title: Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

text: Though first published as "The Valley Nis" in "Poems by Edgar A. Poe" in 1831, this poem evolved into the version "The Valley of Unrest" now anthologized. In its original version, the speaker asks if all things lovely are far away, and that the valley is part Satan, part angel, and a large part broken heart. It mentions a woman named "Helen", which may actually refer to Jane Stanard, one of Poe's first loves and the mother of a friend.


title: Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

text: The poem was renamed "The Valley of Unrest" for the April 1845 issue of the "". This version of the poem is shorter and quite different from its predecessor, and there is no mention of "Helen".


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: The 2018 NXT TakeOver: WarGames was the 22nd NXT TakeOver and the second annual NXT WarGames professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network and took place on November 17, 2018, in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California as part of that year's Survivor Series weekend.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match. In the penultimate match, Tommaso Ciampa defeated Velveteen Dream to retain the NXT Championship and Aleister Black defeated Johnny Gargano.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: TakeOver was a series of professional wrestling shows that began in May 2014, as WWE's then-developmental league NXT held their second WWE Network-exclusive event, billed as TakeOver. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of their NXT live specials. The 2018 WarGames was scheduled as the 22nd NXT TakeOver event and was held on November 17, 2018, in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California as a support show for that year's Survivor Series pay-per-view. It was the second in the TakeOver: WarGames chronology, a subseries of TakeOvers that feature the WarGames match and were originally held as a support show for WWE's annual Survivor Series pay-per-view.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: The card comprised five matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on their weekly television program, "NXT".


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: On the July 25 episode of "NXT", Aleister Black lost the NXT Championship to Tommaso Ciampa due to interference from Johnny Gargano. On the August 8 episode of "NXT", Black and Gargano fought to a no contest when Ciampa attacked both men. A triple threat match between the three for the title was scheduled for . After the show was over, Black was later found unconscious in the parking lot (This was done to allow Black to recover from a groin injury he underwent surgery for). With Black out of action after a groin injury, the match was changed to a Last Man Standing match between Ciampa and Gargano, which Ciampa won. On the October 24 edition of "NXT", Gargano was revealed as the one who attacked Black before their original TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 title match, turning heel in the process. The following week, a match between the two was scheduled for the event.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: On the October 31, 2018 episode of "NXT", Adam Cole and Bobby Fish of The Undisputed Era were scheduled to face War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) in the main event. However, Hanson and Rowe attacked the group during a backstage promo. The fight ended up in the ring, where the Undisputed Era got the upper-hand. Ricochet entered on the War Raiders' behalf, but was ultimately overtaken. Pete Dunne evened the odds for Hanson, Rowe and Ricochet. During the brawl, NXT general manager William Regal announced that the two sides would face each other in a WarGames match.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: At Evolution, Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women's Championship back from Kairi Sane after interference from Baszler's fellow and former MMA Four Horsewomen Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, becoming the first two-time NXT Women's Champion. On the November 7 episode of "NXT", as Sane was invoking her rematch clause, a two-out-of-three-falls match between the two for the title was scheduled for TakeOver.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: The event opened with Matt Riddle facing Kassius Ohno. Riddle immediately performed a jumping high knee on Ohno to win in only six seconds.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: Next, Shayna Baszler defended the NXT Women's Championship against Kairi Sane in a two-out-of-three falls match. Baszler scored the first fall by making Sane submit to the "Kirifuda Clutch" after interference from Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir. Sane scored the second fall after an "Insane Elbow" on Baszler. Duke and Shafir tried to interfere again only for Dakota Kai and Io Shirai to stop them. Sane attempted the "Insane Elbow" but Baszler countered into a roll up to retain the title.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: After that, Aleister Black faced Johnny Gargano. Gargano performed a slingshot DDT on Black for a near-fall. Black performed a diving meteora on Gargano for a near-fall. Gargano applied the "Garga-No Escape", but Black touched the ropes. In the end, Black performed two consecutive "Black Masses" on Gargano to win.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: In the penultimate match, Tommaso Ciampa defended the NXT Championship against Velveteen Dream. Ciampa performed a "Project Ciampa" on Dream for a near-fall. Dream performed the "Purple Rainmaker" on Ciampa for a near-fall. Dream attempted a second "Purple Rainmaker" again on the ring apron but Ciampa avoided. Ciampa performed an elevated DDT on Dream onto the metal divider between the rings to retain the championship.


title: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018)

