The Cyril Connell Challenge is an under-16 competition administered by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition was named after Cyril Connell Jr., who played 24 games for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and 2 Tests for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The tournament mainly features players from Queensland but from time to time, also teams from Victorian the Northern Territory.

History

First run in 2021, the competition replaced the QRL Junior State Championships, which ran from 2017 to 2020. Originally known as The Cyril Connell Cup the competition, which began in 2009, included the junior representative teams of

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 ...

clubs. The competition also featured teams from

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. In the 2016 season, the Cyril Connell Cup consisted of sixteen clubs: fifteen based within

and one in

. Eleven of the sixteen clubs were junior representative teams for

clubs. From 2011 to 2016, the winners of the Grand Final played the winners of the New South Wales’ under-16 competition, the

Harold Matthews Cup The NSWRL Harold Matthews Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales between teams made up of players aged under 17. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL). The competition is made up ...

, in the National Final. The 2020 competition was ultimately cancelled in the wake of the COVID pandemic before the tournament re-commenced in a round robin format for the 2021 season. The Cyril Connell Cup/Challenge was named after Cyril Connell Jr., who played 24 games for

and 2 Tests for

between 1952 and 1957.

Teams

In 2021 The Cyril Connell Challenge comprised 15 teams from across the state split into 3 pools. Thirteen of the fifteen clubs were junior representative teams for

clubs.

Tweed Heads Seagulls The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls or Tweed Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. It is one of only two club teams based outside of Queensland to play in the Queensland C ...

and

Redcliffe Dolphins Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league competition), Brisbane R ...

finished equal top of the ladder after going undefeated during their campaigns. Redcliffe would remain undefeated, topping the table in both the 2022 and 2023 editions of the tournament.

Clubs

Grand Final results

References

External links