New South Wales | Allianz Stadium | 45,500 | |
|
|
St Helens | 1873 | St Helens, Merseyside | Langtree Park | 18,000 | |
|
|
Warrington Wolves | 1876 | Warrington, Cheshire | Halliwell Jones Stadium | 15,500 | |
|
|
Wigan Warriors | 1872 | Wigan, Greater Manchester | DW Stadium | 24,057 | |
*capacity for rugby league games may differ from official stadium capacity.
Results
| Game went to Golden Point extra time |
- See World Club Challenge for list of finals before 2015.
| Year | Game | Result | Stadium | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | Score | Runners-up | |||
| 2015 | Game 1 |  St George Illawarra |
18-12 | File:Wolvescolours.svg Warrington | Halliwell Jones Stadium |
| Game 2 | Brisbane |
14-12 | File:Wigancolours.svg Wigan | DW Stadium | |
| World Club Challenge | South Sydney |
39-0 | File:Saintscolours.svg St Helens | Langtree Park | |
| 2016 | Game 1 | File:Saintscolours.svg St Helens | Vs | Sydney |
Langtree Park |
| Game 2 | File:Wigancolours.svg Wigan | Vs | Brisbane |
DW Stadium | |
| World Club Challenge | File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds | Vs | File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland | Headingley Carnegie Stadium | |
Winners
| Rank | Club | Appearances | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sydney Rabbitohs |
1 | 2015 (1) | (0) |
| 2 | St George Illawarra Dragons |
1 | 2015 (1) | (0) |
| 3 | Brisbane Broncos |
1 | 2015 (1) | (0) |
| 4 | File:Saintscolours.svg St Helens RLFC | 1 | (0) | 2015 (1) |
| 5 | File:Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors | 1 | (0) | 2015 (1) |
| 6 | File:Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves | 1 | (0) | 2015 (1) |
* Bold: World Club Challenge Game
Series Wins
| Country | Wins | Years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  NRL |
1 | 2015 |
| 2 |  Super League |
0 |
Records
Venues
| City | Stadium | Years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wigan |
DW Stadium | 2015, 2016 |
| 2 | St Helens |
Langtree Park | 2015, 2016 |
| 3 | Warrington |
Halliwell Jones Stadium | 2015 |
| 4 | Leeds |
Headingley Carnegie Stadium | 2016 |
Attendance
Highest
| Year | City | Stadium | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Wigan | DW Stadium | 20,842 |
Lowest
| Year | City | Stadium | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Warrington | Halliwell Jones Stadium | 13,080 |
Sponsors
| Period | Sponsor | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2015- | AFEX | AFRX World Club Series |
See also
References
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- Rugby Super League website
- telegraph.co.uk website
External links
- RLIF.ORG – Rugby League International Federation
- World Club Challenge Preview
- World Club Challenge Review
- World Club Challenge at 188-rugby-league.co.uk
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://rugbyleagueweek.com.au/world-club-series-details-announced/
- ↑ http://www.nrl.com/dragons-to-play-in-world-club-series/tabid/10874/newsid/82453/default.aspx