text: The main event was a WarGames match between The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong) and the team of WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne, NXT North American Champion Ricochet and War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe). The match began with Cole and Ricochet in the ring. After 5 minutes, O’Reilly of The Undisputed Era joined the match. Three minutes after, Hanson would join the match, and following a further three minutes, Strong joined the match. After another three minutes, Rowe joined the match and simultaneously performed a powerslam and powerbomb on O’Reilly and Strong respectively. After another 3 minutes, Fish escaped and locked Dunne in a cage, throwing the key lock into the audience. Fish then retrieved chairs for the Undisputed Era who struck Ricochet, Hanson and Rowe with the chairs. Three minutes afterwards, the referees attempted to unlock Dunne's cage, but failed to do so as The Undisputed Era's and Dunne's cages used different keys for the individual locks and thus a bolt-cutter had to be used to open the cage. Dunne struck Fish and O’Reilly with a kendo stick and retrieved tables, trash cans, a steel chain and kendo sticks for his team. During the climax, Cole reversed the "Bitter End" into a DDT and performed the "Last Shot" on Dunne for a near-fall. Ricochet and Cole went up to the top of the cage, and all competitors climbed up with them to help their team gain momentum. Cole got suplexed and everybody was left lying, and Ricochet performed a double Moonsault onto the pile. Cole went for another attempt at the Last Shot, but Dunne reversed it into the "Bitter End" and Ricochet executed a springboard 450° splash and both of them pinned Cole for the win.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: General elections were held in East Germany on 18 March 1990. They were the only free and fair parliamentary elections in the history of the country, and the first free and fair election held in that part of Germany since November 1932.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The Alliance for Germany, led by the East German branch of the Christian Democratic Union, won 192 seats and emerged as the largest bloc in the 400-seat Volkskammer, having run on a platform of speedy reunification with West Germany. The East German branch of the Social Democratic Party, which had been dissolved in 1946 and refounded only six months before the elections, finished second with 88 seats. The former Socialist Unity Party of Germany, renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism, running in a free election for the first time, finished third with 66 seats.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The Alliance was just short of the 201 seats needed to govern alone. Lothar de Maizière of the CDU invited the SPD to join his Alliance partners – the German Social Union (DSU) and Democratic Awakening (DA) – in a grand coalition. The SPD was initially cool to de Maizière's offer, in part because of the presence of the right-wing DSU in de Maizière's grouping; the SPD had originally been willing to govern alongside all parties other than the PDS and DSU. However, they ultimately agreed. The government, which was able to amend the constitution thanks to its two-thirds majority, subsequently organised and ratified the reunification of Germany, resulting in the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic on 3 October 1990.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The Peaceful Revolution of 1989 resulted in the Socialist Unity Party of Germany giving up its monopoly on power, and permitting opposition parties to operate for the first time. They began to form in large numbers throughout November and December 1989. Opposition groups formed the East German Round Table, which was joined by representatives of the SED to negotiate reforms; at its first meeting on 7 December 1989, the Round Table agreed that free elections to the Volkskammer would be held on 6 May 1990.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: On 20 February 1990 the Volkskammer passed a new electoral law, reducing it in size to 400 members elected via party-list proportional representation, with no electoral threshold. Joint lists between parties were allowed, and a number of parties formed alliances for the election, including the Association of Free Democrats, Alliance 90, and an alliance between the Green Party and Independent Women's Association. Seats were calculated nationally using the largest remainder method, and distributed in multi-member constituencies corresponding to the fifteen "Bezirke".


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The campaign was short and presented the parties with major organizational challenges. The election, originally scheduled for May, was brought forward to March 18 after negotiations between representatives of the Round Table and government of Hans Modrow on 28 January. This meant that the campaign was only seven weeks long.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: Only the PDS had party machinery immediately operational as well as the extensive financial resources required for a full-scale campaign. The newly founded parties and groups, by contrast, were often still entangled in debates about their platform and only had minimal operational infrastructure. Civil rights activists had managed to secure offices in many places; thus, both the new groups and old parties were often lacking less in physical infrastructure and more in political and campaign experience. This gap was closed through a massive commitment by the Western parties, which supported their partner parties in the GDR, and were thus able to compensate for the organizational advantage held by the PDS. The CDU, for example, formed "district partnerships": each Eastern CDU district association was supported by a Western CDU district association. Many Western party members took vacations to the East to aid their party in the campaign.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: Ahead of the election, the Bavarian Christian Social Union in West Germany allied itself with the Eastern German Social Union. The Free Democratic Party endorsed the hastily-assembled Association of Free Democrats, which included the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) and the minor Free Democratic Party of the GDR. The Alliance for Germany, which included the CDU, DSU, and Democratic Awakening (DA), was also created as an emergency solution. These two alliances, forged six weeks before the election, had to organize their election campaigns in an extremely short time.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The SPD appeared to have favourable starting conditions. As a newly-founded party, it had no ties to the SED, but a high profile and ample resources thanks to its Western counterpart. Most of East Germany's territory had also been a stronghold of the SPD during the Weimar Republic. Meanwhile, the CDU was deprived of a natural base by the lack of any significant Catholic population in the country, with the sole exception of Eichsfeld on the Thuringian border. Additionally, several older parties, including the CDU, LDPD, and NDPD, were former "block parties" which were subordinate to the SED until 1989. This association created considerable doubt about their ability to credibly portray themselves as parties of change. Election forecasts predicted a clear victory for the Social Democrats: in a survey published at the beginning of February, the SPD was favoured by 54 percent of voters, followed by the PDS with 12 percent and the CDU with 11 percent.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: Oskar Lafontaine, who had been elected as the Western SPD's Chancellor candidate for the next federal election, was sceptical about reunification and pessimistic about the SPD's chances of victory in either country. At the SPD's party conference in Berlin in December 1989, he warned of "national drunkenness" reunification could inspire, and described membership of a united Germany in NATO as "historical nonsense". Meanwhile, West German CDU leader and Chancellor Helmut Kohl made unification the primary goal for his party in both the East and West. To promote this position, almost 400 events were held during the campaign featuring around 80 top politicians from the CDU and CSU; the Alliance for Germany held around 1,400 election events in total. At one such event on 20 February 1990 in Erfurt, 150,000 people gathered to see Kohl; 200,000 attended when he spoke in Chemnitz.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: Three days before the election, the lead candidate of Democratic Awakening, Wolfgang Schnur, was exposed as a Stasi collaborator by "Der Spiegel".


