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The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Football League Limited and succeeded the Australian Rugby Football League Board of Control which had been formed in 1924. Since its inception, the ARL has administered the Australian national team and represented Australia in international rugby league matters. Prior to 1998, the code in Australia had been principally administered by individual state leagues on a domestic basis, and the ARL on a national and international basis.


Competitions

The ARL controls the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
and
NRL Women's Premiership The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...
as well as annual representative competitions such as the
State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...
, the Indigenous
All Stars Match The Rugby League All Stars Match of the National Rugby League is an annual rugby league football match between the specially-formed Indigenous All Stars and an All Stars team, both of whose members are made available for selection public vote. ...
, the
Affiliated States Championship The Affiliated States Championship is an annual rugby league competition run by the Australian Rugby League involving the five affiliated states (Victoria, Australia, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia) ...
and the Women's National Championships. The ARL previously ran the National Youth Competition. This competition, which was for male players Under 20 years of age, was replaced in 2018 by state-run competitions. The
New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...
run the
Jersey Flegg Cup The Jersey Flegg Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales, Australia, contested among teams made up of players aged 21 or under. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), and is named ...
for male Under 21 players. The
Queensland Rugby League The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the mem ...
run the
Mal Meninga Cup The Mal Meninga Cup, known as the Auswide Bank Mal Meninga Cup due to sponsorship, is a junior rugby league football competition based in Queensland, played between teams made up of players aged under 18. The competition, administered by the Q ...
for male Under 18 players, with players Under 21 that are outside NRL squads playing for clubs in the open-age
Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...
.


History

Rugby league started in Australia in the period 1907–08. The Australian Rugby Football League Board of Control was formed by the
New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...
(NSWRL) and
Queensland Rugby League The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the mem ...
(QRL) in December 1924 to administer the running of the
national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
. George Ball was the first secretary of the Board and John La Maro the first chairman. Prior to this time, the international rugby league was organised jointly by the NSWRL and the QRL. It was only after this time that the Australian team began to wear the now-familiar sporting colours of Green and Gold. Since 1924, rugby league bodies in all other states and territories became affiliated to the Board of Control and ARL. Until 1984 the ARFL Board of Control was effectively run by the NSWRL board, and many Queensland players and administrators throughout this period believed that the NSWRL used this power to the detriment of Queenslanders, especially with respect to national team selection. In 1986 the ARL was incorporated under the name Australian Rugby Football League Limited as a separate entity and
Ken Arthurson Kenneth Richard "Arko" Arthurson AM (born 1 October 1929) is an Australian rugby league football identity. Affectionately known as "The Godfather of Manly", he played, coached and was later an administrator at the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles c ...
was the first executive chairman of the new body. With national expansion of the competition implemented for the 1995 season the NSWRL passed control of the
Winfield Cup The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-founded Australian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Fi ...
competition to the ARL. Following
Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...
's announcement that his
Optus Vision Optus Television is the cable television division of Australian telecommunications company Optus. History Its immediate predecessor was Optus Vision, a joint venture between Optus and Continental Cablevision, with small shareholdings by medi ...
company owned both free-to-air and pay television broadcasting rights for the sport in Australia,
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
, controlled by
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
, undertook a bold bid to create a rival competition,
Super League (Australia) 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 ...
. Super League successfully attracted eight of the ARL clubs. In the
1995 State of Origin series The 1995 State of Origin series was the 14th annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league teams. Due to the Australian Rugby League's ongoing conflicts with Super League, they ruled that no Sup ...
, the ARL forbade the players of those eight clubs from participating in the interstate competition. However, those clubs were allowed to participate in the premiership seasons of
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
and
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, while the ARL fought in the courtroom to stop the Super League competition from eventuating. However,
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
conducted a rival competition in 1997. Both the ARL and Super League competitions ran parallel to each other that year. At the close of the season, despite having the financial backing of
Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...
, the ARL decided that it could not survive if two competitions were run and undertook moves to approach News Corporation and join the national competition that had been created by Super League. As a consequence of the negotiations that followed, the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
was formed before the 1998 season from the ARL and Super League competitions. From 1998 to 2012, the National Rugby League Partnership, a power-sharing arrangement between
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
and the
Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...
(ARL), ran the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
competition as a consequence 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. Sup ...
. Between the 1998 season and the first few months of the 2012 season the ARL had six out of twelve seats on the NRL Partnership board. In 2012 News Limited exited the partnership on condition that the ARL was restructured with an independent board. The ARL was renamed as the Australian Rugby League Commission and restructured on 10 February 2012 and took control of the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
competition.


ARL Premiership, 1995-97

From 1995 to 1997, the ARL directly administered the national club premiership competition. Although they only won one ARL premiership in 1996, the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...
dominated the competition in its three years under the ARL name, winning each minor premiership (1995-1997), and appearing in all three Grand Finals.


