World Club Series

Dacia World Club Series
Current season or competition:
2016 World Club Series
Sport Rugby league football
Instituted 2015
Number of teams 6
Country  Australia
 England (RFL[1])
Series winners Australia NRL (2nd title)
Most titles Australia NRL (2 titles)
Broadcast partner Nine Network
Sky Sports
Related competitions World Club Challenge
Super League
National Rugby League

The Dacia 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.

History

1976–2014: World Club Challenge

Main article: World Club Challenge

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.

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[3]

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.

1997 tournament trophy

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.

In 2016 a possible expansion to 8 teams was suggested. This would see two games being played in Australia and two games being played in the UK. The World Club Challenge would be played alternatively between the UK and Australia each year and a new points system would be introduced to determine the series winners: one point would be awarded to the winners of the first four games and two points to the winners of the Would Club Challenge.

Qualification

Qualification rules in the two league competitions mean that, in theory, teams from six different countries could compete in the competition (though only five countries could be represented in any one tournament). English, French and Welsh teams compete in the English league system and so are eligible to win any of the three available cups. In recent years, the Scottish league champions have been invited to take part in the first round of the Challenge Cup and so are eligible to win that competition and qualify for the series. In the NRL, teams from Australia and one team from New Zealand compete and so could win their league to qualify.

Super League

The three teams from Super League that qualify to play in the World Club Series are:

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:

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

World Club Series Participants
Colors Club Established City League Apps
(last)
 Brisbane Broncos 1987 Brisbane, Queensland Australia NRL 2
(2016)
 Leeds Rhinos 1864 Leeds West Yorkshire England Super League 1
(2016)
 North Queensland Cowboys 1995 Townsville, Queensland Australia NRL 1
(2016)
 South Sydney Rabbitohs 1908 Redfern, New South Wales Australia NRL 1
(2015)
 St George Illawarra Dragons 1998 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 1
(2015)
 Sydney Roosters 1908 Sydney, New South Wales Australia NRL 1
(2016)
 St Helens 1873 St Helens, Merseyside England Super League 2
(2016)
 Warrington Wolves 1876 Warrington, Cheshire England Super League 1
(2015)
 Wigan Warriors 1872 Wigan, Greater Manchester England Super League 2
(2016)

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

Results

Key to list of winners
Game went to Golden Point extra time
World Club Challenge
See World Club Challenge for list of finals before 2015.
Year Winners Score Runners-up Stadium
2015 St George Illawarra 18-12 Warrington Halliwell Jones Stadium
Brisbane 14-12 Wigan DW Stadium
South Sydney 39-0 St Helens Langtree Park
2016 Sydney 38-12 St Helens Langtree Park
Brisbane 42-12 Wigan DW Stadium
North Queensland 38-4 Leeds Headingley Carnegie Stadium
2017 Challenge Cup winners Minor Premiers
League Leaders Grand Final runners-up
SL Champions NRL Champions

Winners

Rank Club Apps Wins Losses
1 Brisbane2 (2) 2015, 2016 (0)
2 North Queensland1 (1) 2016 (0)
3 South Sydney1(1) 2015 (0)
4 St George Illawarra1(1) 2015 (0)
5 Sydney1 (1) 2016 (0)
6 St Helens2 (0) (2) 2015, 2016
7 Wigan2 (0) (2) 2015, 2016
8 Leeds Rhinos1 (0) (1) 2016
9 Warrington1 (0) (1) 2015

* Bold: World Club Challenge Game

Series Wins

Country Score Winning Years
1Australia NRL6(2) 2015, 2016
2England Super League 0

Venues

City Stadium Years
1England WiganDW Stadium 2015, 2016
2England St HelensLangtree Park 2015, 2016
3England WarringtonHalliwell Jones Stadium 2015
4England LeedsHeadingley Carnegie Stadium 2016

Attendance

Highest

Year City Stadium Attendance
2015WiganDW Stadium20,842

Lowest

Year City Stadium Attendance
2015WarringtonHalliwell Jones Stadium13,080

Sponsors

Period Sponsor Name
2015 none World Club Series
2016-2018 Dacia Dacia World Club Series

Records

References

  1. ↑ Sky Sports (2009-03-02). "RFL cool on bigger Challenge". BSkyB. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Andy (3 October 2010). "Wigan prepare to slay Dragons after crushing St Helens in Grand Final". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Hadfield, Dave (1998-09-23). "League proposes show in S Africa". The Independent (UK: independent.co.uk). Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  5. ↑ http://rugbyleagueweek.com.au/world-club-series-details-announced/
  6. ↑ http://www.nrl.com/dragons-to-play-in-world-club-series/tabid/10874/newsid/82453/default.aspx

Sources

External links

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