The golden point, a
sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
's now-defunct
golden goal.
Rugby league
Australia
The golden point is used to determine a winner (where applicable, see below) when scores are level at the end of regular time. Before its introduction in Australia's
National Rugby League (NRL) competition, normal season games were left as draws; in finals matches, 20 minutes extra time ensued (10 minutes each way), with a replay in the event of a draw.
If the scores are level at the end of 80 minutes, 5 minutes are played, the teams swap ends with no break, and a further 5 minutes are played. Any score (
try,
penalty goal, or
field goal) in this 10 minute period secures a win for the scoring team, and the game ends at that point. If the scoring event is a try, no conversion is attempted. If no scoring occurs in the 10-minute period, the game is drawn, and each team receives one competition point.
After the
2015 grand final was decided in golden point via a field goal by
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
halfback Johnathan Thurston, a change was made for finals matches only. Golden point in finals fixtures would now only be applied if scores are level after 10 minutes of extra time (five minutes each way).
It was announced at the beginning of the 1996 Australian Rugby League finals that the system, then termed a "shootout", would be employed for finals series matches. It was further experimented with in the 1997 split season's
Super League Tri-series. The golden point rule has been used by the NRL since the
2003 NRL season, and also by the
ARL for
State of Origin series games, as 1-all draws in the
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
and
2002 had left the series undecided.
The first golden point in State of Origin was scored in the
2004 series, when
Shaun Timmins kicked a
field goal for NSW to win the opening match of that series 9-8. In the opening match of the
2005 State of Origin series, a
Brett Kimmorley (NSW) pass was intercepted by
Matthew Bowen (QLD) in the 83rd minute to win Queensland the game.
In 2012, the golden point's merits were again being debated when Australian rugby league broadcaster, the
Nine Network's director of sport said "there is a definite spike in the viewing audience when there is golden point. I can't give the figures, but they're significant."
Great Britain
The
Challenge Cup, Great Britain's most prestigious knock-out tournament, operates under the golden point rule and also follows the NRL Finals system. One extra half of five minutes is played, and should neither team have scored any more points in that time, a second period commences until one of the teams scores again, thus winning the game. This does not happen in the final. If the final is drawn then the teams have a replay at a neutral ground. This was first applied in
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, when the
Castleford Tigers defeated
Halifax in extra time during the fifth round of the competition.
Brent Sherwin kicked a
drop goal in the 82nd minute to advance Castleford to the quarterfinals. The second being Warringtons stand off Lee Briers kicking a drop goal to see them through to the Semi Finals against Hull KR. The rule was used for a third time in the
2014 competition when
Rangi Chase scored a drop goal in the 83rd minute to send
Salford City Reds through 37–36 at
Hull F.C. in the third round.
The
Million Pound Game
Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual rugby league game that decides which Championship teams will be promoted to Super League, and which Super League teams would be relegated for the following season. Instituted in 2015 and ...
between
Salford City Reds and
Hull Kingston Rovers on 1 October 2016 was decided by a golden point for Salford after the 80 minutes ended 18–18. The result saw Salford maintain Super League status, whilst Hull KR dropped into the National League. A golden point decided a Super League playoff game for the first time on 28 September 2017 for Castleford after a 22–22 draw after 80 minutes. The result saw Castleford defeat St Helens to reach the Super League Grand Final.
On 19 November 2018, it was confirmed that
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 ...
would be adopting golden point during regular season for the first time as of the start of the
2019 season, bringing it in line with the NRL. Super League's first ever regular season golden point game saw Hull FC defeat
Wigan Warriors 23–22 on 24 February 2019 after a
Marc Sneyd drop goal. On 13 February 2025, the match between Wigan Warriors and
Leigh Leopards became the first in Super League history to be scoreless after 80 minutes; Leigh won 1–0 after a golden point drop goal by
Gareth O'Brien.
Friendlies may apply the golden point rule, depending on the format of the tie.
Golden point was introduced in the
Championship and
League 1 competitions commencing with the 2020 season. However unlike Super League where the winners of a golden point take both competition points, in the lower leagues each team will earn one competition point in a drawn game at the end of normal time with a third point going to the team that scores the golden point.
Internationals
Golden point is also applied to the
Tri-Nations final. The format follows that of the NRL finals series: a five-minute period of play followed by a brief pause and then if no points have been scored a second period that continues until points are scored.
In the
2006 series, Australia and New Zealand were locked 12-12 at full-time.
Darren Lockyer scored a try in the 87th minute to win the title for Australia.
The
2023 World Club Challenge was the first
World Club Challenge match to be decided in golden point extra time, with
Lewis Dodd kicking the match-winning field goal to give
St Helens R.F.C. a 13–12 victory over the
Penrith Panthers, and their first World Club Challenge title since
2007.
Australian rules football
From 2016 to 2019, the
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
grand final had a golden point should the scores be tied at full time, and after two 5 minute overtime periods, after the system was adopted for other finals in 1991. However the tie-breaker was never used.
Gridiron
Golden point (known in North America as "sudden death") was the method of breaking ties in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
regular season from 1974 to 2011, and in the
NFL playoffs
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs is the annual single-elimination tournament held to determine the National Football League, league champion. The four-round tournament is held after the league's regular season. Since the 2020 NFL seaso ...
from 1946 to 2010.
The only other football organization to use golden point was to be the
Alliance of American Football, which planned to use sudden death for its playoffs; the AAF ceased play before the playoffs were held.
The AAF regular season,
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
,
high school football
High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...
and
Canadian football all use a procedure known as the
Kansas Playoff, where teams are each given a possession near the opponent's goal line and alternate until the game is decided; before the Kansas Playoff, games simply ended in ties (draws), since the only situation where ties were impractical (multiple-round knockout playoff tournaments) were not implemented in most high schools until the 1970s, at lower college levels until the 1980s, and the highest level of college football until 2014.
Golden point has long been perceived as a particularly poor fit for gridiron-based football codes, as possession of the ball is far more secure in the game; the first team to secure possession (which is decided by
coin toss) would only need to advance to
field goal range and kick the winning field goal, with the opponent having no chance to possess the ball or score, thus effectively deciding the game by the random outcome of the coin toss.
Badminton
In
badminton, this method is used to decide the set and/or match when it is tied at 29–all. Whoever scores this point wins the set.
See also
*
List of National Rugby League golden point games
External links
A list of golden point games in the NRL
References
{{Reflist, 2
Rugby league terminology