World Club Challenge

World Club Challenge

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

Super League sides have won the competition 15 times with National Rugby League sides only having 14 wins including an all Australian final

The first such match was played in 1976, although this was not an official competitive game. The first official World Club Challenge saw Widnes Vikings beat Canberra Raiders 30–18 at Old Trafford on 4 October 1989, after which it became a semi-regular fixture due to the 1990s Super League war. The competition has been held every year since 2000 (excluding 2020–2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Wigan Warriors are the current champions, defeating Penrith Panthers 16–12 in 2024 at the DW Stadium in front of a sell out crowd of 24,091.

Sydney Roosters and Wigan Warriors have both won the competition 5 times which is the joint highest in all formats since the competition began.

Sydney Roosters are the most successful Australian and National Rugby League side, having won the trophy five times with no losses. Wigan Warriors are the most successful European and Super League side, with five wins. St Helens, Penrith Panthers and Leeds Rhinos have been runners up the most times, with four times each.

Penrith Panthers are arguably the most unsuccessful side in the competition being runners up four times but having never been crowned champions.

History

1976–1999: Origin and development

The competition began unofficially in 1976 as a match between Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Premiership winners St. Helens. This inaugural clash was proposed as merely a 'one-off' game, and was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on June 29, in the midst of the 1976 NSWRFL season.

While some considered it an unnecessary disruption to both teams' campaigns in their respective domestic competitions, a healthy crowd of 26,856 turned out for the match, indicating that it was indeed a viable initiative. Leading into the match, St. Helens opted to play two warm-up games against a Queensland and Auckland representative team respectively, and lost both. In order to prove their triumph was legitimate, and not a result of fatigue on behalf of St. Helens, Eastern Suburbs challenged both representative sides who had defeated St. Helens. While Queensland declined the offer, Auckland eagerly accepted, and were ultimately defeated by the tricolours 26–22 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Because the 1976 clash was a standalone game, there were no immediate plans for a follow-up match the next season, or indeed any in the foreseeable future.

The concept would not return until 1987, when another unofficial match took place. Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay invited Manly-Warringah to Central Park. Long-serving Manly secretary Ken Arthurson proposed that the prize money should be split between the two clubs, regardless of the outcome, however, Lindsay argued that the game should be played under a 'winner-takes-all' stipulation, believing that it would result in the players and fans taking the game more seriously. Played on a dry October night, the match between Manly and Wigan was a tough, at times spiteful, encounter which attracted 36,895 spectators to Wigan's Central Park, most of whom spilled onto the ground at fulltime in celebration of the home side's 8–2 victory. Manly forward Ron Gibbs became the first player to be sent off in a World Club Challenge game during the match, as he was given his marching orders following an illegal elbow to Wigan centre Joe Lydon as he attempted a drop-goal.

Sea Eagles captain Paul Vautin would later claim that his side's loss came down to the team's lackadaisical attitude toward the game, saying that Manly treated the fixture as an opportunity to travel to England for a holiday, where they would continue their grand final celebrations.

The first officially recognised World Club Challenge was between Widnes and Canberra in 1989. Three more World Club Challenge games were played in the 1990s – 1991, 1992 and 1994 – with Wigan appearing in all three (winning the first at Anfield, Liverpool, losing to the Brisbane Broncos at home in the second before memorably defeating the same opponent in their own city in the third).

If only we could see a genuine contest between Wigan and Brisbane – a World Club final. Alas, it will never happen. Oh sure, a game might be arranged, but logistics dictate that one side would be out of season, rusty or tired, and away from home.

The Sydney Morning Herald, September 1992

After the 1994 match logistical issues meant the concept was put on hiatus until it was revived in 1997.

With the outbreak of Australia's Super League War in 1995, the World Club Challenge was not staged again until 1997 when the competition was restructured to include the twenty-two clubs from the Australasian Super League and the European Super League. The twelve Australian Rugby League affiliated clubs did not take part. With six rounds in two hemispheres and $1,000,000 prize money, the competition was prohibitively expensive to stage and reportedly lost over $5,000,000. This, coupled with the poor ratings and attendances both in Australia and Europe, led to the competition being postponed for two seasons.

1997 tournament trophy

Returning to a one-off match between the League champions in 1998, a World Club Challenge as a show-piece fixture at Ellis Park in Johannesburg was mooted. However this did not eventuate.

2000–2014: Regular competition

When it was resurrected in 2000, the World Club Challenge was once more played between the winners of the premierships in Australasia and Europe. During this period it was contested annually in the United Kingdom in late January or early February, before the commencement National Rugby League season and the Super League season. Over this period Super League teams dominated the tournament winning 7 of 9 matches, and this led one Australian commentator to deride the competition, citing the British refusal to play the game outside of the UK, the effects of jet lag on an Australian team who arrived in England only a couple of days before the game, and wintry conditions as reasons for Australian team's poor performance. In addition, the games were being played at the beginning of the new season instead of at the end of the previous season, so the rosters of both sides had normally changed considerably, therefore the teams that took the field were not the ones that won the respective premierships. For these reasons, it was viewed as merely a pre-season warm up game by most Australasian teams and fans.