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The Alliance for Germany presented its election program under the title "Never again socialism" ("„Nie wieder Sozialismus“"). Its key points included German reunification using the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany as an all-German constitution, the establishment of rights to private property and unrestricted freedom of trade, the abolition of all barriers to access for investors from the West, and the immediate introduction of the Deutsche Mark with an exchange rate of 1:1 to the East German mark. It also promised the establishment of a social security network, an environmental program, and secure energy supply, and the harmonisation of law with the Federal Republic; in particular the abolition of criminal offences related to political activity. Other points were the promotion of monument protection, education reform, the preservation of day nurseries, the re-establishment of the federal states ("Länder") and freedom of the press.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: At the first party conference of the revived SPD, held in Leipzig from 22 to 25 February 1990, the basic party program was adopted, as was its election program. The core was the demand for an ecologically-oriented social market economy.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The PDS election program was entitled "Democratic Freedom for All - Social Security for Everyone". The PDS described itself as a left-wing/socialist party campaigning for a humane working world, and striving for a socially and ecologically-oriented market economy that pursues social security for all, especially the socially disadvantaged, based on merit. In addition, it demanded radical disarmament in both the East and West, solidarity between people, and responsible management of nature. It stated that the GDR's social values and achievements should be preserved, stating these to include the right to work, the system of children's institutions, the involvement of cooperative and public property in the economy, and anti-fascism and internationalism. Central to its platform were demands to maintain the "status quo" with regard to the continued employment of the former SED members and land reform undertaken by the SED. Instead of unification with the West, the PDS advocated the creation of a confederal structure between the two countries while preserving statehood, and sought a gradual transition to a neutral and demilitarized German confederation within the framework of European unity.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: There was criticism of the preparations for the elections and the environment in which they took place. Writer Michael Schneider criticised what he saw as massive interference by Western politicians in the GDR election campaign, which he characterised as dominated by Western personalities and party volunteers, and funded partly by taxpayer money from the West.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: Civil rights activist and founding member of the New Forum, Jens Reich, raised similar concerns. In 2009, 20 years after the Peaceful Revolution, he commented on the development of democracy in the GDR: "The Bonn hippopotamus came in such a mass that you were simply helpless. The entire apparatus of the West was simply brought to the East in the election campaign. We had nothing to oppose. These were western elections exported to the GDR."


title: 1990 East German general election

text: In 2005, Forschungsgruppe Wahlen researcher Matthias Jung, who was involved in organising opinion polling for the election, spoke of the difficulties of the task. He attributed this to the unpredictable behaviour of the electorate as well as the total lack of infrastructure and methods for gauging public opinion, which forced the institute to build an entirely new polling model. Despite beginning work at the end of 1989, FW only released one poll before the election, which Jung claimed accurately predicted the CDU victory. This may refer to a FW poll showing that 35% of voters believed an Alliance for Germany-led government would be most capable of solving the country's problems, while only 27% believed an SPD-led government would; 29% believed a grand coalition would be most capable. This was in stark contrast to other polls, conducted without reliable methods, all of which forecast a landslide SPD victory.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: In order to determine the composition of the East German representatives in the Bundestag between German reunification and the first post-reunification elections in December 1990, the results of the 1990 Volkskammer election were recounted, using the new states of Germany as constituencies. This was possible since the original election results were declared on the Kreis level, and the states were re-established by simply amalgamating Kreise together. The results in each Kreis forming a state were summed up to determine the statewide result. The recount fixed the number of Volkskammer members from each party who would be co-opted into the Bundestag.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The newly elected Volkskammer was constituted on 5 April 1990, and elected Sabine Bergmann-Pohl of the CDU as its president. As the State Council of the GDR was dissolved at the same time, she became East Germany's interim head of state. Four days later, after protracted negotiations, Lothar de Maizière announced the formation of a grand coalition between the Alliance for Germany, SPD, and BFD. On 12 April 1990, he was elected Prime Minister of the GDR by the Volkskammer with 265 votes in favour, 108 against, and 9 abstentions. The new cabinet was also confirmed. The partners in the coalition commanded a two-thirds supermajority in the Volkskammer, enough to pass amendments to the constitution.


title: 1990 East German general election

text: The new parliament quickly passed several pieces of major legislation, including a new law regarding local government on 17 May, a law ratifying the monetary, economic, and social union with the Federal Republic of Germany on 18 May (which became effective on 1 July), and constitutional amendments on 17 June. On 21 June, the Volkskammer formed a special committee, chaired by Joachim Gauck, to control the dissolution of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi).


title: 1990 East German general election

text: On 20 September 1990, the Volkskammer voted 299–80 to accept the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, which had earlier been approved in a 442–47 vote by the West German Bundestag. The treaty stipulated that East Germany would unify its territory with Federal Republic of Germany via Article 23 of the Basic Law, meaning that East Germany, after 40 years of existence, would cease to exist, and the Volkskammer along with it. Its last legislative period therefore only lasted four and a half months. The treaty took effect on 3 October 1990. On the same day, 144 of the 400 former Volkskammer deputies became members of the Bundestag: 63 from the CDU, 33 from the SPD, 24 from the PDS, 9 from the BFD, 8 from the DSU, and 7 from Alliance 90 and the Green Party. The distribution of seats between these parties was determined by recalculating the results of the 1990 elections on a per-state basis. Their tenure came to an end two months later with the first all-German federal election on 2 December 1990.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Football League (UFL), which was previously the "de facto" top-tier league in the country. Starting from the 2020 season, the league is also known as The Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways, due to the league's title sponsorship.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The PFL has 6 seasons thus far (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), 5 of which were won by United City F.C. (3 were earned as Ceres-Negros F.C. While 2 were earned as the current United City F.C.) But United City F.C. withdrawing in the 2021 season saw the championship fought between Azkals Development Team and Kaya F.C.–Iloilo, the latter winning the 2021 season. (In 2018, financial and logistical issues forced the disestablishment of the PFL with the Philippine Premier League established in its place. However, with the folding of the PPL after just one match day, the PFL was revived in mid-May 2019.


title: Philippines Football League

text: Following the success of the Philippines national team in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, Philippine football experienced a renaissance. With no existing national football league, the Metro Manila-based United Football League (UFL) established itself as the "de facto" top-tier league in the Philippines. Under the guidance of the Football Alliance (FA) in partnership with United Football Clubs Association (UFCA), the UFL flourished. However, the PFF expressed the need to have a nationwide, community-based football league that is at par with the standards set by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The UFL, which was under the National Capital Region Football Association, could not be considered as a national league.


