Rugby League Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
8correct to beat the crowd
59 free Rugby League trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This rugby league trivia quiz is dedicated to the 13-a-side code. It starts with the basics — how many players, what a try is worth, the six-tackle rule, the play-the-ball — and the origin story of the 1895 meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield over broken-time payments. From there it goes international: the 1954 World Cup in France, the Kangaroos' twelve titles, Great Britain's Lions, the Ashes and the Baskerville Shield. Then come the competitions and legends: State of Origin from Lang Park in 1980 to Queensland's eight straight, the Super League war and the birth of the NRL, Wigan's eight Challenge Cups in a row, St Helens' four-peat, the Immortals, Wally Lewis, Andrew Johns, Ellery Hanley, Johnathan Thurston, Kevin Sinfield, the Storm's salary cap scandal, Catalans at Wembley and Toronto Wolfpack. About a third are easy for any fan; the rest are for people who know their Lance Todd from their Dally M. For the union code, see our general rugby page. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's rugby league articles and the sources they cite, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many players does each rugby league team have on the field?
13
The Northern Union cut teams from 15 to 13 a side in 1906, dropping two forwards to open up play.
Q 02Rugby league was born in 1895 in which town, when clubs broke away from the Rugby Football Union?
Huddersfield
Huddersfield hosted the meeting of 29 August 1895 at which Yorkshire and Lancashire clubs voted to leave the Rugby Football Union; the body they founded still runs the English game as the Rugby Football League.
Q 03What was the central issue behind the 1895 split from rugby union?
Payments to players for lost wages
Payments to players for lost wages, known as 'broken time' money for missing Saturday shifts, were the sticking point; the RFU insisted on strict amateurism and refused them.
Q 04At which hotel was the Northern Rugby Football Union founded on 29 August 1895?
The George Hotel
The George Hotel, built around 1850 beside the town's railway station, hosted the breakaway meeting and housed a rugby league heritage centre until the hotel closed in 2013.
Q 05How many points is a try worth in rugby league?
4
A try is worth 4 points, up from three since 1983; as far back as 1897 every goal was cut to two points so that a try would outscore any kick.
Q 06How many points is a drop goal from inside 40 metres worth in rugby league?
1
A drop goal is worth 1 point, but since 2021 the NRL has paid two for one kicked from more than 40 metres out; Adam Reynolds landed the first that April.
Q 07How many tackles does a team get in possession before it must hand the ball over?
6
The limit is 6 tackles: the four-tackle rule arrived in 1966, was extended to 6 in the early 1970s, and since 1983 the ball is handed over rather than scrummed.
Q 08Which restart after a tackle did the Northern Union introduce in 1906?
The play-the-ball
The play-the-ball arrived in 1906 to cure the endless scrums that followed tackles: the tackled player stands, puts the ball down and plays it back with the foot.
Q 09Which four positions are known as a rugby league team's 'spine'?
Fullback, five-eighth, halfback and hooker
Fullback, five-eighth, halfback and hooker form the spine: the four playmakers who handle the ball most and organise the attack.
Q 10Which jersey number does a rugby league hooker traditionally wear?
9
The hooker wears 9 because league numbers its backs first and its forwards after them, the reverse of rugby union, where forwards wear 1 to 8 and the hooker wears 2.
Q 11The first Rugby League World Cup, the first of either rugby code, was held in which country in 1954?
France
France hosted in 1954 because its federation chief Paul Barrière championed the idea and donated the trophy himself; French officials had lobbied for a World Cup since 1935.
Q 12Which actor earned an Oscar nomination as a rugby league forward in 1963's This Sporting Life?
Richard Harris
Richard Harris had been a talented schoolboy rugby player in Limerick until tuberculosis cut short his sporting career in his teens and turned him towards the stage; scenes were shot at Wakefield Trinity's Belle Vue ground.
Q 13Australia won the lowest-scoring Rugby League World Cup final, 6-0 in 2017, against which nation?
England
Q 21Which coach led the Maroons to eight straight Origin series wins?
Mal Meninga
Mal Meninga took charge in 2006 with the Maroons without an outright series win since 2001 and won eight in a row before New South Wales finally broke the run in 2014.
