The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league clubs in Australasia. Run by the Australian Rugby League Commission, the NRL’s main competition is known as the Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation and is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand. It is regarded as the world’s elite rugby league championship and, per season, is the most viewed and attended rugby league club competition in the world.

The National Rugby League is Australia’s top-level domestic rugby-league club competition. It contains clubs from the original Sydney club Rugby League competition, which had been running continuously since 1908. The NRL formed in the aftermath of the 1990s’ Super League war as a joint partnership between the Australian governing body, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and media giant News Corporation-controlled Super League,^[2] after both organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997.^[3] This partnership was dissolved in February 2012, with control of the NRL going to the independently formed Australian Rugby League Commission.