World Club Challenge

World Club Challenge
Founded 1976
Region  Australia
 England
(RFL)
Number of teams 2
Related competitions World Club Series
Super League
NRL
Current champions North Queensland Cowboys
(1st Title)
Most successful club(s) Bradford Bulls
Leeds Rhinos
Wigan Warriors
Sydney Roosters
Melbourne Storm
(3 Titles Each)
Television broadcasters Nine Network
Sky Sports
2016 World Club Series

The World Club Challenge is an annually held competition between the winners of the Australian NRL and the European Super League. The first such match was played in 1976 but did not become a regular fixture until the late 1980s. It was also punctuated in the 1990s by the Super League war but has been held every year since 2000. The North Queensland Cowboys are the current champions, having defeated the Leeds Rhinos 38–4 in 2016.

The World Club Challenge is now the championship match for the World Club Series which began at the beginning of 2015. The World Club Series includes two other games, these games are exhibition matches before the main game, the World Club Challenge. As the World Club Challenge is a match between the premiers of the NRL and the Super League Champions, it has been possible for teams from New Zealand, France and Wales to win it as well as England and Australia, however, to date only English and Australian sides have competed in and won the World Club Challenge.

History

1976–1999: Origin and development

The competition began so 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.[1]

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.

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.

The Sydney Morning Herald, September 1992[2]

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.[3] However this didn't eventuate.

2000–2014: Regular competition

When it was resurrected in 2000, the World Club Challenge was once more played between the winners of the premierships in Australasia and Europe. During this period it was contested annually in the United Kingdom in late January or early February, before the commencement National Rugby League season and the Super League season. Over this period Super League teams dominated the tournament winning 7 of 9 matches, and this led one Australian commentator to deride the competition, citing the British refusal to play the game outside of the UK, the effects of jet lag on an Australian team who arrived in England only a couple of days before the game, and wintry conditions as reasons for Australian team's poor performance. In addition, the games were being played at the beginning of the new season instead of at the end of the previous season, so the rosters of both sides had normally changed considerably, therefore the teams that took the field were not the ones that won the respective premierships. For these reasons, it was viewed as merely a pre-season warm up game by most Australasian teams and fans.[4][5]

Since the 2009 tournament, its popularity has increased with stronger crowds and also with Australian teams taking the concept more seriously, Australian teams were arriving earlier to acclimatize the players and often organising warm up games with other super league sides and this created a much stronger showing and improved results. This also led to an increased movement to having the tournament staged in Australia. During this period, the matches were fixtured in late February, still before the commencement National Rugby League season but in the early stages of the new Super League season.

In mid-2012, a working party was established to look into the feasibility of conducting the match in either a neutral or Australian venue and also looking into the possibility of expanding the tournament.[6] In February 2013, the changes to the tournament were gaining momentum with the NRL and Super League agreeing to begin alternating the World Club Challenge tournament between UK and Australia. These changes were finally confirmed in November 2013, with both parties agreeing that the 2014 World Club Challenge would be the first held in Australia since 1994.[7] In addition, commencing in 2015, the tournament will also be expanded to six teams.[8] The World Club Challenge return to Australia in 2014 was a success with a solid crowd numbers of just over 31,000, with the Sydney Roosters defeating the Wigan Warriors 36-14. During the game, Sydney's Michael Jennings became the first player to score a hat trick of tries in a World Club Challenge.

2015-present: World Club Series

Main article: World Club Series

In September 2014 it was announced that the World Club Challenge name would be changed to the World Club Series with six clubs participating - 3 from each league.[9] It took place between February 20–22, 2015, and featured three matches, the first and second essentially being two exhibition games and the final game being for the Championship trophy between the two respective premiers as in previous years.[10]

List of participants

World Club Challenge Participants
Colors Club Established City League Titles (Last)
Bradford Bulls 1907 Bradford, West Yorkshire England Super League 3 (2006)
Brisbane Broncos 1987 Brisbane, Queensland Australia NRL 2 (1997)
Canberra Raiders 1981 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia NRL 0
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 1934 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 0
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 1967 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 0
Hunter Mariners 1995 Newcastle, New South Wales Australia NRL 0
Leeds Rhinos 1870 Leeds, West Yorkshire England Super League 3 (2012)
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 1946 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 1 (2009)
Melbourne Storm 1997 Melbourne, Victoria Australia NRL 3 (2013)
Newcastle Knights 1988 Newcastle, New South Wales Australia NRL 0
North Queensland Cowboys 1993 Townsville, Queensland Australia NRL 1 (2016)
Penrith Panthers 1966 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 0
South Sydney Rabbitohs 1908 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 1 (2015)
St George Illawarra Dragons 1998 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 1 (2011)
St Helens 1873 St Helens, Merseyside England Super League 2 (2007)
Sydney Roosters 1908 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 3 (2014)
Wests Tigers 1999 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 0
Widnes Vikings 1875 Widnes, Cheshire England Super League 1 (1989)
Wigan Warriors 1872 Wigan, Greater Manchester England Super League 3 (1994)

*capacity for rugby league games may differ from official stadium capacity.

World Club Challenge finals

18 teams have competed in the World Club Challenge with 12 teams being successful and being crowned world champions.

