Big League is the official magazine of the National Rugby League and that of the NRL's forerunners, the New South Wales Rugby League and Australian Rugby League competitions. Its predecessor, The Rugby League News, was first published in 1920; in 1974 it was rebadged as Big League.
It also serves as a game-day program, containing team line-ups and stats. It goes on sale every Thursday at newsagents and exclusively at all active NRL grounds at weekends. With every issue there is also a copy of "Little League", a 16-page mini-magazine aimed at pre-teen league fans and packed with puzzles, competitions and player profiles. Since 2005 it has been published by News Magazines; previously it had been published by Text Magazines and Pacific Magazines.
Publications:
- A5-sized Season Guide
- Season Preview
- 30 weekly issues
- 100-page Grand Final Souvenir
- Year In Review issue
- State of Origin and Test souvenir programs
- Official Rugby League Annual (228 pages)
The editor is Tony Webeck and the sub-editor is Fiona Bollen. Staff writers are Matt Encarnacion, Tim Matchett, and Maria Tsialis. Big League is designed by Craig Loughlin-Smith, who has been with the title since 1999, as well as designer Joanna Levadetes.
Famous quotes containing the words big and/or league:
“Politics at all times lead to bloody wars, and not only politics, but also religions as well as social and economic systems of all times are spattered with blood. Invariably the big ones devoured the little ones, and the little ones the tiny ones.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“Stereotypes fall in the face of humanity. You toodle along, thinking that all gay men wear leather after dark and should never, ever be permitted around a Little League field. And then one day your best friend from college, the one your kids adore, comes out to you.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)