The NZRL National Club Competition was a rugby league competition run by the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL). The competition was an end-of-season tournament played by the best teams from each region of New Zealand. It was first staged in 1982, and was contested annually until 1992, when it was scrapped following the introduction of a new national league competition; the Lion Red Cup. The competition was briefly revived as a one-off event in 2007.
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History
The first attempt at establishing a national rugby league competition in New Zealand occurred in the early 1960s. The tournament was held as a club competition between 1962 and 1964, but was then re-organised as a provincial tournament. A new national club competition was announced in 1981, with the first staging of the competition taking place in the 1982 season. The competition continued until 1992, after which it was superseded by a new national league competition, which became known as the Lion Red Cup. Following the demise of the Bartercard Cup, the club competition briefly returned in 2007, but has not been contested since.
Format
The format of the tournament was a 16-team knockout competition. Each region was represented by at least one team, while stronger leagues such as Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington were typically awarded multiple berths. In 1992, the competition was reduced to eight teams, and the knock-out format was replaced by a round-robin tournament, with the teams split into two groups of four.