Charity Shield (NRL)

Charity Shield

Sport	Rugby league
Inaugural season	1982
Number of teams	2
Shield Holders	South Sydney Rabbitohs (2021)
Most titles	South Sydney Rabbitohs (22 titles)

The National Rugby League's Charity Shield match is an annual pre-season game between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and St. George Illawarra Dragons played before the start of the Premiership regular season. It has been regarded as the unofficial start to the National Rugby League (NRL) season and has been in operation since 1982, with the exception of 2000 and 2001 when Souths were omitted from the NRL.

Originally contested between South Sydney and St. George, and later by the St. George Illawarra Dragons when they formed a joint-venture with Illawarra in 1998 before the 1999 NRL season, the teams go head to head in an annual clash prior to the kickoff of the NRL season.

Since its inception in 1982, the Charity Shield has been played on thirty eight occasions. Of these, the Dragons (St George and St George Illawarra) have won 16 times, while the Rabbitohs, South Sydney have triumphed outright on 17 occasions and retained the shield as the current holder in each of the 5 drawn matches. Broken down, St George played 17 matches, winning 11; while St George Illawarra, since their joint-venture in 1999, have played 21 matches, winning 5.

The match has been broadcast on national television and in 2002 and 2021 was screened live in the UK. The Charity Shield is for Souths Cares, Wollongong Hospital and St George Hospital.

Head To Head[]

Team	Played	Games Won	Games Lost	Draws	Shields	PF	PA	PD
South Sydney Rabbitohs	38	17	16	5	22	679	645	+34
Both Dragons Teams	38	16	17	5	16	645	679	-34
St. George Dragons	17	11	4	2	11	273	217	+56
St George Illawarra Dragons	20	5	12	3	5	360	436	-76

Match results[]

Winner	Score	Loser	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
St. George Dragons	9–7	South Sydney Rabbitohs	13 February 1982	Redfern Oval	J.Danzey	10,980
St. George Dragons	28–10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	12 February 1983	Redfern Oval	K. Roberts	9,120
South Sydney Rabbitohs	24–6	St. George Dragons	10 March 1984	Redfern Oval	K. Roberts	8,365
St. George Dragons	10–8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	10 March 1985	Redfern Oval	K. Roberts	8,022
St. George Dragons	12–0	South Sydney Rabbitohs	15 February 1986	Redfern Oval	M. Stone	10,164
St. George Dragons	28–14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	7 February 1987	Redfern Oval	G. O'Donnell	10,724
South Sydney Rabbitohs	30–6	St. George Dragons	20 February 1988	Redfern Oval		9,678
South Sydney Rabbitohs	20–16	St. George Dragons	25 February 1989	Sydney Football Stadium	B. Harrigan	10,491
South Sydney Rabbitohs	10–10	St. George Dragons	9 February 1990	Sydney Football Stadium		12,791
South Sydney Rabbitohs	16–16	St. George Dragons	2 February 1991	Sydney Football Stadium	B. Harrigan	12,543
South Sydney Rabbitohs	21–20	St. George Dragons	1 February 1992	Sydney Football Stadium	G.Annesley	18,120
St. George Dragons	10–8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	30 January 1993	Sydney Football Stadium	B. Harrigan	18,231
St. George Dragons	14–11	South Sydney Rabbitohs	29 January 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	G. McCallum	19,266
St. George Dragons	18–10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	28 January 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	B. Harrigan	15,643
St. George Dragons	30–6	South Sydney Rabbitohs	17 February 1996	Sydney Football Stadium	K. Jeffes	8,920
St. George Dragons	26–18	South Sydney Rabbitohs	15 February 1997	Sydney Football Stadium	P. Simpkins	10,242
St. George Dragons	14–4	South Sydney Rabbitohs	21 February 1998	Sydney Football Stadium	B. Harrigan	28,310
South Sydney Rabbitohs	16–14	St George Illawarra Dragons	20 February 1999	Sydney Cricket Ground	B. Harrigan	19,250
South Sydney Rabbitohs were excluded from competing in the NRL for the 2000 and 2001 seasons
South Sydney Rabbitohs	20–20	St George Illawarra Dragons	16 February 2002	Aussie Stadium	B. Harrigan	36,804
St George Illawarra Dragons	28–10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	15 February 2003	Aussie Stadium	S. Hampstead	20,834
St George Illawarra Dragons	34–8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	14 February 2004	Aussie Stadium		21,513
South Sydney Rabbitohs	30–6	St George Illawarra Dragons	19 February 2005	Aussie Stadium		20,481
South Sydney Rabbitohs	14–12	St George Illawarra Dragons	18 February 2006	Telstra Stadium	S. Clark	24,556
St George Illawarra Dragons	16–14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	3 March 2007	Telstra Stadium	S. Hayne	23,053
South Sydney Rabbitohs	24–20	St George Illawarra Dragons	1 March 2008	ANZ Stadium	T. Archer	25,127
South Sydney Rabbitohs	18–6	St George Illawarra Dragons	28 February 2009	ANZ Stadium	B. Cummins/T. Archer	25,871
South Sydney Rabbitohs	26–26	St. George Illawarra Dragons	27 February 2010	ANZ Stadium	A. Klein/B. Suttor	27,221
St George Illawarra Dragons	32–10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	13 February 2011	ANZ Stadium	T. Archer/J. Maxwell	19,267
St George Illawarra Dragons	18–12	South Sydney Rabbitohs	19 February 2012	ANZ Stadium	B.Suttor/J.Robinson	21,398
South Sydney Rabbitohs	28–10	St George Illawarra Dragons	22 February 2013	ANZ Stadium	Jared Maxwell/Adam Devcich	19,630
South Sydney Rabbitohs	38–20	St George Illawarra Dragons	22 February 2014	WIN Stadium	S. Hayne	14,633
South Sydney Rabbitohs	12–12	St George Illawarra Dragons	7 February 2015	ANZ Stadium	Adam Devcich	16,821
South Sydney Rabbitohs	18–14	St George Illawarra Dragons	13 February 2016	ANZ Stadium	G. Badger	13,421[1]
South Sydney Rabbitohs	32–14	St George Illawarra Dragons	19 February 2017	ANZ Stadium	A. Klein/G. Munro	12,516[2]
South Sydney Rabbitohs	22–18	St George Illawarra Dragons	24 February 2018	Glen Willow Stadium	Adam Gee/Chris Sutton	9,133
South Sydney Rabbitohs	36–24	St George Illawarra Dragons	2 March 2019	Glen Willow Stadium	A. Klein	9,027
South Sydney Rabbitohs	26–12	St George Illawarra Dragons	29 February 2020	Glen Willow Stadium	A. Klein/G.Badger	9,124
South Sydney Rabbitohs	48–16	St George Illawarra Dragons	27 February 2021	Glen Willow Stadium	P Gough	6,840

Biggest wins[]

Most points scored in a game by a winning side[]

Most points scored in a game by a losing side[]

Most points scored in a game[]

Least points scored in a game[]

See also[]

• Rivalries in the National Rugby League

References[]

External links[]

• Sydney competitions
• Wayback Machine: Archived version of Geocities page of Charity Shield Games 1982–2009
• Rabbitohs South Sydney Rabbitohs