Year Winners Score Runners-up
1976 Eastern Suburbs Roosters 25-2 St Helens
1987 Wigan 8-2 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
1989 Widnes 30-18 Canberra Raiders
1991 Wigan 21-4 Penrith Panthers
1992 Brisbane Broncos 22-8 Wigan
1994 Wigan 20-14 Brisbane Broncos
1997* Brisbane Broncos 36-12 Hunter Mariners
2000 Melbourne Storm 44-6 St Helens
2001 St Helens 20-18 Brisbane Broncos
2002 Bradford Bulls 41-26 Newcastle Knights
2003 Sydney Roosters 38-0 St Helens
2004 Bradford Bulls 22-4 Penrith Panthers
2005 Leeds Rhinos 39-32 Bulldogs
2006 Bradford Bulls 30-10 Wests Tigers
2007 St Helens 18-14 Brisbane Broncos
2008 Leeds Rhinos 11-4 Melbourne Storm
2009 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 28-20 Leeds Rhinos
2010 Melbourne Storm* 18-10 Leeds Rhinos
2011 St George-Illawarra Dragons 21-15 Wigan Warriors
2012 Leeds Rhinos 26-12 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
2013 Melbourne Storm 18-14 Leeds Rhinos
2014 Sydney Roosters 36-14 Wigan Warriors
2015 South Sydney Rabbitohs 39-0 St Helens
2016 North Queensland Cowboys 38-4 Leeds Rhinos
2017 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks V Wigan Warriors

Winners

Club Wins Last win Runners-up Last final lost Total finals
1 Leeds Rhinos32012420167
2 Wigan Warriors 31994320146
3 Sydney Roosters 320140N/A3
4 Bradford Bulls320060N/A3
5 Melbourne Storm22013120084
6 St Helens22007420156
7 Brisbane Broncos21997320075
8 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles12009220123
9 North Queensland Cowboys120160N/A1
10 South Sydney Rabbitohs120150N/A1
11 St George Illawarra Dragons120110N/A1
12 Widnes Vikings119890N/A1
13 Penrith Panthers0N/A220042
14 Wests Tigers0N/A120061
15 Canterbury Bulldogs0N/A120051
16 Newcastle Knights0N/A120021
17 Hunter Mariners0N/A119971
18 Canberra Raiders0N/A119891
Country Wins
1England Super League 12
2Australia NRL 11

Venues

City Stadium Years
1England LeedsElland Road 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010
2England BoltonMacron Stadium 2001, 2003, 2007
3England HuddersfieldJohn Smiths Stadium 2002, 2004, 2006
4England LeedsHeadingley Carnegie Stadium 2012, 2013, 2016
6England WiganDW Stadium 2000, 2011, 2017
5England WiganCentral Park 1987, 1992
7Australia SydneySydney Cricket Ground 1976
8England ManchesterOld Trafford 1989
9England LiverpoolAnfield 1991
10Australia BrisbaneQueensland Sport and Athletics Centre 1994
11New Zealand AucklandMount Smart Stadium 1997
12Australia SydneySydney Football Stadium 2014
13England St HelensLangtree Park 2015

Attendance

Highest

Year City Stadium Attendance
1994BrisbaneANZ Stadium54,220

Lowest

Year City Stadium Attendance
1997AucklandMount Smart Stadium12,000

Records

Sponsors

The World Club Challenge has been sponsored sporadically since its formation with 7 different sponsors.

Period Sponsor Name
1987–1991 Foster's Foster's World Club Challenge
1992–1993 None World Club Challenge
1994–1996 MMI MMI World Club Challenge
1997–2004 None World Club Challenge
2005–2009 Carnegie Carnegie World Club Challenge
2010 Gillette Gillette World Club Challenge
2011 Probiz Probiz World Club Challenge
2012 Heinz Big Soup Heinz Big Soup World Club Challenge
2013 Probiz Probiz World Club Challenge
2014-2015 None World Club Challenge
2016-2018 Dacia Dacia World Club Challenge

References

  1. Wilson, Andy (3 October 2010). "Wigan prepare to slay Dragons after crushing St Helens in Grand Final". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  2. Townsend, David (27 September 1992). "Just a Touch of the Old Dart". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax Media. p. 47. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  3. Hadfield, Dave (1998-09-23). "League proposes show in S Africa". The Independent. UK: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  4. Phil Gould (2006-02-05). "Humbling highlights Tigers' reliance on Benji". SMH. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  5. Langdon, Mark (2005-02-04). "Deadly Danny can get St Helens off to a flyer". The Racing Post. London, England: MGN LTD. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
  6. rleague.com (2012-05-20). "World Club Challenge Expansion Working Party Group". rleague.com. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
  7. nrl.com (2013-11-18). "World Club Challenge confirmed for Aust". nrl.com. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
  8. Steve Mascord (2013-02-14). "World Club Challenge to be held in Australia". Canberra Times. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
  9. http://rugbyleagueweek.com.au/world-club-series-details-announced/
  10. http://www.nrl.com/dragons-to-play-in-world-club-series/tabid/10874/newsid/82453/default.aspx
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