1997 World Club Championship

Format

The competition was held during the second season of the European Super League competition and the inaugural season of the Australasian Super League season. Both competitions paused their competitions for the first three rounds in June, and again for the second round of matches in July-August.

Teams in each competition were seeded into two pools to ensure that the leading teams would play each other. The Australasian teams were split into a pool of six teams that contained the teams that had finished highly in the 1996 ARL season, and a pool of four teams that included the expansion Super League franchises Hunter Mariners and Adelaide Rams. The European Super League teams were split into two pools of six teams in order of the final positions of the clubs during the 1996 Super League season. Promoted club Salford Reds joined Pool B.

With only four teams in the Australasian Pool B, the six European teams had two bye weekends.

The competition saw five Australasian teams tour Europe for each set of three match weekends, with five European teams simultaneously touring Australasia.

Following the completion of the pool matches, the top three teams from both of the competitions Pool A progressed to the quarter finals, with the winner of the Australasian Pool B. The winner of the European Pool B faced the fourth-placed team from Pool A in an elimination qualifier for a place in the quarter finals. The playoffs took place after the completion of the respective Super League competitions.

Credit card company Visa was announced as the competition sponsor just before the European launch of the championship at Huddersfield. The sponsorship was described as a "substantial investment to help offset the estimated operational costs."

Pool stage tables

The Australasian and European teams were each divided into two pools for the 1997 World Club Challenge. Each pool had six teams, with the exception of Australasia B, which had the two lowest placed Super League-aligned teams and the two newly formed teams: the Hunter Mariners and the Adelaide Rams. The finals series was contested between the top three teams in Australasia Pool A and Europe Pool A, and the top team from Australasia Pool B and Europe Pool B.

Super League (Australia and New Zealand)

;Pool A

;Pool B

Super League (Great Britain and France)

;Pool A

;Pool B

Results

Round 1

;June 6–9

Round 2

;June 13–16

Round 3

;June 20–23

Round 4

;July 18–21

Round 5

;July 25–28

Round 6

;August 1–4

Playoffs

Bracket

| RD1-seed1= | RD1-team1= St. Helens | RD1-score1=42 | RD1-seed2= | RD1-team2= Paris St-Germain | RD1-score2=4

| RD2-seed1= | RD2-team1= Brisbane Broncos | RD2-score1=66 | RD2-seed2= | RD2-team2= St. Helens | RD2-score2=12

| RD2-seed3= | RD2-team3= Auckland Warriors | RD2-score3=62 | RD2-seed4= | RD2-team4= Bradford Bulls | RD2-score4=14

| RD2-seed5= | RD2-team5= Wigan Warriors | RD2-score5=18 | RD2-seed6= | RD2-team6= Hunter Mariners | RD2-score6=22

| RD2-seed7= | RD2-team7= London Broncos | RD2-score7=16 | RD2-seed8= | RD2-team8= Cronulla Sharks | RD2-score8=40

| RD3-seed1= | RD3-team1= Brisbane Broncos | RD3-score1=22 | RD3-seed2= | RD3-team2= Auckland Warriors | RD3-score2=16

| RD3-seed3= | RD3-team3= Cronulla Sharks | RD3-score3=18 | RD3-seed4= | RD3-team4= Hunter Mariners | RD3-score4=22

| RD4-seed1= | RD4-team1= Brisbane Broncos | RD4-score1=36 | RD4-seed2= | RD4-team2= Hunter Mariners | RD4-score2=12

Elimination qualifier

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Tallis Walters Endacott Richardson Rogers Doherty Zisti Swain (1)

Final

In their only year of existence, this would be the only final that the Hunter Mariners would appear in.

Three tries in 12 minutes from Brisbane Broncos centre Darren Smith put the Broncos in a strong position in the first half to lead 260 inside 30 minutes, with the Hunter Mariners only score a try to Nick Zisti just before the break.

After the interval, the Mariners came close to scoring, but were denied twice by the video referee. John Carlaw and Zisti would score tries to reduce the margin to 14 points, but two late tries to the Broncos through Wendell Sailor and Steve Renouf gave the Brisbane side a dominant victory.

The Broncos collected for winning the competition, with the Mariners collecting which the club split 50-50 with the players.

Teams

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Match details

D Smith Walters Plath Sailor Renouf De Vere (3/5) Walker (1/2) Zisti Carlaw K Iro (0/2) Swain (0/1)

Aftermath

The dominance of the Australasian sides in the competition led to the Rugby Football League appointing Joe Lydon to head a commission to provide an explanation. The general conclusion was that the Australian sides were no more skillful than the European teams, the main difference as it had been in international football since the late 1970s, was fitness, something that they were working on by the time of the season ending Super League Test series between the Super League Australians and the Great Britain Lions in England in November.

References

References

1. (17 October 1997). "Gold Coast hunts the Mariners". John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited.
2. (1 June 1997). "Ambitious project means global dawning". The Observer.
3. (6 June 1997). "Show time in the world acid test". The Guardian.
4. (5 June 1997). "Visa invests in world club championship". The Times.
5. (1 June 1997). "World Club Championship - Fixtures". Sunday Mirror.
6. (18 October 1997). "Rugby League: World Club C'ship: Broncos on top of the world Brisbane Broncos 36 Hunter Mariners 12". [[The Guardian]].
7. (18 October 1997). "In-limbo Mariners fall gamely to Broncos". John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited.
8. (18 October 1997). "Rugby League: World Club Championship Final - Broncos' early burst leaves Mariners marooned". The Independent.
9. (18 October 1997). "Broncos burst Mariners' bubble". Newcastle Newspapers Pty Limited.
10. [http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/world-club-challenge-1997/grand-final/brisbane-vs-hunter.html 1997 WCC Final - Brisbane vs Hunter]
11. Robinson, John. (1997). "Super League Official Annual 1998". World International.