title: Philippines Football League

text: With the goal of establishing a truly nationwide professional football league in the Philippines, the PFF launched "National League Task Force" on December 2, 2013. The task force was led by PFF president Mariano Araneta Jr. and general secretary Edwin Gastanes, also composing of Filipino economist Bernie Villegas, UFL president Randy Roxas, AFC deputy general secretary and competition director Dato' Windsor John, Filipino FIFA official Domeka Garamendi, AFC kick-off program director Yogesh Desai, UFL commissioner Bonnie Ladrido, ABS-CBN's Dino Laurena, former PFF general secretary Cyril Dofitas and Gelix Mercader. The task force was tasked to do market research studies to determine the possible cities or regions where participating football clubs could be feasibly based, as well as assisting clubs in the Philippines to conform to the PFF club licensing regulations, of which the draft was initiated by Atty. Edwin Gastanes, with guidance from AFC. The PFF initially set a goal to launch the national league in two to three years from the inception of the task force.


title: Philippines Football League

text: Singaporean sports marketing agency, Red Card Group led by former Singaporean international, R. Sasikumar, assisted the PFF in the initial stages of planning the league.


title: Philippines Football League

text: Nielsen was tasked by PFF, through funding from FIFA and AFC to conduct a study in 2015, where they identified 13 key localities throughout the Philippines as viable home venues for participating clubs in the PFL. Among the factors considered were existing infrastructures, accessibility, capacity of fans to pay, the existence of sponsors, and fan appreciation of the sport.


title: Philippines Football League

text: "Philippines Football League" was the most-preferred name for a prospective league according to a Nielsen survey which covered interviews of 5,000 people nationwide. Other choices included "P-League", "Maharlika League" (inspired by a feudal warrior class existing in the Luzon region during the pre-colonial era), "Liga Pilipina", and "Philippine Premier League".


title: Philippines Football League

text: The Philippines Football League was officially announced on September 7, 2016 and would be replacing the UFL as the Philippines' top-tier football league.


title: Philippines Football League

text: At least six teams from all over the Philippines was planned to be part of the PFL, with clubs from the UFL invited to join. Clubs were given until December 2016 to formally apply to join the PFL. The league competition was slated to begin in either the late March or early April in 2017.


title: Philippines Football League

text: By April 1, 2017, the PFF confirmed the participation of 8 clubs from - Ilocos United and Stallion Laguna from Luzon; JPV Marikina, Kaya F.C.–Makati (now Kaya F.C.-Iloilo) and FC Meralco Manila (now Loyola F.C.) from Metro Manila; Ceres–Negros (now United City) and Global Cebu (now Global F.C.) from the Visayas; Davao Aguilas from Mindanao.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The official launching of the PFL happened on April 21, 2017 at the Shangri-La at the Fort in Taguig. The program was started by economist and PFL Task Force Chairman, Bernardo Villegas and ended by PFF President Mariano Araneta.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The inaugural season in 2017 was contested by eight clubs and had two stages; the regular season and a playoff competition. The regular season adopted a home-and-away, double round-robin format. The top four teams in the regular season advanced to the play-off round, dubbed as the "Final Series", to determine the champions of the league. Ceres-Negros won the inaugural league title.


title: Philippines Football League

text: For the second season, the Final Series was scrapped due to the introduction of the Copa Paulino Alcantara, the cup competition for the league. The number of clubs in the league was reduced from eight to six after the departure of Ilocos United (then converted to a grassroots association) and FC Meralco Manila (that stayed active on a youth level ever since), both due to lack of investment and sponsorship, while Kaya-Makati F.C. relocated to Iloilo City and changed their name accordingly. Ceres-Negros won their second title.


title: Philippines Football League

text: In late-2018, Triple CH led by Thailand-based Filipino businessman Bernie Sumayao became involved in the league and has entered talks with PFF chairman Mariano Araneta. He was appointed as the league's new commissioner. Sumayao pledged to institute financial and structural reforms in the league; including a rebrand of the league to the "Philippine Premier League" (PPL) starting the 2019 season, more favorable sponsorship policies, and the disestablishment of the franchise fee in favor of a less expensive registration fee for clubs.


title: Philippines Football League

text: At least eight teams were projected to play in the PPL's inaugural season. However, the end of the 2017 season also saw the departure of a third club in the league's history, Davao Aguilas F.C. Despite this, the league has received applications from several new clubs aspiring to join the PFL.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The PPL effectively folded after the PFF announced that it has revoked its sanction of the league on May 3, 2019, due to its non compliance to the agreement with PFF. The PFL was consequently revived, with a third season planned to commence within the year. The new format proceeded as planned, with Ceres–Negros claiming their third consecutive league title despite internal managerial struggles.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The PFL secured a three-year sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways on January 26, 2020, with the Qatari firm becoming the Airline partner and Title Sponsor of the PFL. Negotiations for deal occurred as early as November 2019. The league was formally renamed as "The Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways" as a result of the sponsorship.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was later held in a bio-secure bubble in Carmona, Cavite from October 28 to November 9, 2020, while the edition of the Copa Paulino Alcantara was cancelled, due to the time constraints caused by the original postponement. Ceres-Negros, which had just sustained an ownership change and got renamed as "United City F.C.", then proceeded to win their fourth title in a row, with Kaya F.C.-Iloilo finishing second despite remaining unbeaten and thus becoming the first club in PFL's history to do so.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The same year saw the official entry in the competition of newly founded Azkals Development Team, directly controlled by the national football federation, as a guest team that would host mainly "homegrown" young talents, as well as some overage players, in order to expand the resources of the national team.


