The National Rugby League (NRL) is a league of professional men's rugby league teams 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 the most viewed and attended rugby league club competition in the world.
Major League Rugby is an American professional rugby union competition that is the top-level club competition in the United States. It began its first season in 2018, and is an initiative of the American rugby community in partnership with private investors.
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern hemisphere. The league has twelve teams: eleven from England and one from France. Canadian and Welsh clubs that compete in the Rugby Football League can also qualify. Colloquially known in the UK as the Super League it is referred to internationally as the English Super League (ESL).
Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australia and New Zealand for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the pay television rights to rugby league in Australia. After two years of legal battles the competition was played for a single season in 1997 alongside the rival Australian Rugby League (ARL) competition before the two merged in 1998 to form the National Rugby League (NRL).
National League 1,, is the third level of domestic rugby union competition in England. It was known as Courage League National Division Three when founded in 1987. This is the lowest level of the English rugby union league system which is nationwide. The league consists of sixteen teams with all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis to make a total of thirty matches each. There is one promotion place and three relegation places. The champions are promoted to the Greene King IPA Championship and the bottom three teams are relegated to either National League 2 North or National League 2 South depending on the geographical location of the team.
The Top League is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of rugby competition in the country and is an industrial league, where many players are employees of their company and the teams are all owned by major companies. The competition is known for paying high salaries, however, only the world class foreign players and a small number of Japanese players play fully professional, which means most of the players still play in an amateur level. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the Japan Company Rugby Football Championship, to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The first season in 2003–04 featured 12 teams. The league was expanded to 14 teams in 2006–07 and 16 teams in 2013–14.
Big Ten Universities is a Division 1-A college rugby conference founded in summer 2012 by ten of the twelve schools that then made up the Big Ten Conference. The Big Ten Universities was formed to improve rugby among the Big Ten schools by capitalizing on traditional Big Ten rivalries, increasing the number of fans, attracting talented high school rugby players, and playing other regional schools, which would create more competitive matchups with traditional rivals.
The Cook Cup is a rugby union trophy contested between Australia and England. The cup was established in 1997 when the Wallabies and England contracted to play each other bi-annually for a decade, playing matches on a home and away basis. Since the first two years the format has only been adhered to once. In most years, there is only one match and World Cup matches are not counted. The cup is named after Captain James Cook, representing a strong English-Australian connection. The cup, which was designed by Royal Doulton in London, is made from crystal.
The Scottish Premiership is an amateur league competition for Scottish rugby union clubs. First held in 1973, it is the top division of the Scottish League Championship. The current champions are Melrose, while the most successful club is Hawick, who have won the competition twelve times.
The All-Ireland League (AIL), known for sponsorship reasons as the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League, is the national league system for the 50 senior rugby union clubs in Ireland, covering both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The league was inaugurated in the 1990–91 season.
Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 2000, when it replaced the B2 Group. The championship is contested between 40 teams and named in honor of the famous former FC Lourdes and French International player, Jean Prat.
The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of the league system for rugby union in Germany, organised by the German Rugby Federation.
The Prince William Cup was created in 2007 by the Welsh Rugby Union and celebrates 100 years of rugby union history between Wales and South Africa. It is named after the Vice Royal Patron of the WRU, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who presented the cup, at the inaugural match, held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 24 November 2007.
The County Championship is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. After restructuring in 2007 the top tier of the Championship has been known as the Bill Beaumont Cup, after the trophy awarded to the competition winners was named in honour of Bill Beaumont, a former England and British & Irish Lions captain. Teams also compete for the County Championship Plate and County Championship Shield.