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- The NRL Grand Final determines the champions of the National Rugby League club competition. It is a major sport event in Australia. Since 1999, it has been contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia, it set a new record for attendance at an Australian rugby league game, with 107,999 people attending. The grand final had been played on Saturday afternoons and then Sunday afternoons. From 2001 to 2007, the game was moved to an evening start to make the most of prime time television. Between 2008 and 2012, a compromise was reached between official broadcaster Nine Network's preferred starting time of 7pm and the traditional starting time of 3pm, with the grand final beginning at 5pm AEDT. In 2013, the evening start resumed and has occurred since. Previously, the grand final did not have a set date but, with the exception of 2020, since 2001, it has been played the Sunday falling between 30 September and 6 October, preceding the Labour Day public holiday on the first Monday of October. The NRL Grand Final Breakfast, attended by both teams, NRL officials and guests is held during the week before the game and screened live on Australian television. In 2015, the breakfast was cancelled and has been held only intermittently in recent years. The game itself is usually preceded by an opening ceremony featuring entertainment and the singing of the national anthem by well-known Australasian and international musical acts. The Provan-Summons Trophy, the NRL's premiership trophy, is usually delivered to the field by an Australian Army helicopter shortly before kick off. At the conclusion of the grand final there is a presentation ceremony where the winning team are awarded premiership rings. The player judged to be the man-of-the-match by the selectors of the ARL national team is awarded the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal and the Prime Minister of Australia is typically on-hand to hand the Provan-Summons Trophy to the winning captain. In 2019, the Government of New South Wales secured the grand final for Stadium Australia until at least 2046. (en)
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