title: Philippines Football League

text: In 2021, following the rise of Philippines in the AFC rankings and the expansion of the AFC Champions League's group stage from 32 to 40 teams, United City became the first Filipino team to qualify for the group stage of the competition, as winners of the 2020 edition of the PFL. Plus, the 2021 season saw both the return of the league cup, set to be organized in April, and a slight expansion of the league, with PFL commissioner Coco Torre announcing in February that Loyola F.C. (returning to the league after competing for the last time in 2018) and former UFL team Laos F.C. (on his official debut) had submitted their respective requests to join the competition.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The PFL followed a traditional home-and-away double round robin format from the 2018 to 2019 seasons, although some clubs did not have their home stadiums.


title: Philippines Football League

text: In the 2020 season, all matches are held in a bio-secure bubble in a single venue. Succeeding seasons will be held in a centralized venue with long-term plans to include reverting to a home-and-away format.


title: Philippines Football League

text: In the inaugural season of 2017, the league had two phases, the regular season, which adopted a home-and-away, double round-robin format, and the "Finals Series", a play-off round where the top four teams of the regular season played each other to determine the champions of the league. The Finals Series was not held for the succeeding seasons.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The league only had one division since its existence, but there are plans to introduce a second division as the league expands, with a system of promotion and relegation within the PFL to be put in place. There was a proposal to convert the former UFL to a second division tournament or a reserve league to the PFL.


title: Philippines Football League

text: Eleven clubs have played in the PFL since its inception in 2017, up to and including the 2022–23 season.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The following seven teams are competing in the 2022–23 edition; three of them have been competing since 2017.


title: Philippines Football League

text: Singapore-based Red Card Global, a sports marketing agency has exclusive commercial rights to the PFL. Each club had to pay a franchise fee to participate in the league. Reportedly in April 2017, the franchise fee was pegged at $500,000 by the PFF which can be paid by member clubs within a period of five years.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The league is professional in nature, clubs are intended to have a share of the league's broadcast revenues and sponsorship. Each club is allowed to be assisted by the league in securing their own sponsors.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The professional status of the league is recognized by the Games and Amusements Board, the regulatory body for professional sports in the Philippines.


title: Philippines Football League

text: In October 2018, the Philippines Football Federation was awarded the League Development award by the Asian Football Confederation for its organization of the PFL.


title: Philippines Football League

text: All PFL clubs were required under the PFF club licensing regulations to have a name that includes the name of their home locality. The clubs were also required to have nicknames, crests, and colors based on the unique characteristics of their home locality.


title: Philippines Football League

text: Participating clubs were allowed to have between 25 and 30 players. Reportedly in September 2016, four foreign players were to be allowed per club, with at least one coming from an AFC country. On January 17, 2017, it was reported that this foreign player limit rule was yet to be finalized by the PFF.


title: Philippines Football League

text: All participating clubs in the PFL were required to commit to the organization and development of at least two youth teams, one under 18 and another under 15. The clubs' youth teams were required to participate in competitions organized by the Philippine Football Federation.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The clubs of the PFL were required to have a certified home stadium either through ownership of the stadium or having an active contract with the owners of the stadium. Likewise, all clubs were required to have access to or own a training field and facility, although some clubs have been allowed to provisionally participate even without a designated home stadium.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The Philippine Football Federation had an agreement with the People's Television Network to broadcast matches of the league which was signed in April 2017 though the network coverage of the league didn't last at least half a season. Matches since then were live streamed through the MyCujoo online platform.


title: Philippines Football League

text: On February 22, 2018, the league had signed an agreement with Sportradar which would enable it livestream matches through Sportradar's Over-The-Top (OTT) platform. In April 2018, Liga Futbol Inc. approved a budget to secure a broadcasting partner for the 2018 season.


title: Philippines Football League

text: The Qatar Airways sponsorship deal signed with the league in January 2020 includes provisions to broadcast selected matches live on television. On October 15, during the virtual conference of the official launch of the 2020 PFL season, PFF President Mariano Araneta announced the partnership with One Play Sports as digital content partner. Matches for the 2020 season were broadcast on cable television through EXPTV on Cignal and on the PFL's social media.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Capital punishment in France ( is banned by Article 66-1 of the Constitution of the French Republic, voted as a constitutional amendment by the Congress of the French Parliament on 19 February 2007 and simply stating "No one can be sentenced to the death penalty" (). The death penalty was already declared illegal on 9 October 1981 when President François Mitterrand signed a law prohibiting the judicial system from using it and commuting the sentences of the seven people on death row to life imprisonment. The last execution took place by guillotine, being the main legal method since the French Revolution; Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian citizen convicted of torture and murder on French soil, who was put to death in September 1977 in Marseille.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Major French death penalty abolitionists across time have included philosopher Voltaire; poet Victor Hugo; politicians Léon Gambetta, Jean Jaurès and Aristide Briand; and writers Alphonse de Lamartine and Albert Camus.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Prior to 1791, under the Ancien Régime, there existed a variety of means of capital punishment in France, depending on the crime and the status of the condemned person:


title: Capital punishment in France

text: On 6 July 1750, Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir were strangled and burned at the stake in Place de Grève for sodomy, the last known execution for sodomy in France. Also in 1750, Jacques Ferron was either hanged or burned at the stake in Vanvres for bestiality, the last known execution for bestiality in France.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: The first campaign towards the abolition of the death penalty began on 30 May 1791, but on 6 October that year the National Assembly refused to pass a law abolishing the death penalty. However, they did abolish torture, and also declared that there would now be only one method of execution: 'Tout condamné à mort aura la tête tranchée' (All condemned to death will have their heads cut off).


