The National Rugby League, or the NRL, is the top professional and domestic rugby league in Australasia. The main competition in the league is run by the Australian Rugby League Commission, and is called the Telstra Premiership as the main sponsorship is given by the Telstra Corporation. Sixteen teams take part in this competition, fifteen of them Australian, and one from New Zealand.
The NRL is considered the world’s most elite rugby league championship, and more people attend the matches, or view them on the television, than any other rugby league competition in the world.
In fact, attendance at the 1999 NRL Grand Final established a new world record attendance for a rugby league game, as nearly 108,000 spectators watched the Melbourne Storm beat the St. George Illawarra Dragons at Stadium Australia.
A National Record Attendance
In 2005, another national record was set, and over four million people tuned in to watch the NRL Final between the Wests Tigers and the North Queensland Cowboys.
Many of the teams that take part in this competition are from the old Sydney club rugby league. The New South Wales Rugby League ran the original rugby league competition, but it expanded during the last couple of decades of the twentieth century to include teams from other cities. Later commercial sponsorship was also introduced.
World Club Challenge
NRL matches are played in Australia and New Zealand during the winter months, from March to October each year. The season culminates in the final match that decides the winner of the premiership, the NRL Grand Final.
This has become one of Australia’s most popular sporting events, and is also one of the sporting championships with the largest attendance in the world. In addition, the top teams in the NRL also take part in the World Club Challenge, a match which takes place at the beginning of each rugby league season against the champions of the European Super league competition.
Huge Interest in Betting on Results
The huge following that the NRL has amassed in Australia and New Zealand has created excitement around every match, and a matching huge interest in betting on the outcome of each match. There is a wide range of NZ betting options that people who want to place a bet can choose, so anyone can join in the fun, whether you are a beginner or an old hand at placing wagers.
You can place bets on the winner or the loser of each match, the number of points scored in each half or the total in the complete match, or who will make the finals of the competition, among a host of others.
Betting on the matches in the NRL does require that you will have a certain amount of knowledge of the game, and its rules, to start with. It makes betting much more interesting if you have done a little research into the teams taking part in the matches, their current form, and perhaps some knowledge about the players themselves.
Sometimes the location of the match, and the weather that day, is also relevant. Sometimes a vigilant punter can reap a multitude of wins simply by understanding the system and the game of rugby.
There are many sportsbooks at various online sites where you can place a bet on the NRL, with an array of different bets as well as different odds. Also the games’ statistics and the teams and individual players can be investigated through most sports book sites.