TheWinfield Cup was an Australianrugby league trophy awarded to the winner of theNew South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL)Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-foundedAustralian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Final in 1995.
Despite its name, the trophy was retired after the1995 ARL season when cigarette manufacturerWinfield was forced to withdraw their sponsorship, following theAustralian 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 byW. D. & H. O. Wills.
A redesigned ARL premiership trophy, theOptus Cup, was introduced in 1996 and lasted until 1997 before the ARL andSuper League merged to form theNational Rugby League (NRL) in 1998.
The Winfield Cup trophy was a three-dimensionalbronze cast of a famous photo calledThe Gladiators,[1] which depicted a mud-soakedNorm Provan ofSt. George andArthur Summons ofWestern Suburbs embracing after the1963 Grand Final. This image became symbolic of the camaraderie and 'mateship' in rugby league and the present-dayNational Rugby League Premiership Trophy (which evolved from the Winfield Cup) uses a similar design. The sculpture itself was designed by New Zealand-born sculptor Alan Ingham (b. 1920 – 1994).[2]