title: Capital punishment in France

text: In 1789, physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed that all executions be carried out by a simple and painless mechanism, which led to the development and eventual adoption of the guillotine. Beheading had previously been reserved only for nobles and carried out manually by handheld axes or blades; commoners would usually be hanged or subjected to more brutal methods. Therefore, the adoption of the guillotine for all criminals regardless of social status not only made executions more efficient and less painful, but it also removed the class divisions in capital punishment altogether. As a result, many felt the device made the death penalty more humane and egalitarian.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: The guillotine was first used on Nicolas Jacques Pelletier on 25 April 1792. Guillotine usage then spread to other countries such as Germany (where it had been used since before the revolution), Italy, Sweden (used in a single execution), the Netherlands and French colonies in Africa, Canada, French Guiana and French Indochina. Although other governments employed the device, France has executed more people by guillotine than any other nation.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: On October 6, 1791, the Penal Code of 1791 was enacted, which abolished capital punishment in the Kingdom of France for bestiality, blasphemy, heresy, pederasty, sacrilege, sodomy, and witchcraft.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Public executions were the norm and continued until 1939. From the mid-19th century, the usual time of day for executions changed from around 3 pm to morning and then to dawn. Executions had been carried out in large central public spaces such as market squares but gradually moved towards the local prison. In the early 20th century, the guillotine was set up just outside the prison gates. The last person to be publicly guillotined was six-time murderer Eugen Weidmann who was executed on 17 June 1939 outside the St-Pierre prison in Versailles. Photographs of the execution appeared in the press, and apparently this spectacle led the government to stop public executions and to hold them instead in prison courtyards, such as La Santé Prison in Paris. Following the law, the first to be guillotined inside a prison was Jean Dehaene, who had murdered his estranged wife and father-in-law, executed on 19 July 1939 at St-Brieuc.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: The 1940s and the wartime period saw an increase in the number of executions, including the first executions of women since the 19th century.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Marie-Louise Giraud was executed on 30 July 1943 for being an abortion provider, which was labeled a crime against state security.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: In the 1950s to the 1970s, the number of executions steadily decreased, with for example President Georges Pompidou, between 1969 and 1974, giving clemency to all but three people out of the fifteen sentenced to death. President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing oversaw the last executions.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: In addition, crimes such as treason, espionage, insurrection, piracy, aggravated murder, kidnapping with torture, felonies committed with the use of torture, setting a bomb in a street, arson of a dwelling house, and armed robbery made their authors liable to the death penalty; moreover, committing some military offenses such as mutiny or desertion or being accomplice or attempting to commit a capital felony were also capital offenses.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: The right to commute death sentences belonged exclusively to the President of the Republic, whereas it had belonged exclusively to the monarch in earlier ages.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: President Charles de Gaulle, who supported capital punishment, commuted 19 death sentences. During his term of office, 24 people were guillotined, 4 others executed by firing squad for crimes against the security of the state, while 5 death sentences were commuted and 3 other were reprieved by amnesty in 1968. The last of those executed by firing squad was OAS member Lt. Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry, who was an organizer of the infamous assassination attempt on de Gaulle in 1962.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: President Georges Pompidou, who opposed capital punishment, commuted all but three death sentences imposed during his term.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who stated that he "felt a deep aversion to the death penalty", also commuted all but three death sentences. He was President at the time of the last execution in France.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Parliament (rather than the executive) held the power to grant amnesty for death sentences. One example of general amnesty for all people sentenced to death and awaiting execution took place in 1959 after de Gaulle's inauguration when an Act of Parliament commuted all such sentences.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: The first official debate on the death penalty in France took place on 30 May 1791 with the presentation of a bill aimed at abolishing it. The advocate was Louis-Michel Lepeletier of Saint-Fargeau and revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre supported the bill. However, the National Constituent Assembly, on 6 October 1791, refused to abolish the death penalty. Soon after, tens of thousands of people of various social classes would be executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: On 26 October 1795, the National Convention abolished capital punishment, but only to signify the day of general peace. The death penalty was reinstated on 12 February 1810, under Emperor Napoleon I, in the French Imperial Penal Code.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: In 1848, the provisional government of the French Second Republic, established by the February Revolution, decreed the abolition of the death penalty for political crimes.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: President Armand Fallières, a supporter of abolition, systematically pardoned every convict condemned to death over the first three years of his term (1906-1913). In 1906 the Commission of the Budget of the Chamber of Deputies voted for withdrawing funding for the guillotine, with the aim of stopping the execution procedure. On 3 July 1908 the Garde des Sceaux, Aristide Briand, submitted a draft law to the Deputies, dated November 1906, on the abolition of the death penalty. Despite the support of Jean Jaurès, the bill was rejected on 8 December by 330 votes to 201.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Under the pro-Nazi Vichy Regime, Marshal Pétain refused to pardon five women due to be guillotined; no woman had been guillotined in France in over five decades. Pétain was himself sentenced to death following the overthrow of the Vichy Regime, but General Charles de Gaulle commuted Pétain's sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of his old age (89 years), as well as his previous military service during the First World War. Other Vichy officials, including notably Pierre Laval, were not so fortunate and were shot. Under Vincent Auriol's presidency, three more women were beheaded, one in Algeria and two in France. The last Frenchwoman to be beheaded (Germaine Leloy-Godefroy) was executed in Angers in 1949. In 1963, Lt. Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry became the last person to be executed by a firing squad.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Defended by lawyer Robert Badinter, child murderer Patrick Henry narrowly escaped being condemned to death on 20 January 1977, and numerous newspapers predicted the end of the death penalty. On 10 September 1977, Hamida Djandoubi was guillotined and became both the last person executed in France as well as the last person executed by beheading in the Western world, and by any means in Western Europe. On September 18, 1981, Badinterthe new Minister of Justiceproposed the final abolition of the death penalty in the National Assembly, the same day as the newly-elected socialist president François Mitterrand backed his efforts, and the National Assembly finally pushed abolition through that same year. Badinter had been a longtime opponent of capital punishment and the defense attorney of some of the last men to be executed.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Today, the death penalty has been abolished in France. Although a few modern-day French politicians (notably the far-right Front national former leader Jean-Marie Le Pen) advocate restoring the death penalty, its re-establishment would not be possible without the unilateral French rejection of several international treaties. (Repudiation of international treaties is not unknown to the French system, as France renounced its obligations under the NATO treaty in 1966, though it rejoined the pact in 2009.)


