<P> Australia has a rich history of rugby league, first taking up the sport in 1908 alongside people in Britain and New Zealand . The rule changes over the decades have been partly instigated in Australia as well . The country has been dominant over the other rugby league - playing nations for many years, but enjoys a strong rivalry with New Zealand . </P> <P> Commonly known as "league" or simply "football", and sometimes referred to as "the greatest game of all", it is traditionally seen as a "working man's sport" with its roots in the working class communities of Northern England, compared to rugby union which has its roots in prestigious English public schools . The Australian Rugby League Commission, the sport's governing body in Australia, is working on ways to expand rugby league's popularity across political and social boundaries . </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> <P> The Newcastle Rugby League was founded in 1910 with four clubs, Central Newcastle, Northern Suburbs, South Newcastle and Western Suburbs . The Illawarra Rugby League was founded in 1911 with five clubs (Dapto, Helensburgh, Mount Keira, Unanderra and Wollongong). In 1911, a Goldfields' League was formed in West Wyalong, and games were played in Tamworth, Aberdeen, and along the South Coast . The game was introduced to Orange in 1912 and spread quickly through the western districts . In 1913 branch leagues were formed at Bathurst, Dubbo, Nowra, and Tamworth . In 1914 and 1915 an amalgamation of rugby league and Australian rules football was considered and trialled . </P>

When did rugby league go professional in australia