The Super League World Nines (known as the ''

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develo ...

Super League World Nines'' due to sponsorship), was a pre-season

rugby league nines Rugby league nines (or simply nines) is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in ...

tournament between national sides. Set up in the midst of the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

and created in opposition to the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

World Sevens The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

tournament, the tournament was held twice before being abandoned when the two factions merged to form the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

History

1996 Super League World Nines Tournament

The 1996 World Nines were held at

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Div ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

from 22 February to 24 February. The winner of this competition was

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, who won their first world trophy in a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

competition.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual '96'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

, 1996. p.48 New Zealand were awarded A$30,000 for the win. The 1996 World Nines marked the first time that a video referee was used for a game of Rugby League or Rugby Union . Due to a court ruling in the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

, this was the only Super League competition held in 1996.

1997 Tournament

The 1997 World Nines were held in Townsville, Queensland from 31 January to 2 February. New Zealand won this competition for the second year in a row.

Squads

1996 Tournament.

All teams were selected as professional playing squads. Sixteen squads competed in Suva: - Ireland played in a warm up test V's Australia at the Fiji National Stadium in the week leading up to the World Nines. 14 February 1996. Australia winning 22:12. John Kirwan (New Zealand) won a Rugby Union World Cup Winners Medal with the All Blacks in the 1st ever Rugby World Cup 1987. Kirwan would go on to Coach both Italy and Japan National Rugby Union Teams Henry Paul (New Zealand) would represent ~ Bath, Gloucester and England in Rugby Union.

Gary Connolly Gary John Connolly (born 22 June 1971) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s as a and for St Helens, Canterbury Bulldogs, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos and for the Great Britain national si ...

, of England, and Martin Hall, the Welsh captain, were forced to withdraw from their respective squads after being threatened with legal action by the

. *Gary Connolly would go on to transfer to play for Munster Rugby Union 1998 - Ireland. Scott Quinnell, Allan Bateman (Wales) would both return to Rugby Union and play for the British & Irish Lions in the winning series v's South Africa. Iestyn Harris (Wales) would represent Wales in Rugby Union. Andy Farrell (England) went on the represent England in Rugby Union, and to coach England and later Ireland in Rugby Union Georgie Graham (Scotland) would represent Scotland in Rugby Union

1997 Tournament

Twelve squads of fourteen players competed in Townsville:World Nines Tournament 1997
''rugby-league-world.com''

Finals

References

External links

{{1997 in rugby league Super League Recurring sporting events established in 1996 1997 in Australian rugby league 1996 in Fijian sport 1996 in rugby league 1997 in rugby league International rugby league competitions hosted by Australia Rugby league nines

History

1996 Super League World Nines Tournament

1997 Tournament

Squads

1996 Tournament.

1997 Tournament

Finals

See also

References

External links