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.
when did rugby league go professional in australia
1907