Q 22Which media owner bankrolled Super League's 1996 launch and its switch to summer?
Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation offered £77 million, later raised to £87 million, for a summer Super League, money that clubs in deep financial trouble felt unable to refuse.
Q 23The Super League Grand Final is traditionally staged at which stadium?
Old Trafford
Old Trafford has staged every Grand Final since the first in 1998 except 2020, when the pandemic moved the game behind closed doors to Hull.
England lost 6-0 in their first final for 22 years; their best chance died when Josh Dugan's desperate ankle tap brought down Kallum Watkins after he had broken clear.
Q 14Which nation became only the third to win the World Cup, in 2008?
New Zealand
New Zealand beat Australia 34-20 in the 2008 final, one of the game's great upsets, ending a run of six straight Australian titles.
Q 15What is the Australian national rugby league team's nickname?
The Kangaroos
The Kangaroos took the name on their first tour of Britain in 1908-09, when the squad brought a live kangaroo as a mascot; the Wallabies are the union side.
Q 16Great Britain, Rugby League World Cup winners in 1954, 1960 and 1972, played under which nickname?
The Lions
The Lions won three World Cups, but since 1995 the home nations have entered separate teams, so the name now appears only on occasional tours such as the one in 2019.
Q 17Great Britain contested which trophy against the Kiwis?
The Baskerville Shield
The Baskerville Shield, first contested in 2002, honours Albert Baskerville, who organised the Kiwis' pioneering 1907 'All Golds' tour and died of pneumonia, aged 25, on the way home.
Q 18The State of Origin series is played between New South Wales and which state?
Queensland
Queensland lost for years because its best players, based at Sydney clubs, were picked for New South Wales; choosing sides by home state from 1980 turned the series into a real contest.
Q 19The first State of Origin match was played in 1980 at which ground?
Lang Park, Brisbane
Lang Park, Brisbane drew 33,210 on 8 July 1980 to see Arthur Beetson, 35, lead his home state for the first time after years of being picked by New South Wales; the Maroons won 20-10.
Q 20Which Maroons legend, nicknamed 'The King', captained 30 of his 31 State of Origin games?
Wally Lewis
Wally Lewis played the first Origin game as a 20-year-old lock, took over as captain and five-eighth in 1981 and won a record eight man-of-the-match awards; the series' best-player medal bears his name.
Q 24The NRL was formed in 1998 as a peace deal ending which conflict?
The Super League war
The Super League war split the game into two rival competitions in 1997; the peace deal that created the NRL demanded a 14-team league by 2000, forcing old rivals to merge.
Q 25Which hymn is traditionally sung before the Challenge Cup final?
Abide with Me
Abide with Me has been sung before every Challenge Cup final since the first at Wembley in 1929, a custom borrowed from the FA Cup final, which had adopted the hymn two years earlier.
Q 26The first Challenge Cup final at Wembley, in 1929, was won by which club?
Wigan
Wigan beat Dewsbury 13-2 in the first final taken to London, a move the game's rulers made to copy the FA Cup's success and put rugby league on a national stage.
Q 27Which club won four straight NRL premierships from 2021 to 2024?
Penrith Panthers
Penrith Panthers won four straight Grand Finals under coach Ivan Cleary; in 2023 they trailed the Broncos 24-8 before his son Nathan inspired a 26-24 win, the biggest comeback in a decider.
Q 28Which club won four consecutive Super League titles from 2019 to 2022?
St Helens
St Helens won four straight Grand Finals; the 2020 decider turned after the final hooter, when a drop-goal attempt hit the post and Jack Welsby touched down the rebound to beat their local rivals 8-4.
Q 29A record crowd of 102,569 watched a Challenge Cup final replay in 1954 at which ground?
Odsal Stadium, Bradford
Odsal Stadium, Bradford, a bowl banked up in a former quarry, held an official 102,569 for Warrington's replay win over Halifax, though fences gave way and many more got in; the record stood until 1999.
Q 30The Man of Steel award for Super League's player of the year was renamed in 2014 in honour of whom?
Steve Prescott
Steve Prescott, the former fullback who raised huge sums for charity while living with a rare stomach cancer, died in November 2013; the award took his name in 2014.