Since the 2009 tournament, its popularity has increased with stronger crowds and also with Australian teams taking the concept more seriously, Australian teams were arriving earlier to acclimatize the players and often organising warm up games with other super league sides and this created a much stronger showing and improved results. This also led to an increased movement to having the tournament staged in Australia. During this period, the matches were fixtured in late February, still before the commencement of the National Rugby League season but in the early stages of the new Super League season.[]

In mid-2012, a working party was established to look into the feasibility of conducting the match in either a neutral or Australian venue and also looking into the possibility of expanding the tournament. In February 2013, the changes to the tournament were gaining momentum with the NRL and Super League agreeing to begin alternating the World Club Challenge tournament between the UK and Australia. These changes were finally confirmed in November 2013, with both parties agreeing that the 2014 World Club Challenge would be the first held in Australia since 1994. In addition, commencing in 2015, the tournament would also be expanded to six teams. The World Club Challenge return to Australia in 2014 was a success with a solid crowd numbers of over 31,000, with the Sydney Roosters defeating the Wigan Warriors 36–14. During the game, Sydney's Michael Jennings became the first player to score a hat trick of tries in a World Club Challenge.[]

2015–2017: World Club Series

In September 2014, it was announced that the World Club Challenge name would be changed to the World Club Series with six clubs participating – 3 from each league. The first iteration took place between 20 and 22 February 2015, and featured three matches, the first and second essentially being two exhibition games and the final game being for the Championship trophy between the two respective premiers as in previous years.

In October 2017, it was suggested that the 2018 Series could be scrapped completely based on the top Australian teams reluctance to travel to the UK for the 2017 series which resulted in the Series being scaled back to two games only. In particular the second game of the 2017 series only featured an invited team from the NRL. In addition, the 2017 Rugby League World Cup being played in Australia at the end of 2017, meant that the preseasons for Australian teams was going to be unusually short ahead of the 2018 season and therefore did not want to make the trip to England for the 2018 series. The Melbourne Storm (2017 NRL Premiers) in particular, were reluctant to travel meaning the series was in danger of cancellation for the first time since the 1990s as it is the Storm that was playing in the World Club Challenge.

In June 2017, the Super League announced that the Australian city of Wollongong would host the first ever Super League game outside Europe. Wigan Warriors will "host" Hull F.C. in the game at WIN Stadium on Saturday, 10 February. In addition and as part of this trip to Australia, Wigan and Hull would also play two exhibition games against South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawarra Dragons respectively. These were separately arranged fixtures and not considered part of the World Club Series.

2018–2020: Return to single match format

On 14 November 2017, it was confirmed that Leeds Rhinos would travel to Australia to play Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park in Melbourne on 16 February 2018, and that the World Club Challenge would return to a one-game format for the first time since 2014. The Storm defeated Leeds 38–4 to become World Club Champions for 2018 and also became the first club to hold the NRL Minor Premiership, NRL Premiership and World Club Challenege at the same time since the Sydney Roosters in 2014.

On 22 February 2020, the Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back to back World Club Challenges, defeating St Helens 20–12 in the process. They also overtook Wigan in most challenges won with five.

2021–2022: COVID-19 cancellations

On 20 November 2020 it was announced that the 2021 World Club challenge, which was due to be played between Melbourne Storm and St Helens would be postponed until late in 2021 owing to the push back of seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing pandemic itself preventing overseas travel. However, due to the continuing issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the clash between St Helens and Melbourne was completely cancelled.

In October 2021, St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus said that while he hoped the 2022 version of this fixture could go ahead against the Penrith Panthers, he acknowledged it would be “very difficult” to arrange. The year's competition was ultimately also cancelled.

2023–2024: Return

2023 World Club Challenge

On 9 November 2022, it was announced that the World Club Challenge would make its return and be staged in Australia at BlueBet Stadium. Back-to-back NRL champions Penrith Panthers would host St Helens, the Super League champions for four consecutive years. The match took place on Saturday February 18, with kick-off at 7am (GMT). For the first time in the history of the competition the match went to golden point extra time after a dramatic finale meant that the match was tied 12–12 at the full time hooter. St Helens scored the winning point with a Lewis Dodd drop goal, a shock win to become the first Super League side to win the Challenge in Australia since 1994. This was also the worst attended game in 23 years, falling nearly 10,000 short of the capacity of the BlueBet Stadium, the previous low attendance also involved St Helens which was held at the DW Stadium in Wigan, with only the 1997 game having a lower attendance. Penrith would win a third consecutive NRL title while St Helens' monopoly ended as Wigan Warriors won Super League in 2023 to set up a rematch from the 1991 edition of the World Club Challenge. Penrith would fail in capturing an inaugural World Club Challenge win in 2024 as they were defeated 16-12 at the DW Stadium by Wigan, who equalled the Sydney Roosters' tally of five World Club Challenge wins.

世界俱乐部挑战赛是一项橄榄球联赛,由国际橄榄球联盟(International Rugby League)主办。这项比赛汇集了来自世界各地的顶级橄榄球俱乐部,旨在决出全球最强的俱乐部橄榄球队。

世界俱乐部挑战赛的历史可以追溯到1976年,当时由英国的利兹猎鹰队与澳大利亚的悉尼东方鹦鹉队首次对决。自那以后,这项比赛每年都会在英国和澳大利亚之间轮流举办。

参赛的俱乐部通常是上一赛季的国内冠军,他们将代表自己的国家与对方国家的冠军队争夺冠军头衔。比赛采用单场淘汰制,冠军将在一场激烈的比赛中脱颖而出。

世界俱乐部挑战赛不仅是一场激烈的竞技比赛,也是一次国际间的交流与合作。这项比赛吸引了来自世界各地的球迷,他们聚集在现场为自己支持的俱乐部加油助威。同时,比赛也为球员们提供了展示自己实力的机会,他们将在全球范围内展现自己的技巧和才华。

世界俱乐部挑战赛已经成为橄榄球界的一项重要赛事,吸引了全球范围内的关注和关注。这项比赛不仅展示了橄榄球的魅力和激情,也促进了不同国家之间的友谊和合作。无论是球迷还是球员,世界俱乐部挑战赛都是一场不容错过的精彩盛事。