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Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of
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 ...
in the Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative team, the
Wellington rugby league team The Wellington Rugby League Team (also known as the Wellington Orcas) are a rugby league team that represents the Wellington Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They currently compete in the National Competition. History ...
.


Domestic Competition

The Senior WRL competition involves 9 teams in the Premier Grade with most fielding a Reserve Grade team also: *
Petone Panthers Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one'') is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in January 1840, making it ...
(Lower Hutt) * Porirua Vikings (Porirua) * Randwick Kingfishers (Lower Hutt) *
St George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...
(Porirua) * Te Aroha Eels (Lower Hutt) * University Hunters (Wellington City) * Upper Hutt Tigers (Upper Hutt) *
Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on pr ...
(Lower Hutt) * Whiti Te Rā (Otaki) * TOA Rugby league (Porirua) The 5 other clubs that aren't in the Senior WRL are: * Harbour City Eagles (Wellington City) * Kapiti Bears (Kapiti Coast) * Porirua City Phoenix (Porirua) * Titahi Bay Marlins (Porirua) * Trentham Titans (Upper Hutt) The winner is awarded the Appleton Shield, which has been in use since 1940. In 1912 four teams played for the Seigel Cup; Petone, Hutt, Athletic and Newtown. Petone won the first ever Wellington club competition.


History

Wellington played its first game on 24 August 1908 when they took on
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
at
Victoria Park, Auckland Victoria Park is a park and sports ground in the Auckland CBD, Auckland city centre, New Zealand. It was opened in 1905 and named after the queen who had died four years earlier. It lies on reclaimed bay land in Freemans Bay, a suburb directly ...
in the first provincial game of rugby league in New Zealand.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996. During 1909, 1910 and 1911 Wellington continued to play a number of provincial games and, in 1909, defeated Auckland in Auckland, 22-19, the first of only five victories over Auckland in over 100 years.


Foundation

The Wellington Rugby League Association was officially formed on 23 May 1912 at the Trades Hall in Wellington when 1907-08 All Golds captain, Hercules Richard (Bumper) Wright presided over a meeting of 75 footballers and supporters, many of them prominent
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
players in Wellington.History Of Wellington Rugby League Association
Wellington Rugby League
The founding committee was chaired by W J Riorden and included Daniel Fraser.


Post War years

Will Appleton Sir William Appleton (3 September 1889 – 22 October 1958) was a New Zealand local body politician, advertising agent and leading company director. He was Mayor of Wellington for two terms from 1944 to 1950 after serving as a city councillor f ...
was president of the Wellington Rugby Football League between 1940 and 1958 and presented the Appleton Shield, which is used to this day as the premier club trophy.


1990-1994 :Touring teams

In 1990 Wellington defeated the touring Great Britain side 30-22.Coffey and Wood ''The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League'' This is Wellington's only victory over a touring side.


1994-2000: Lion Red Cup

Between 1994 and 1996, Wellington was represented by the Wellington City Dukes and Hutt Valley Firehawks in the
Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...
. One player from the Dukes,
Earl Va'a Earl Va'a (born 1 May 1972)
Scrum.com
is a former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played internat ...
, later went on to represent
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
in
Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
. Both teams folded along with the competition in 1996.


2000-2007: Bartercard Cup

Wellington initially had two sides in the Bartercard Cup competition - the
Porirua Pumas The Porirua Pumas were a team representing the Porirua region in New Zealand, New Zealand's Bartercard Cup Rugby league competition. The Pumas were one of two Wellington-based teams in the competition, the other being the Wainuiomata Lions. Th ...
and the
Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on pr ...
, based in the city of Porirua and Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata respectively. Results between the two were dissimilar - with Wainuiomata reaching the preliminary final in the first season, and Porirua coming last place in theirs. However, in 2002 it was decided that one team (later to be named the
Wellington Orcas The Wellington Rugby League Team (also known as the Wellington Orcas) are a rugby league team that represents the Wellington Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They currently compete in the National Competition. History 1 ...
) was needed in the competition. They narrowly missed out on a finals spot in 2002, being on equal points but with a lower For and Against than the
Marist Richmond Brothers The Marist Richmond Brothers were a New Zealand rugby league franchise that played in the Bartercard Cup. They were a joint venture between two Auckland Rugby League clubs, the Richmond Bulldogs and the Marist Saints. In 2005 the competition was ...
. Unfortunately this was a high point for the franchise with the team never making the play-offs. In 2006, the then-unnamed Bartercard Cup franchises adopted the name of Wellington Orcas, after the unsuccessful NRL expansion bid.


2008-2009: Bartercard Premiership

The
Wellington Rugby League Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Wellington Region, Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative ...
were awarded a place in the new six-team National Provincial Competition as the region
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. The team plays its home matches at Porirua Park.


2010-present: NZRL National Competition

Wellington Rugby League was then placed in the
NZRL National Competition The NZRL Men's National Competition (previously called the National Zonal Competition) is the top-level rugby league competition run by the New Zealand Rugby League. In 2010 the competition replaced the Bartercard Premiership following a Sport an ...
as the replacement competition for the
Bartercard Premiership The NZRL Bartercard Premiership was a six-team rugby league competition that ran in 2008 in sports, 2008 and 2009 in sports, 2009. It replaced the now-defunct Bartercard Cup competition as the highest level of rugby league in New Zealand. Matches h ...
, known as the "
Wellington Orcas The Wellington Rugby League Team (also known as the Wellington Orcas) are a rugby league team that represents the Wellington Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They currently compete in the National Competition. History 1 ...
".


NRL Bid

In 2004, working with the Wellington Rugby League, a consortium called the Southern Orcas was involved in bidding for a
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 ...
franchise to be based in the city. The franchise ultimately went to the Gold Coast who joined the
NRL 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 ...
for the 2007 season. In 2007 reports emerged that the consortium was looking at the possibility of joining
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 ...
however nothing ever eventuated.RL CHIEF 'SCEPTICAL' OF ORCAS BID http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/07/04/08/RUGBYL_Orcas.html


Notable juniors competed in the NRL

Randwick Kingfishers * Mose Masoe *
Sika Manu Viliami Sikalamu "Sika" Manu (born 22 January 1987) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a forward for Tonga and New Zealand at international level, being a member of the World Cup winning Kiwi team who beat Australi ...
*
Ben Matulino Ben Andrew Matulino (born 3 January 1989) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s as a or . He played for the New Zealand Warriors and the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League, NRL, ...
*
Danny Levi Daniel Levi (born 5 December 1995) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for New Zealand, New Zealand Māori and Samoa at international level. He p ...
* Sione Katoa Upper Hutt Tigers *
Nelson Asofa-Solomona Nelson Asofa-Solomona (born 29 February 1996) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL) and New Zealand at international level. Asofa-Solomona won the 2017 ...
* Jordan Pereira Wellington Orcas *
Simon Mannering Simon Alexander Mannering (born 28 August 1986) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL. A New Zealand international second row forward, ...
(
New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
) *
Jahrome Hughes Jahrome Hughes (born 8 October 1994) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League, the New Zealand Māori and New Zealand at international level. He is an NRL premie ...
(
Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
)


References


External links


Wellington Rugby LeagueNew Zealand Rugby League
{{Authority control Rugby league in Wellington, Orcas Rugby league governing bodies in New Zealand