<P> By the time England 's new `` Northern Union game '' arrived in Australia it was fundamentally different to that of the Southern Rugby Union , with lineouts , rucks and two players from each team having already been removed , and the play - the - ball introduced to improve the game 's flow . A similar schism to that which occurred in England , and for similar reasons , opened up in the rugby union establishment of Australia , seeing the term `` rugby league '' first used for the new game as in the rest of the world , in 1907 at the instigation of the famous test cricketer Victor Trumper . At a meeting in Bateman 's Crystal Hotel in Sydney , New South Wales , the New South Wales Rugby Football League ( NSWRFL ) was formed as a professional organisation . Players were immediately recruited for the new game , and despite the threat of immediate and lifetime expulsion from the rugby union , the NSWRFL managed to recruit Herbert `` Dally '' Messenger , the most famous rugby footballer in Sydney at that time . Rugby league then went on to displace rugby union as the primary football code in New South Wales . Four matches were played in Sydney on the New South Wales Rugby Football League 's `` Foundation Day '' on 20 April 1908 ( Easter Monday ) in two double headers . At Wentworth Park in Sydney 's Glebe , Easts beat Newtown before Glebe triumphed over Newcastle while at Birchgrove Oval in Balmain , South Sydney beat North Sydney and Balmain beat Wests . On 8 May 1909 the first match of rugby league was played in Brisbane . Past Grammars played against Souths before a handful of spectators at the Gabba . </P>
<P> By the time England 's new `` Northern Union game '' arrived in Australia it was fundamentally different to that of the Southern Rugby Union , with lineouts , rucks and two players from each team having already been removed , and the play - the - ball introduced to improve the game 's flow . A similar schism to that which occurred in England , and for similar reasons , opened up in the rugby union establishment of Australia , seeing the term `` rugby league '' first used for the new game as in the rest of the world , in 1907 at the instigation of the famous test cricketer Victor Trumper . At a meeting in Bateman 's Crystal Hotel in Sydney , New South Wales , the New South Wales Rugby Football League ( NSWRFL ) was formed as a professional organisation . Players were immediately recruited for the new game , and despite the threat of immediate and lifetime expulsion from the rugby union , the NSWRFL managed to recruit Herbert `` Dally '' Messenger , the most famous rugby footballer in Sydney at that time . Rugby league then went on to displace rugby union as the primary football code in New South Wales . Four matches were played in Sydney on the New South Wales Rugby Football League 's `` Foundation Day '' on 20 April 1908 ( Easter Monday ) in two double headers . At Wentworth Park in Sydney 's Glebe , Easts beat Newtown before Glebe triumphed over Newcastle while at Birchgrove Oval in Balmain , South Sydney beat North Sydney and Balmain beat Wests . On 8 May 1909 the first match of rugby league was played in Brisbane . Past Grammars played against Souths before a handful of spectators at the Gabba . </P>
when did rugby league go professional in australia
when did rugby league go professional in australia
1907
1907