The Winfield Cup was an Australian

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 ...

trophy awarded to the winner of the

New South Wales Rugby League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

(NSWRL)

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-founded

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 ...

(ARL) Grand Final in 1995. Despite its name, the trophy was retired after the

1995 ARL season The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby Lea ...

when cigarette manufacturer

Winfield Winfield may refer to: Places Canada * Winfield, Alberta * Winfield, British Columbia United States * Winfield, Alabama * Winfield, Arkansas * Winfield, Georgia * Winfield, Illinois * Winfield, Indiana * Winfield, Iowa * Winfield, Kansas * W ...

was forced to withdraw their sponsorship, following the

Australian Federal Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

's introduction of the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 which outlawed tobacco advertising in sports in Australia. Winfield were not the first tobacco company to sponsor the NSWRL Premiership, however; from 1960 to 1981 the pre-season competition was sponsored by W. D. & H. O. Wills. A redesigned ARL premiership trophy, the

Optus Cup The 1997 Australian Rugby League season was the 90th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the third season run by the Australian Rugby League. While several clubs had left the League to compete in the 1997 Super Leag ...

, was introduced in 1996 and lasted until 1997 before the ARL and

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

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 ...

(NRL) in 1998.

''The Gladiators''

The Winfield Cup trophy was a three-dimensional

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

cast of a famous photo called ''The Gladiators'', which depicted a mud-soaked

Norm Provan Norman Douglas Somerville Provan (18 December 1932 – 13 October 2021) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Also nicknamed "Sticks", he was a second-row forward with the St George Dragons during the first ten of t ...

of St. George and Arthur Summons of Western Suburbs embracing after the 1963 Grand Final. This image became symbolic of the camaraderie and 'mateship' in rugby league and the present-day

Premiership Trophy (which evolved from the Winfield Cup) uses a similar design. The sculpture itself was designed by New Zealand-born sculptor Alan Ingham (b. 1920 – 1994).

Winners

References

External links

'Rugby League Was Better When It Was The Winfield Cup' A Facebook group dedicated to the years of the Winfield Cup
{{NRL Rugby league trophies and awards Rugby league competitions in Australia Tobacco advertising Rugby league competitions in New South Wales Recurring sporting events established in 1982 1982 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 1982 Australian sports trophies and awards New South Wales Rugby League premiership National cup competitions

''The Gladiators''

Winners

See also

References

External links