This article contains information on

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 ...

played in 2006. The season commenced with the

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. Super League sides have won the c ...

in England in February and concluded with the Tri-Nations Final in Australia in November.

January

World Club Challenge

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

won the one-off match against

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

30–10 at Galpharm Stadium,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

February

National Rugby League trial matches

Week 1

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

def. Nth Qld 36–4. Rockhampton, NSW. 11/2/2006
Report
*

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

def.

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

28–16. Auckland, New Zealand
Report
*

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

def.

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

38–18. Ballina, NSW. 11/2/200
report

Week 2

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

and the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

played their annual Charity Shield match. The Rabbitohs narrowly took the shield with a score of 14–12, while most of the Dragons' top grade players were being rested on the bench in preparation for weeks to come. Other results from this week of trials included: *

def.

28–20. Port Macquarie, NSW. *

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central ...

def.

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

34–30. Mollymook, NSW. * Nth Qld def.

26–10. Cairns, Qld. Crowd: c. 15,000. *

def.

30–24. Exies Oval, Griffith, NSW. Crowd: 6,831. * Penrith def.

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

38–30. Alice Springs, NT. *

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

def. Manly 44–14. Central Coast Stadium, Gosford, NSW. Crowd: c. 10,000.

Week 3

* Manly def. Wests 42–18. Brookvale Oval, Sydney, NSW. *

def.

58–10. Toowoomba Stadium, Toowoomba, QLD. *

def.

24–20. Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast, Qld. *

def.

22–4 *

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

def. Souths 42–0 * Penrith def.

26–14. Regional Stadium, Port Macquarie, NSW. *

def. St George Illawarra 16–12. WIN Stadium, Wollongong, NSW.

May

5 -

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 2006 ANZAC Test is played at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

between Australia and New Zealand is won by the Kangaroos 50-12.
12 -

Dubbo Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the ...

: In the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Syd ...

match, Country NSW defeated City NSW 12–10 at Apex Oval before a crowd of 11,423.

July

5 July -

Telstra Dome Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was completed ...

before a crowd of 54,833 the

2006 State of Origin series The 2006 State of Origin series was the 25th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under ' state of origin' se ...

concludes with Queensland defeating New South Wales

August

*3rd – Australia: Rugby league film '' Footy Legends'' is released.

September

*21st – Sydney, Australia: The 8th annual

Tom Brock Lecture The Tom Brock Lecture is an annual scholarly lecture organised by the Australian Society for Sports History at the bequest of Australian sports historian Tom Brock (historian), Tom Brock. The topic of the lecture is the history of rugby league fo ...

, entitled ''The Stuff of Dreams, or the Dream Stuffed? Rugby League, Media Empires, Sex Scandals, and Global Plays'' is delivered by Dr. David Rowe.

October

*The

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

win the NRL Premiership after defeating first-placed

in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final 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. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

November

*8:

, Australia – The

Great Britain national rugby league team The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, p ...

plays against

for the last time, losing 10–33 at

before a crowd of 44,358

Regular season matches

Super League XI

The

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 ...

kicked off the weekend after the World Club Challenge with Hull F.C. defeating the newly promoted

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

42–18. This season saw the entry of

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

, who are the first French team to compete since the demise of

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

at the end of

Super League II Stones Bitter Super League II was the official name for the year 1997's Super League championship season, the 103rd season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the second to be played in summer. Teams Twelve teams were ...

. The regular season would finish with St. Helens taking out the minor premiership and the

being relegated to division one. The Super League Grand Final saw St. Helens claim a twelve championship with victory over Hull F.C. at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in front of 73,000.

National Rugby League – Season 2006

The 99th season of first grade rugby league in Australia was controversial before competition even began. The

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 ...

were fined and penalised four competition points for

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...

breaches in 2004 and 2005. They were fined and started the season on -4 points. The season began on Friday, 10 March, when defending premiers

and early favourites

played at

Telstra Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

. Melbourne Storm won the Minor Premiership, however, lost to the Brisbane Broncos in the Grand Final in front of over 79,000.