ARL Development

ARL Development is a non-profit company that was formed by the ARL to develop the sport from an introductory level to the age of 18 years. In achieving this, ARL Development has developed new modified codes that gradually introduce children to rugby league. This is done by restricting the rules and then gradually releasing these restrictions. The two introductory modified codes currently in use are ''mini footy'' and ''
mod league Mod league is a form of rugby league developed by the Australian Rugby League. It was developed to introduce children to rugby league. Mod league follows on from mini football; it introduces laws more common to the full international laws of r ...
''. On completion of mod league, players make a move to full international rugby league laws.


Organisation structure

The ARL is governed by a board of directors, referred to as a “commission”. The board was previously composed of representatives of member clubs and state leagues but was reconstituted with directors independent of the member clubs and leagues and renamed as a “commission”. It is headquartered in Sydney at “Rugby League Central”,
Moore Park, New South Wales Moore Park is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney located from the Sydney central business district, CBD, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of local government area of the City of Sydney. Moore Park is also a large ...
. All 17
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
clubs and the
New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...
and the
Queensland Rugby League The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the mem ...
are members of the commission. This means that the commission has 19 shareholder members in total.


Primary Objects

The primary objects of the ARL are to: :(a) be the single controlling body and administrator of the Game; :(b) foster, develop, extend and provide adequate funding for the Game from the junior to elite levels and generally to act in the best interests of the Game; :(c) liaise with and delegate appropriate functions to governing bodies of the Game in the States and Territories of Australia, including the
NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...
and QRL; :(d) organise and conduct all State of Origin and Australian Representative Games; :(e) organise, conduct and foster the NRL Competition; :(g) liaise with the Rugby League International Federation Limited and organisations controlling the game in other countries in the fostering and control of the game of Rugby League throughout the world; :(h) promote and encourage either directly or indirectly the physical, cultural and intellectual welfare of young people in the community and, in particular, the Rugby League community; :(i) promote and encourage either directly or indirectly sport and recreation, particularly Rugby League football, in the interests of the social welfare of young persons.


Commissioners

The appointment of the original nine commissioners was intensely followed by the media. Placement firm Spencer Stuart shortlisted a list of potential members and the NRL Partnership whittled it down to the current members. Commissioners were required to not have had any link to any rugby league football governing body or organisation for the previous 2 years to ensure their independence. The inaugural ARL Commissioners were agreed by representatives of the NRL Partnership, the Leagues and the NRL clubs. Future Commissioners are appointed by the Commission itself.


Election of Commissioners

The Commissioners are appointed into different groups and, initially, for differing terms. Each Commissioner must, at a nominated time, resign and seek re-election at an Annual General Meeting. Commissioners in Group A were required to stand down before the 2013 Annual General Meeting, where they were able to re-apply for their position. Group B members were required to stand down before the 2014 AGM and Group C members were required to stand down before the 2015 meeting. Ten members may, with the additional support of both the NSW and Queensland Rugby Leagues, vote to remove a Commissioner. Fourteen members are required to remove a Commissioner without the support of both the NSW and Queensland Rugby Leagues. Should either of these events occur, the remaining Commissioners would appoint a replacement. A Commissioner who has been removed from office may not seek re-appointment for a period of three years.
Peter V'landys Peter V'landys is an Australian horse racing and rugby league administrator. He is the chief executive and a board member of Racing New South Wales as well as the chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission. Horse Racing administration ...
was appointed Chair on 30 October 2019, replacing
Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Syd ...
who reverted to a commissioner role. Beattie had served as Chair since February 2018. Andrew Abdo served as Interim CEO from late April 2020 until his appointment as CEO in early September 2020.


Former commissioners

David Gallop David Gallop is an Australian sports administrator, lawyer and served as the chief executive of the Football Federation Australia until December 2019. He previously served as the chief executive officer of the National Rugby League between Febr ...
was the initial chief executive officer of the restructured ARL Commission. He was previously the CEO of the NRL and his contract extension to become inaugural ARL CEO was a condition placed by News Limited with the ARL. On 5 June 2012 the ARL announced Gallop's departure from the CEO position and that he would take up a position at the
FFA FFA may refer to: Aviation and military * First Flight Airport, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States * Free-fire area in U.S. military parlance * Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, a Swiss aircraft and railway vehicle manufacturer * Fe ...
in 2013. David Smith was announced as the new ARL CEO in November 2012, taking charge on 1 February 2013.


Former Chief Executive Officers


References


External links

*
The ARL constitution

ARL One Community

Australian Rugby League official website
{{Authority control National Rugby League NRL Women's Premiership 1924 establishments in Australia Sports organizations established in 1924 1986 establishments in Australia Sports organizations established in 1986