The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership's (NSWRL) Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and to the winner of the Australian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Final in 1995. Despite its name it was a trophy, not a cup.
The trophy was retired after the 1995 ARL season when cigarette manufacturer Winfield was forced to withdraw their sponsorship of the Premiership, following the Australian Federal Government's introduction of the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 which outlawed tobacco advertising in sports in Australia. Winfield were not the first tobacco company to sponsor the NSWRL Premiership, however; from 1960 to 1981 the pre-season competition was sponsored by W. D. & H. O. Wills.
A redesigned ARL Premiership trophy, known as the Optus Cup, was introduced in 1996 but lasted just two seasons.
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“Sunday morning may be cheery enough, with its extra cup of coffee and litter of Sunday newspapers, but there is always hanging over it the ominous threat of 3 P.M., when the sun gets around to the back windows and life stops dead in its tracks.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)