Rugby league in New South Wales

Rugby league in New South Wales
NSW Tertiary student rugby league
Governing body	New South Wales Rugby League
Representative team	New South Wales
Nickname(s)	League, Football, Footy, Greatest Game of All
First played	1907 in Sydney
Registered players	82,397[1] 450,000 (including variants)[2]
Club competitions
NSW Cup Ron Massey Cup Sydney Shield Central Northern Open Age Central West Open Age Penrith Open Men's Southern Open Age South Sydney A-Grade Barwon Darling Rugby League Canberra Rugby League Castlereagh Rugby League Central Coast Division George Tooke Shield Hastings League Illawarra Rugby League Macarthur Division Rugby League Mid West Cup Murray Cup Newcastle Rugby League Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League Outback Rugby League Sunraysia-Riverlands Rugby League Western Riverina Community Cup Woodbridge Cup Group 2 Rugby League Group 3 Rugby League Group 4 Rugby League Group 7 Rugby League Group 9 Rugby League Group 10 Rugby League Group 11 Rugby League Group 16 Rugby League Group 19 Rugby League Group 20 Rugby League Group 21 Rugby League
Audience records
Single match	107,999 (1999) St George Illawarra Dragons vs Melbourne Storm 1999 NRL Grand Final (Stadium Australia, Sydney)

Rugby league in New South Wales is the most popular spectator sport in the state, with the attendance and television audiences exceeding that of the various other codes of football. There are over 400,000 active rugby league participants, with a further 1 million playing the sport in schools, placing the sport second only to soccer for the most played sport in the state. There are more than 500 active clubs, ten of which are professional teams competing in the National Rugby League (NRL).

The code in Australia began in Sydney in 1907 when the New South Wales Rugby League was formed as a professional competition, following the rules of the Northern Rugby Football Union in England. New South Wales remains the headquarters in Australia, with the Australian Rugby League based in Sydney. Sydney hosts the annual NRL Grand Final and has hosted the Rugby League World Cup twice.

Rugby league, along with touch football variant is played in most secondary schools throughout the state as well as at junior and club levels.

The premier state-level league is the New South Wales Cup, involving reserve teams for New South Wales sides in the NRL.

The New South Wales rugby league team plays against the Queensland rugby league team annually in the State of Origin series. Origin legends include: James Tedesco, Jarryd Hayne, Andrew Ettingshausen, Eric Grothe, Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns, Phil Gould, Bradley Clyde, Paul Sironen, Ben Kennedy, Glenn Lazarus, Paul Harrogan, Danny Buderus, Steve Roach, Boyd Cordner, Michael O'Connor and Brett Kenny.^[3] Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, John Raper, Reg Gasnier, Graeme Langlands, Dally Messenger, Frank Burge and Dave Brown have been bestowed the title rugby league "Immortals".^[4]