NRL Centenary Season Launch
6th March 2008
Birchgrove Oval has hosted the Tel- stra Premiership NRL season launch on March 6. Birchgrove Oval was the perfect location for the event which will celebrate 100 years since the first game of rugby league was played between South Sydney and North Sydney followed by Balmain and Wests on Easter Monday April 20 1908. The televised launch hosted 500 guests for the four- hour event from 6pm.
A century of the "Greatest Game Of All" has officially kicked off at its birthplace in Australia as champions past and present witnessed a breathtaking tribute to Rugby League in Australia. NRL Chief Executive, Mr David Gallop, told players, celebrities and officials of the club's determination to set new boundaries in the next 100 years, while the Melbourne's Premiership-winning captain, Cameron Smith, officially launched the historic year with a commitment from the players to build an even brighter future for the next generation.
The centrepiece of the launch was a stunning campaign that uses the latest in video production to unite current and former champions in an advertising masterpiece that captures the spirit of Rugby League in Australia. The action sequence alone features more than 80 of the club's all-time greats - from the "Little Master", Clive Churchill, to Darren Lockyer. It involved heroes like Brad Fittler, Laurie Daley and Andrew Ettingshausen coming out of retirement to re-shoot action scenes and culminated with perhaps the most ambitious re-enactment ever attempted "the recreation of the moment of The Gladiators". Norm Provan, 75, and Arthur Summons, 72, spent 10 hours at an overcast Leichhardt Oval last year being made up to re-create the look and feel of the 1963 Grand Final and the muddiest and most iconic Rugby League moment of them all.
"It was an amazing experience," Arthur said today. "It was a bit surreal. As you started to relive the memories you could feel the goosebumps and almost had to wonder if it was real. That Grand Final was 40-odd years ago now, but it shows the way people carry Rugby League memories through their lives. No matter how much it changes on the field, there is a spirit of rivalry and respect that stays the same."
The making of the advertisement represented a mammoth undertaking that involved over 12 months of painstaking research through hundreds of hours of film and video. There are around 150 players appearing in either photos or moving vision in the full commercial, NRL Director of Marketing and Commercial, Mr Paul Kind, said today. "Through an amazing production process we have been able to bring those players and the various eras of the game together with the stars of today. It is a work that tells the story of Rugby League in 2008 as much as it does the story of the last 100 years."
Mr Gallop said that the launch of the Telstra Premiership signalled the start of an amazing year for Rugby League fans: "There is something in this season for everyone who has ever enjoyed the game. The Centenary programme alone features some 80 events with a strong emphasis on regional and metropolitan celebrations. From the Telstra NRL Heritage Round and the National Museum of Australia exhibition, which honour the history of our clubs, to the week in, week out action of the Telstra Premiership, this is a year that will bring all fans together. It is a year that sees an exciting new Toyota Cup competition for the next generation as well as providing a representative calendar that takes in AAMI City-Country, the Bundaberg Rum Centenary Test, the Harvey Norman State of Origin Series and a fitting finale with the World Cup. Each week the focus will be on new challenges and new heroes, yet 2008 also provides a unique opportunity for us all to pay tribute to those who made the game what it is today."
The Telstra Premiership kicks off next Friday, March 14.