Super League (Australia)
| Super League | |
|---|---|
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|
| Sport | Rugby league |
| Instituted | 1997 |
| Inaugural season | 1997 |
| Ceased | 1997 |
| Replaced by | National Rugby League |
| Chief Executive | John Ribot |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| Countries |
 Australia New Zealand
|
| Premiers |
 Brisbane Broncos (1997)
|
Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australia and New Zealand for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the pay television rights to rugby league in Australia. After two years of legal battles the competition was played for a single season in 1997 alongside the rival Australian Rugby League (ARL) competition before the two merged in 1998 to form the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Super League war was the corporate dispute that was fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s between the Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer and Optus Vision-backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting rights for, and ultimately control of the top-level professional rugby league football competition of Australasia. After much court action from the already-existing ARL to prevent it from happening, Super League ran one premiership season parallel to the ARL's in 1997 after signing enough clubs disenchanted with the traditional administration to do so. At the conclusion of that season a peace deal was reached and both Leagues united to form the National Rugby League of today.
Ten clubs competed in domestic competition; eight which had previously competed in the Australian Rugby League, and two new teams. The teams were:
The Telstra Cup was a ten team competition held over 18 rounds. The season was dominated by the minor premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, who won 14 of their 18 matches, losing only to the Penrith Panthers, the Hunter Mariners and eventual runners-up, the Cronulla Sharks. The Grand Final was played at Brisbane's ANZ Stadium in front of 58,912 people, the ground record for that venue. The Broncos defeated the Sharks 26–8 to win their third premiership. The Auckland Warriors had teams in both the Reserve grade and two age-group Grand Finals but lost all three.
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