Rothmans Medal

The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest in those competitions for the season, first awarded in 1968. With the establishment of the National Rugby League in 1998, the Rothmans Medal was replaced by the Dally M Medal as the official Player of the Year award.

History

The Rothmans Medal was the first official player-of-the-year award to be established in rugby league in Australia. The medal was sponsored by Rothmans International, a tobacco production company. There were two Rothmans Medals awarded each year: one for the best player in the New South Wales Rugby League, and one for the best player in the Brisbane Rugby League.

The voting for the Rothmans Medal was done by the match-day referee. After each match, he awarded three votes to the best player, two votes to the second-best player, and one vote to the third-best player. This is the same basic format as the modern day Dally M, except that the votes are now determined by the media.

The two Rothmans Medals were first awarded in 1968, and were awarded each year until 1996. In 1997, the Rothmans Medal in New South Wales became known as the Provan-Summons medal, because all tobacco advertising and sponsorship was prohibited in Australia in 1992, under the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992; the medal then disappeared altogether in 1998 with the merger of the Australian Rugby League and the Australian Super League. The Queensland Rothmans Medal was also last awarded in 1996, as the Queensland Cup superseded the Brisbane Rugby League as Queensland's premier rugby league competition in 1997.

Rothmans Medal winners

New South Wales

Note: includes Provan-Summons Medal winner in 1997.

Year	Winner	Position	Team
1968	Terry Hughes	Template:Rlp	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla
1969	Denis Pittard	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon South Sydney
1970	Kevin Junee	Template:Rlp	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs
1971	Denis Pittard	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon South Sydney
1972	Tommy Raudonikis	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs
1973	Ken Maddison	Template:Rlp	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla
1974	Graham Eadie	Template:Rlp	File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah
1975	Steve Rogers	Template:Rlp	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla
1976	Ray Higgs	Template:Rlp	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
1977	Mick Cronin	Template:Rlp	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
1978	Mick Cronin	Template:Rlp	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
1979	Ray Price	Template:Rlp	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
1980	Geoff Bugden	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Newtown
1981	Kevin Hastings	Template:Rlp	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs
1982	Greg Brentnall	Template:Rlp	File:Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury
1983	Michael Eden	Template:Rlp	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs
1984	Terry Lamb	Template:Rlp	File:Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury
1985	Wayne Pearce	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Balmain
1986	Mal Cochrane	Template:Rlp	File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah
1987	Peter Sterling	Template:Rlp	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
1988	Barry Russell	Template:Rlp	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla
1989	Gavin Miller Mark Sargent	Template:Rlp Template:Rlp	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla File:Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle
1990	Peter Sterling	Template:Rlp	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
1991	Ewan McGrady	Template:Rlp	File:Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury
1992	Allan Langer	Template:Rlp	File:Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane
1993	Ricky Stuart	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Canberra
1994	David Fairleigh	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon North Sydney
1995	Paul Green	Template:Rlp	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla
1996	Jason Taylor	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon North Sydney
1997	Brad Fittler	Template:Rlp	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters

Queensland

Year	Winner	Position	Team
1968	Wayne Head	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs
1969	Johnny Brown	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Northern Suburbs
1970	Graeme Atherton	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Southern Suburbs
1971	Len Brunner	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Wynnum-Manly
1972	Marty Scanlan	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Valleys
1973	John Eales	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs
1974	Jeff Fyfe	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs
1975	Steve Calder	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Northern Suburbs
1976	Darryl Brohman	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Northern Suburbs
1977	Alan Currie	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs
1978	Ian Pearce	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Redcliffe
1979	Neville Draper	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Northern Suburbs
1980	Peter Lehman	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Brothers
1981	Chris Phelan	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Southern Suburbs
1982	Tony Currie	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs
1983	Trevor Paterson	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs
1984	Cavill Heugh	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs
1985	Ian French	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Wynnum-Manly
1986	Bryan Niebling Scott Tronc	Template:Rlp Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Redcliffe Template:Leagueicon Southern Suburbs
1987	Gene Miles	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Wynnum-Manly
1988	Kevin Langer	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs
1989	Neil Tierney	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Wynnum-Manly
1990	Trevor Benson	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Redcliffe
1991	Darryl Duncan	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Northern Suburbs
1992	Jason Hanrahan	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Southern Suburbs
1993	Paul Green Steve Mills	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs
1994	Steve Bryant	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Brothers
1995	Graham Cotter	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Redcliffe
1996	Alan Wieland	Template:Rlp	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs

External links

• Rothmans Medal at qrl.com.au

1. Redirect Template:National Rugby League