Group 19 Rugby League


The New England Group 19 Rugby League competition is a Rugby league competition which is run under the auspices of the NSWRL, which absorbed the NSWCRL in 2019. It is based in the New England region. It was originally called the Group 5 Rugby League Premiership but that competition merged with another local competition to form New England Group 19. The competition is generally played on Sundays throughout the winter months, with strong local rivalries as well as inter – town rivalries.

History

Group 5 Rugby League

Historically, rugby league in the Northern Tablelands and North West was administered under the Group 5 Rugby League banner.
Group 19 emerged from Group 5 in the early 1980s, and initially featured roughly half of all the clubs from the Northern Tablelands and North West NSW. Group 5 eventually merged into the Group 19 competition after the 1981 season and the league has been known as New England Group 19 ever since.

Group 19 Rugby League

In the 1980s, Noel Cleal and his brother Les emerged from Warialda to rise to prominence in the NSWRL Premiership.
The early 1990s were dominated by the two Moree sides, the Boomerangs and Boars, before the Inverell, Warialda and Armidale Rams sides rose to the top of the league in the late 1990s. Guyra, known as the Super Spuds, won a hat trick of Premierships from 2002-2004.
Glen Innes, Tingha and Inverell dominated the late 2000s and early 2010s with the Moree Boomerangs emerging as the dominant side with back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014.
In just their second season in Group 19 the MacIntyre Warriors claimed the A Grade honours, winning a tight contest over the returning Narwan Eels in 2017. The Eels returned to the competition after several years hiatus due to unruly supporters and unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Unfortunately the MacIntyre Warriors folded in 2018, as a result of many players rejoining the nearby Goondiwindi league side. Their absence paved the way for a return to the premiers circuit for the highly rated Moree Boomerangs, a team that wear their indigenous flag themed jerseys with much pride.
Guyra and Ashford folded after the COVID-19 plagued 2021 season, and Moree Boars left the year prior to join Group 4. Warialda, Tingha and a Uralla-Walcha joint venture rejoined the 2022 A Grade competition bringing the total to seven teams as Glen Innes entered a year's hiatus.
The 2023 Under 18's competition was won by the Glen Innes Magpies against Narwan Eels.

Clubs

Current clubs in Group 19

The Tooheys New England Group 19 Premiership currently contains eleven clubs, two of which are in Armidale, and nine from the surrounding area.
TeamMonikerGroundMen'sLLTGroup 5 / 19 Premierships
16x16px ArmidaleRamsHarris Park, ArmidaleYesYes7
BingaraBulletsBingara Sports GroundYesYes-
GuyraSuper SpudsGuyra Sports GroundYesYes6
Glen InnesMagpiesKerry Meade Park, Glen InnesYesYes6
InverellHawksVarley Oval, InverellYesYes6
MoreeBoomerangsBurt Jovanovich Oval, MoreeYesYes6
NarwanEelsNewling Oval, ArmidaleYesYes8
TinghaTigersTingha Sports GroundYesYes1
UrallaTigersWoodville Oval, UrallaYesYes2
WalchaRoosWalcha Showground, WalchaYesYes-
WarialdaWombatsRugby League Park, WarialdaYesYes12

Former clubs

Part of Final 2nd Division Season in 2019

Other Former Clubs

Champions

'''Group 19 Rugby League Champions'''

Group 5 Rugby League

The competition in the area was previously known as Group 5. Once the Group 19 name became available after the demise of the previous competitions of that name, a breakaway competition
from Group 5 became known as New England Group 19. Group 5 merged into this league two years later. The 'Moree' listed is the predecessor of the Moree Boars.
Group 5 Rugby League Champions
SeasonChampionsScoreRunners-up
1957 Walcha11-9 Inverell RSM
1958 Walcha13-9 Moree
1959 Glen Innes8-2 Moree
1960 Moree11-216x16px Armidale
1961 Warialda22–8 Moree
1962 Warialda17–616x16px Armidale
1963 Warialda16–11 Guyra
1964 Warialda21–2 Guyra
1965 Warialda28–916x16px Armidale
196616x16px Armidale15–10 Warialda
196716x16px Armidale7–6 Glen Innes
1968 Moree Mission Jets9–416x16px Armidale
1969 Guyra20–7 Warialda
197016x16px Armidale13–3 Glen Innes
197116x16px Armidale4–2 Guyra
1972 Moree11–7 Inverell RSM
1973 Warialda36–7 Inverell RSM
1974 Warialda17–8 Glen Innes
1975 Inverell RSM9–8 Moree
197616x16px Armidale12–11 Moree
1977 Moree18–13 Inverell RSM
1978 Moree37–10 Glen Innes
1979 Moree12–5 Glen Innes
1980 Warialda14–9 Glen Innes
1981 Moree30–13 Inverell RSM

Group 19 Junior League

Current Teams