title: Capital punishment in France

text: On 20 December 1985, France ratified Additional Protocol number 6 to the European Convention to Safeguard Human Rights and fundamental liberties. This prevents France from re-establishing the death penalty, except in times of war or by denouncing the Convention.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: On 21 June 2001, Jacques Chirac sent a letter to the association "Ensemble" saying he was against the death penalty: "It's a fight we have to lead with determination and conviction, because no justice is infallible and each execution can kill an innocent; because nothing can legitimise the execution of minors or of people suffering from mental deficiencies; because death can never constitute an act of justice." On 3 May 2002, France and 30 other countries signed Protocol number 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. This forbids the death penalty in all circumstances, even in times of war. It went into effect on 1 July 2003, after having been ratified by 10 states.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: Despite these efforts, in 2004, a law proposition (number 1521) was placed before the French National Assembly, suggesting re-establishment of the death penalty for terrorist acts. The bill was not adopted. On 3 January 2006, Jacques Chirac announced a revision of the Constitution aimed at writing out the death penalty. (On the previous 13 October, the Constitutional Council had deemed the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the international pact necessitated such a revision of the Constitution. The protocol concerned civil and political rights aimed at abolishing the death penalty.)


title: Capital punishment in France

text: On 19 February 2007, the Congress of the French Parliament (the National Assembly and the Senate, reunited for the day) voted overwhelmingly for a modification of the Constitution stating that "no one can be sentenced to the death penalty." There were 828 votes for the modification, and 26 against. The amendment entered the Constitution on 23 February.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: During the 20th century, French opinion on the death penalty has greatly changed, as many polls have showed large differences from one time to another.


title: Capital punishment in France

text: The following people were executed during the Fifth Republic (between 1959 and 1977), making them the last executed people in France.


title: Sage the Gemini

text: Dominic Wynn Woods (born June 20, 1992), better known by his stage name Sage the Gemini (), is an American rapper and record producer from Fairfield, California. He is perhaps best known for his 2013 singles "Gas Pedal" (featuring Iamsu!), which peaked at number 29 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and "Red Nose", as well his feature on Flo Rida's 2014 single "Going Down For Real (GDFR)". His debut studio album "Remember Me" was released through Republic Records in March 2014. He is a member of Bay Area hip hop collective The HBK Gang, and the only member of the group alongside singer Kehlani to be signed to a major label.


title: Sage the Gemini

text: Sage the Gemini was born on June 20, 1992, in San Francisco, California. His family moved to Fairfield, California, when he was 6–7 years old. He started recording at the age of eleven with his brother after he bought a microphone from Gordon's Music and Sound shop in Fairfield, California. The first track he recorded, at 14, was titled "Made In China". Woods took the name Sage the Gemini due to the color of his eyes and his zodiac sign.


title: Sage the Gemini

text: In 2008, Sage released his first single, "You Should Know" on MySpace. It became a viral hit, generating over three million views worldwide. He then joined Black Money Music Group. Being close friends with rapper Iamsu!, he also joined The HBK Gang, or the Heartbreak Gang.


title: Sage the Gemini

text: In March 2013, Sage released the singles "Red Nose" and "Gas Pedal" featuring Iamsu!, the latter has reached number 29 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, making it his first top 40 hit; it also reached number six on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The songs immediately became hits and gained substantial airplay, which persuaded Republic Records to sign a deal with him in August 2013. The Recording Industry Association of America certified "Red Nose" Gold and "Gas Pedal" Platinum. On March 25, 2014, Sage released his debut studio album, "Remember Me".


title: Sage the Gemini

text: In October 2014, he was featured on Flo Rida's single "G.D.F.R.", which peaked at number eight on the "Billboard" Hot 100. In July 2017, Sage released his debut mixtape, "Morse Code", which includes the Gold certified single "Now and Later". "Now and Later" peaked at the #1 spot on the urban charts in Australia and the UK.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: The basic need for a binary-to-text encoding comes from a need to communicate arbitrary binary data over preexisting communications protocols that were designed to carry only English language human-readable text. Those communication protocols may only be 7-bit safe (and within that avoid certain ASCII control codes), and may require line breaks at certain maximum intervals, and may not maintain whitespace. Thus, only the 94 printable ASCII characters are "safe" to use to convey data.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: The ASCII text-encoding standard uses 7 bits to encode characters. With this it is possible to encode 128 (i.e. 2) unique values (0–127) to represent the alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation characters commonly used in English, plus a selection of control codes which do not represent printable characters. For example, the capital letter "A" is ASCII character 65, the numeral "2" is ASCII 50, the character "<nowiki>}</nowiki>" is ASCII 125, and the metacharacter "carriage return" is ASCII 13. Systems based on ASCII use seven bits to represent these values digitally.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: In contrast, most computers store data in memory organized in eight-bit bytes. Files that contain machine-executable code and non-textual data typically contain all 256 possible eight-bit byte values. Many computer programs came to rely on this distinction between seven-bit "text" and eight-bit "binary" data, and would not function properly if non-ASCII characters appeared in data that was expected to include only ASCII text. For example, if the value of the eighth bit is not preserved, the program might interpret a byte value above 127 as a flag telling it to perform some function.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: It is often desirable, however, to be able to send non-textual data through text-based systems, such as when one might attach an image file to an e-mail message. To accomplish this, the data is encoded in some way, such that eight-bit data is encoded into seven-bit ASCII characters (generally using only alphanumeric and punctuation characters—the ASCII printable characters). Upon safe arrival at its destination, it is then decoded back to its eight-bit form. This process is referred to as binary to text encoding. Many programs perform this conversion to allow for data-transport, such as PGP and GNU Privacy Guard (GPG).


