Rugby football in Victoria, Australia, dates back to 1889 but disappeared until the 1930s. It took until 1998 for the first Victorian rugby league team to join the national competition, the Melbourne Storm.^[1]

History

Melbourne sent its first rugby football team to play in New South Wales in 1889, but the game more or less disappeared in the state. In 1895, the sport of rugby football underwent a schism in England over the issue of expenses and split into rugby union and rugby league. The new code of rugby league arrived in Australia in 1907 and came to dominate the sporting scene in Queensland and New South Wales, however rugby union continued to be played in Victoria.

The 1914 Lions tours from England included a match in Melbourne, the first rugby league game to be played in the state. The match between England and New South Wales drew a crowd of 12,000 spectators but despite this, the game failed to take hold in Victoria.

In 1924 Victoria played against the visiting English Lions on the first game of their tour; losing 45-13 at Fitzroy Cricket Ground and lost again 47-18 against Toowoomba from Queensland. These efforts were in vain and rugby league disappeared from Victoria.

The occasional New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) match was taken to Melbourne over the following decades - the most notorious being in 1979 when Manly and Wests initiated their 'fibros v silvertails' battles. ^[2]

The NSWRL had let Melbourne host a number of premiership games during the early 1990s. In 1991 the St Kilda Football Club made an unsuccessful attempt to have NSWRL games played at the Moorabbin Oval^[3], later the Sydney Tigers briefly played games at Princes Park in 1994. However, attendances for Test matches and State of Origin games in the 1990s had been strong.^[4] The 1990 State of Origin played in Olympic Park, attracted a crowd of 25,000. Another 160,000 was attracted in three matches at the MCG (1994, 1995 and 1997).^[5]

Moves towards a team

In August 1991 the NSWRL began to express interest for its 1993 competition^[6], and made a request to the Victorian Rugby League to put forward a proposal. The local league showed significant hesitation, indicating that the game had little support to build upon. ^[7]

However during 1993 ARL Chairman Ken Arthurson made it clear that he remained positive about Melbourne and thought it had much to offer. Former Melbourne CEO Chris Johns said; "John and I had been with the Broncos from day one and we had learnt first-hand how the club had progressed in 10 years to become a 'super club'. Melbourne had three times the population of Brisbane and the people down there just love their sport". ^[8]

Plans to enter Melbourne gained momentum in November 1994 when both the ARL and the organisers of the (then called) News Limited rebel competition both began initiatives to fast track their own teams in the Victorian capital.^[8] In 1996, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) decided to establish a Melbourne based team due to the high attendances at recent State of Origin matches. But in May 1997, Super League boss John Ribot pushed for a Melbourne based club in the Super League competition, which was the rival against the ARL competition. Former Brisbane Broncos centre Chris Johns became the CEO of the club and Ribot stepped down from head of the Super League to set up the club. In September 1997, Melbourne announced that Chris Anderson would be their foundation coach, and then the Super League announced that their new team would be named the Melbourne Storm. ^[9]

Victorian Rugby League

The Victorian Rugby League governs the game in Victoria.^[10] Victoria is an Affiliated State of the overall Australian governing body the Australian Rugby League.

National Rugby League

The National Rugby League (NRL) is Australia's top level competition for the sport of rugby league. ^[11]

The Melbourne Storm are Victoria's only side in the National Rugby League. ^[12] They have played every season since the NRL's commencement in 1998. ^[13] They have won the premiership in 1999^[14] and 2007.^[15]

Club	Location	Home Ground(s)	First season
Melbourne Storm	Melbourne [16]	Olympic Park (12 games) (18,500)[17]	1998[18]

Among the Victorian-born players to play in the NRL have included:

Jake Webster: (Melbourne Storm & Gold Coast Titans). ^[19]

Timana Tahu: (Newcastle Knights & Parramatta Eels). ^{[20] [21]}

Craig Polla-Mounter: (Canterbury). ^[22]

Victorian Rugby League competitions

The three main competitions are the Melbourne Rugby League, the Central Highlands Rugby League and the Goulburn Murray Rugby League.^[23] Some Melbourne Rugby League games have been played pre-match before senior Storm games. These have since been replaced by the National Youth Competition. The most recent premiers have been the Doveton Steelers. ^[24]

Popularity of rugby league in Victoria

Rugby league is growing in popularity in Victoria.^{[25][26] [27]} Attendances for rugby league matches in Melbourne have been higher than average each time the Melbourne Storm have reached the NRL Grand Final.

In 2006 the deciding game of the State of Origin drew 54,833 spectators at Telstra Dome.^[28] The 2007 preliminary final between Parramatta and Melbourne Storm saw the largest ever crowd drawn by the Storm in Melbourne, 33,472. ^[29] The opening round of the 2008 season saw 20,084 spectators^[30] watch the Storm defeat New Zealand in their first game at Telstra Dome. Melbourne finished the 2008 season with a home average attendance of 12,474, ^[31] considerably larger than their 2007 average of 11,711.^[32][33] For the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, the only game in Melbourne against England drew a crowd of 36,297 at the Telstra Dome^[34]. This was the second highest attended game in the competition, surpassed only by the final, played in Brisbane that drew 50,559.^[35]

Due to the large sucess of the 2006 State of Origin series at Telstra dome, the venue will host another game of the 2009 series. ^[36]

The under-20 competition has recruited two players, Petera Tamarua and Laurence Nathan, who are both born and bred in Melbourne.^{[37] [38]}.

Affiliated States Championship

The Victorian state team play in the Affiliated States Championship along with the other three affiliated states (South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia) plus the Australian Police and Australian Defence Force.