Rugby League badges’ guide

NSWRL to NRL – BADGES – NEW BOOK BY A NEW MEMBER

Rugby League Badges and Pins Nick Pezikian – See special offer at the bottom of this post.

Badges and pins have been worn by people in all walks of life since the Middle Ages. Throughout history they have represented membership, achievement, or designation. ​The badges in this catalogue indicate support for a team and or membership to a club. ​As with many other items, with the progression of time, an increasing number of people are collecting these badges as nostalgic keepsakes. ​​Whilst there are many genres of badges, most badge collectors limit their collections to one or more themes that appeal most to them.  Popular badge genres include military, political, social, charity, motoring, and of course sporting. ​

As with most sports the majority of Rugby League collectors primarily collect memorabilia & merchandise of their favourite team. Many of these collectors choose to specialise in certain items such as trading cards, jerseys, tickets, caps, footballs & of course badges of their team. Nick started collecting only membership badges of St George Leagues Club before gradually expanding his collection to include all the Sydney top-tier Leagues Club membership badges.  The collection then expanded to include country and regional clubs, before eventually expanding again to collecting pin badges of all National Rugby League (NRL) teams.

Pins or badges?

Pins are badges designed to be worn by being easily being attached to clothing, these include clutch, lapel, stick pins and brooch, button, clasp and fob badges.

How to work out when and whether a team had a badge

​As an avid badge collector Nick had the idea to catalogue rugby leagues badges over a decade ago to assist other collectors to avoid the difficulties and frustrations he faced determining what badges existed and their provenance. Gradually with the encouragement and assistance of other like-minded collectors the project gained momentum.

What is in and what is out of the catalogue?

It would be impossible to include all Rugby League badges and pins ever issued.

In – a decision was made to publish the catalogue in two sections. The first section is a catalogue of all known retail and promotional pins issued for the NRL competition clubs from the original Sydney first grade competition until 2021.

Out – as clubs have been issuing pins since the onset of the game for their supporters and continue to issue them to this day with many NRL membership programs including a lapel pin or keyring badge, it was decided that these privately issued items are not within the gamut of this catalogue as they would be too many to collate.

The second section covers Leagues Club membership badges of the top-tier Sydney teams and membership badges of the New South Wales Rugby League Club and the Queensland Rugby League Club. These distinctive metal badges were issued by all licensed clubs annually from the early 1960s to the late 1980s to members to gain entry into their premises. (Basically every club across Australia issued membership badges for around thirty years so literally millions were produced over the years; these could not all be reproduced.)

Nick advises that is a comprehensive catalogue of badges and pins for the NSWRL, ARL, SL and the NRL competitions in Australia.  With over 4,000 images and foreword written by prominent rugby league author and historian, Terry Williams, the 260 page book provides for the first time a detailed reference guide of badges and pins for rugby league collectors and supporters.

The catalogue contains:

• Background and introduction to pins and badges;
• Rugby league pins separated into categories for clubs, matches, NRL premiers, players, and State of Origin;
• Key information table and narrative for each pin set;
• Leagues Club membership badges of the top-tier Sydney clubs, NSWRL and QRL;
• Special notes on membership badges for each leagues club;
• Images of the reverse of pins and badges and their varieties;
• Separate sections showing the ephemera relating to pins and badges;
• Detailed analysis of the NRL clubs timeline and the evolution of club logos;
• Rarity guide from 1 to 10 for each pin set or membership badge;
• Collecting tips.

Book Review  by Sonny Carter: 

As a serious badge collector, I was asked to review the author’s latest badge catalogue which covers badges and pins of the Australian top-tier rugby league competition starting from the NSWRL to the current NRL competition. Whilst there is ample commentary on these small items of memorabilia, the majority of the 260 pages are devoted to images of badges and pins, many of which even collectors of several decades have never seen before. These images are not placed haphazardly but are ordered chronologically in individual sets according to when they were issued and are accompanied by extensive footnotes detailing each set.   

Having collected rugby league membership badges for well over a decade, I can unequivocally state no other such work exists. Like all other collectors of these badges, it has taken me many hours over many years to work out what badges even exist and to obtain them. So here for the first time, this catalogue answers these questions, presenting images of all the badges known to exist, with each badge given a value of 1-10 to indicate its rarity compared to other badges. No-one else has previously attempted a project of this magnitude because of the overwhelming complexity of the task, and the research and knowledge required to do it properly. Only certain individuals have the level of passion for badges and rugby league required to complete such a project, with Nick Pezikian being one of them.

Essential for anyone who collects badges and pins, this catalogue would also suit NRL fans that have an interest in memorabilia, the evolution of club logos, the introduction of mascots and associated artwork, or for those who simply want to see their team’s badges.

SPECIAL OFFER

The catalogue is available now on a pre-order basis at a special price of $49. Publication is expected in November. Normal price will be $59. The book is now available to purchase on the link below and will be posted in a protective cardboard book box. Postage is an extra $15.

https://victorybadges.com/catalogues/book-rugby-league-badges-and-pins