Group 17 is a rugby league competition based in the Riverina and Central West regions of New South Wales, Australia. The competition collapsed in 2006 and reformed in 2018 as the Western Riverina Community Cup with six teams. It is currently sponsored by a chicken farm company called Proten which has been sponsoring the whole competition since 2018.
The season runs from mid-May to late July, and features a knockout, six regular season rounds, and a three week finals series culminating in the Grand Final which is hosted by a different team each year.
Group 17 was formed in 1935 and originally centred around Griffith and Leeton, but was suspended during World War II.[1] However, when rugby league returned to normal competition after the war, Leeton, along with Griffith, Yenda, Yanco and others, joined the Wagga Wagga competition, Group 20. Group 20 later became the Griffith and District competition after the Wagga clubs joined Group 9.
Rugby league in the Western Riverina district began as an inter-town competition between Hillston, Merriwagga, Goolgowi and Hay. The competition was suspended during World War 2.
It reformed in 1947 as the 'Western Zone' with teams from Hay, Darlington Point, Goolgowi, Carrathool and two teams from Hillston, 'Town' and 'Country'. Tullibigeal joined during the 1950s, and won the 1965 Clayton Cup, the Country Rugby League's highest honour, but later departed to form the TLU Sharks with Lake Cargelligo in Group 20. In 1959, the league became known as Group 17, and featured two zones, with Zone 1 being centred around Hillston and Zone 2 around Hay.
After both Euabalong and Darlington Point finished the 1968 season undefeated in Zones 1 and 2 respectively, and were left as the only two undefeated teams in the state, administrators were unsure of which side were more deserving of the coveted Clayton Cup as the best team in the Country Rugby League. The idea of settling who was the best overall Group 17 side had been resolved with a playoff match in the past, such as when Zone 1 side Tullibigeal defeated Hay (Zone 2) in 1967. Thus, a playoff final to determine the overall Group 17 Premier, and also the Clayton Cup winner, was set down for the 29th of September 1968 at Goolgowi.
In a one-way encounter, the Darlington Point Red & Blacks completed a 20-0 shutout of the Euabalong Tigers side, were awarded the Clayton Cup, and settled the annual dispute over which of the two zones was stronger. The match remains the only one of its kind to this day, which is significant given that the Clayton Cup has been awarded annually since 1937, and various other tiebreakers have been used on every other occasion two teams finish with identical records as the best team in the state.
Darlington Point were considered too strong for the competition after the result and joined Group 20 the following year in 1969. In around 1969-70 the two Group 17 "Zones" merged to form a single competition.
The Deniliquin Blue Heelers were the dominant force in the early 1970s winning three consecutive premierships from 1969-1971, before folding in 1975. Coleambally also left in 1972 and merged with Darlington Point to form a combined club in Group 20 known as the DPC Roosters. Tullibigeal and Lake Cargelligo also merged to form a combined side known as Tullibigeal-Lakes United, with the new club joining Group 20 in 1972.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the competition sustained a decent standard, with eight clubs participating. More Clayton Cups were won by Group 17 clubs, with Rankins Springs (1993), Barellan (1999 and 2002) and Hillston (2006) all claiming the trophy. But by the 2000s, the Millennial Drought had caused many of the teams to be weakened, due to farming, the primary industry in the region, becoming not only unprofitable, but almost impossible. The competition collapsed after the 2006 season.
The competition was revived in 2018 as the Group 17 Western Riverina Community Cup, with six teams participating. The format involved a knockout and five rounds followed by semi-finals and a grand final. In each round, all three games were played at the same venue, similar to the NRL's Magic Round concept.[2][3] The season increased to six games the following year, where it has remained.[4]
Past participants in the Group 17 competition included:
Carrathool Grasshoppers (defunct)
Coleambally Greens (Merged with Darlington Point and joined Group 20 in 1973)
Darlington Point Red & Black (Joined Group 20 as the Roosters in 1969, merged with Coleambally in 1973) – Premierships: 3 (1963–64, 1968)
Deniliquin Blue Heelers (defunct c.1975) – Premierships: 3 (1969–71)[5]
Finley Tigers (Reserve Grade, Moved to Goulburn Murray Rugby League)
Griffith Black and Whites (moved to Group 20 in 1954)
Griffith Three Ways United (Now only play in NSW Koori Knockout)
Hanwood Crushers (defunct) Hay Magpies (now in Group 20) – Premierships: 12 (1959–61, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1989–91, 1994–95)
Lake Cargelligo Sharks (Merged with Tullibigeal and joined Group 20)
Merriwagga Eagles (Merged into Goolgowi RLFC)
Murrin Bridge-Euabalong Tigers (No longer compete in regular competition) Tullibigeal (Merged with Lake Cargelligo and joined Group 20) Weethalle Kangaroos (defunct)
Whitton Bulls (defunct)
Yanco (merged with Wamoon, entered Group 20)Bold indicates that the club fielded a team in the 2006 First-Grade competition.
The use of (*) indicates that the premiers for that season won the Clayton Cup as the premier team in NSWCRL competitions statewide (regionally, excludes Sydney) for that year.
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