2008 was celebrated in Australia as the centenary of rugby league football, as in Australia it was in 1908 that the code broke away from rugby. The highlight of the year was the World Cup, which was held in Australia in October and November 2008.
2 May – The 75th annual City vs Country Origin match was played at WIN Stadium, Wollongong before a crowd of 11,365. The game was refereed by Jared Maxwell and kicked off at 8:00pm and finished in an unexpected draw of 22-all. The first known draw in City-Country representative history since 1933, which then was 17 all.
Australia won their 7th straight match over New Zealand with a 28–12 win in the 9th ANZAC Test. The Kangaroos, wearing the original sky blue and maroon hooped jersey from the days before the green & gold, got out to a 22–0 lead (including a remarkably acrobatic try involving Greg Inglis and Mark Gasnier) in only 23 minutes into the match and it remained that scoreline going into the break. New Zealand scored first in the second half only two minutes in bringing it back to 22–6. However Australia put the game beyond doubt when they scored in the 64th minute regaining their margin of 22 points with the New Zealand side scoring a late consolation try finalising the score 28–12.
21 May – Game one of the 2008 State of Origin series was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium before a crowd of 67,620. The game kicked off at 8:00pm and was refereed by Tony Archer. New South Wales defeated Queensland 18 – 10.
10 October – Doncaster, England: In the weeks before the World Cup began nearly half of the teams played warm up matches to prepare themselves for the tournament and to help select their squads.
12 October – New Plymouth, New Zealand: In the weeks before the World Cup began nearly half of the teams played warm up matches to prepare themselves for the tournament and to help select their squads.
12 October – Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: In the weeks before the World Cup began nearly half of the teams played warm up matches to prepare themselves for the tournament and to help select their squads.
18 October – Auckland, New Zealand: In the weeks before the World Cup began nearly half of the teams played warm up matches to prepare themselves for the tournament and to help select their squads.
11th - Sydney, Australia: The National Rugby League announces that the number of on-field referees in premiership matches would increase from one to two from the 2009 season.[4]