Powergen Challenge Cup 2006

The Powergen Rugby League

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

is the most prestigious knock-out competition in the world of Rugby League and the 2006 competition saw over a hundred clubs competing from countries including England, France,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, Scotland and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The final would see St. Helens take victory 41–12 over the

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

in front of 65,187.

UK National Leagues

The National Leagues kicked off on 7 April. There are three divisions, and the top team in National One has the opportunity to enter SuperLeague, subject to minimum standards.

AMNRL – Season 2006

The American National Rugby League kicked off on Wednesday 17 June with the Glen Mills Bulls defeating the Philadelphia Fight 48–26. This season saw the entry of three new competition teams the Jacksonville Axemen, New Haven Warriors and the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

. At the conclusion of the AMNRL regular season, the Glen Mills Bulls won the Minor Premiership, only to lose lost to the Connecticut Wildcats in the Grand Final Championship match in front of over 2,500.

International

Summary

Tests

Internationals

'A'/'B' internationals

Other international teams

Results

Sources

Trial matches

"Noble hails Bradford team effort"
BBC website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"2006 Charity Shield"
Rleague.com website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"2006 NRL Trials"
Rleague.com website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

State of Origin

Sydney Morning Herald website. Retrieved 25 May 2006

International

"Lionhearts Jet Off to Serbia"
England Lionhearts website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Serbia 6 England Lionhearts 46"
England Lionhearts website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Serbia 4 England Lionhearts 50"
England Lionhearts website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Aussies crush NZ in Johns finale"
BBC website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"World Cup European Preliminary Qualifying Tournament – Euro B"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

New Zealand Rugby League website. Retrieved 8 May 2006
"Lions to face Kiwis in June Test"
BBC website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 8 May 2006

Sydney Morning Herald website. Retrieved 11 May 2006

The Adelaide Advertiser website. Retrieved 12 May 2006
"Rugby League World Cup 2008 – European Qualifying Group"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 15 May 2006

Sporting Life. Retrieved 24 May 2006
"GB Police Set For Serbia"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 24 May 2006
"Belgrade Cup"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 25 May 2006
"Impressive Georgia Outrun Dutch in 2nd Half"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 28 May 2006
"European Preliminary Qualifying Group – Match 4"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 5 June 2006
"BARLA set for Italy"
British Amateur Rugby League Association website. Retrieved 6 June 2006

South African Rugby League website. Retrieved 6 June 2006

Cymru Rugby League website. Retrieved 7 June 2006

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 7 June 2006

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 8 June 2006
"BARLA convincingly wins their double header against Italy and South Africa"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 12 June 2006
"Scotland A v. France Federale"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 20 June 2006
"Euro Development Tri-nations"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 27 June 2006
"Great Britain 46–14 New Zealand"
bbc.co.uk website. Retrieved 28 June 2006.
"European Federation Development International"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 11 July 2006
"Wolfhound A v. Lionheart A Match Report"
Rugby League Ireland website. Retrieved 19 July 2006.

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 19 July 2006.
"Estonia 24 Germany 38 – Tallinn"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 26 July 2006
"Rugby League World Cup Pacific Qualifiers Loom"
Pacific Magazine Website. Retrieved 13 August 2006.
"Slavic Cup"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 14 August 2006

Scotland Rugby League website. Retrieved 16 August 2006
"England set for new tournament"
bbc.co.uk website. Retrieved 18 August 2006.

The National website. Retrieved 23 August 2006.
"Wolfhounds A triumph in Wales"
Rugby League Ireland website. Retrieved 23 August 2006.

Italia RL XIII website. Retrieved 23, August 2006.
"New Europe-Pacific tournament for Mate Ma’a Tonga"
Matangi Tonga Online, 29 August 2006. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
"RLEF Development Tri-nations"
Rugby League European Federation website. Retrieved 4 September 2004.

Cymru Rugby League website. Retrieved 20 September 2006. {{Portal, Sports Rugby league by year