History of Woodbridge Cup mercy rule explained by Andrew Pull

In round one of the PMP, Bathurst Panthers suffered an "embarrassing' 60-0 defeat to Dubbo CYMS in a match that was called off in the 79^th minute. In round two of the Woodbridge first grade comp, the game between Cargo and Manildra came to a halt less than 60 minutes in as the Rhinos ran home 66-4 victors. The most recent example came during Woodbridge's round 3 clash between Molong and Trundle, where the Boomers trounced the Bulls 68-4.

At what point senior footy games should be called off - or whether they should be called off at all - has divided fans, but as Woodbridge boss Andrew Pull pointed out, it's not a new concept...for their competition at least.

Initially, the point difference for a first grade game had to be 80 points to be called early, while league tag and youth league were both 60.

"We based that on a point-a-minute in the games. We didn't want to see clubs get beat by 100. We didn't think it was good for anyone," he said on the early iteration of the rule which dates back nearly a decade.

"Then we went through a stage where we said the clubs could keep playing, but don't keep the score and that was to keep the crowd happy. Some clubs then let us down and kept keeping the score.

"That's not a big deal because you can just put it in at 60 points, but when you've got player of the year awards for most tries, most points and some clubs are cutting it off at 60 and some keep sending in scoresheets with all the extra tries and goals, it was making it too hard."

At this point, Pull and the rest of the committee had enough and told referees to call proceedings over when the margin hits 60.

Pull doesn't recall too many times the 80 point margin was ever met, but as 2023 has shown us already, 60 is a much more gettable target.

"There were a few years where a couple clubs were really strong and a couple weren't. Everyone said it was smart to make it 80, no point playing after that," he said.

"It might have only happened less than a handful of times where we had to call games off, because 80 points is out of reach, but 60 is very much reachable with 80 minutes if you're having a bad day."

But in another twist and turn to the rule, all of a sudden, league tag games would not be called off no matter what the score.

"With the girls, the clubs actually had a bit of foresight about it because the game was still progressing, so they swapped it around so we actually allowed the team that got scored against to tap-off, rather than kick-off. We did that because league-tag was still about promoting the game," Pull added.

"Then we also went with where the side receiving the kick, they'd just kick it straight back. The league tag wasn't going to get better unless they kept playing."

Following Country Rugby League's merger with NSW Rugby League in 2019, all leagues across the region now abide by the same law.

The rule being that "all matches in the Under 18s to Open Age competitions will stop immediately when there is a points differential of 60 points. Officials at official tables will sound the siren at the appropriate time."

Pull said in theory, Woodbridge or any other competition not satisfied with the current mercy rule could put in an application to change it for their league specifically. Pull however sees no reason to take those steps at the moment.

"We wanted every kid from Broken Hill to Bondi playing under the same rules and regulations," he added.

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