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: By using a binary-to-text encoding on messages that are already plain text, then decoding on the other end, one can make such systems appear to be completely transparent. This is sometimes referred to as 'ASCII armoring'. For example, the ViewState component of ASP.NET uses base64 encoding to safely transmit text via HTTP POST, in order to avoid delimiter collision.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: The table below compares the most used forms of binary-to-text encodings. The efficiency listed is the ratio between number of bits in the input and the number of bits in the encoded output.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: Most of these encodings generate text containing only a subset of all ASCII printable characters: for example, the base64 encoding generates text that only contains upper case and lower case letters, (A–Z, a–z), numerals (0–9), and the "+", "/", and "=" symbols.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: Some of these encoding (quoted-printable and percent encoding) are based on a set of allowed characters and a single escape character. The allowed characters are left unchanged, while all other characters are converted into a string starting with the escape character. This kind of conversion allows the resulting text to be almost readable, in that letters and digits are part of the allowed characters, and are therefore left as they are in the encoded text. These encodings produce the shortest plain ASCII output for input that is mostly printable ASCII.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: Some other encodings (base64, uuencoding) are based on mapping all possible sequences of six bits into different printable characters. Since there are more than 2 = 64 printable characters, this is possible. A given sequence of bytes is translated by viewing it as stream of bits, breaking this stream in chunks of six bits and generating the sequence of corresponding characters. The different encodings differ in the mapping between sequences of bits and characters and in how the resulting text is formatted.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: Some encodings (the original version of BinHex and the recommended encoding for CipherSaber) use four bits instead of six, mapping all possible sequences of 4 bits onto the 16 standard hexadecimal digits. Using 4 bits per encoded character leads to a 50% longer output than base64, but simplifies encoding and decoding—expanding each byte in the source independently to two encoded bytes is simpler than base64's expanding 3 source bytes to 4 encoded bytes.


title: Binary-to-text encoding

text: Out of PETSCII's first 192 codes, 164 have visible representations when quoted: 5 (white), 17–20 and 28–31 (colors and cursor controls), 32–90 (ascii equivalent), 91–127 (graphics), 129 (orange), 133–140 (function keys), 144–159 (colors and cursor controls), and 160–192 (graphics). This theoretically permits encodings, such as base128, between PETSCII-speaking machines.


title: Army group

text: An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled by a single commander – usually a full general or field marshal – and it generally includes between 400,000 and 1,000,000 soldiers.


title: Army group

text: In the Polish Armed Forces and former Soviet Red Army an army group was known as a Front. The equivalent of an army group in the Imperial Japanese Army was a "general army" ().


title: Army group

text: Army groups may be multi-national formations. For example, during World War II, the Southern Group of Armies (also known as the U.S. 6th Army Group) comprised the U.S. Seventh Army and the French First Army; the 21st Army Group comprised the British Second Army, the Canadian First Army and the US Ninth Army.


title: Army group

text: In both Commonwealth and U.S. usage, the number of an army group is expressed in Arabic numerals (e.g., "12th Army Group"), while the number of a field army is spelled out (e.g., "Third Army").


title: Army group

text: The German Army formed its first two "Heeresgruppen" in 1915, to control forces on the eastern front. A total of eight army groups would ultimately be raised – four for service on each front, with one of the eastern front army groups being a multinational German and Austro-Hungarian formation. Originally the Imperial German army groups were not separate formations, but instead additional responsibilities granted to certain army commanders. Crown Prince Wilhelm for instance, was simultaneously commander of the 5th Army and Army Group German Crown Prince from August 1915 to November 1916.


title: Army group

text: A Chinese "army group" was usually equivalent in numbers only to a field army in the terminology of other countries, as the regimental level was sometimes omitted.


title: Army group

text: The German Army was organized into army groups ("Heeresgruppen"). Some of these army groups included armies from several Axis countries. For example, Army Group Africa contained both German and Italian corps.


title: Army group

text: A separate and distinct German military unit (""), which is also translated to English as "army group", describes more temporary groupings of army-sized units, where the command of one of its composite units formed the grouping's command structure. These groupings were usually named after the commander of the unit in question, for example Armeegruppe Weichs, part of Army Group B during Operation Blau in 1942.


title: Army group

text: In April 1945, the "Boei So-Shireibu" (translated as "general defense command" or "home defense general headquarters" and similar names) was split into three general armies:


title: Army group

text: By August 1945, these comprised two million personnel in 55 divisions and numerous smaller independent units. After the surrender of Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army was dissolved, except for the "Dai-Ichi So-Gun", which existed until 30 November 1945 as the 1st Demobilization Headquarters.


title: Army group

text: The Soviet Army was organized into fronts ("фронт", pl. "фронты") which were often as large as an army group. (See List of Soviet fronts in World War II.) Some of the fronts contained Allied formations raised in exile. For example, the Polish First Army was part of the 1st Belorussian Front.


title: Army group

text: The Western Allies established six separate army groups during the Second World War, although no more than five existed simultaneously. The army groups were subordinate to the Allied theatre supreme commanders. Led by British and American officers, they included troops from numerous allied nations; the British–American 15th Army Group also included Canadian and Polish corps, divisions from Brazil, India, New Zealand and South Africa and a Greek brigade. As part of Operation Quicksilver, the Allies set up a seventh, fictitious First United States Army Group.


title: Army group

text: During the Cold War, NATO land forces in what was designated the Central Region (most of the Federal Republic of Germany) would have been commanded in wartime by two army groups. Under Allied Forces Central Europe and alongside air force elements, the two army groups would have been responsible for the defence of Germany against any Soviet/Warsaw Pact invasion. These two principal subordinate commanders had only limited peacetime authorities, and issues such as training, doctrine, logistics, and rules of engagement were largely a national, rather than NATO, responsibility.


title: Army group

text: The two formations were the Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) and the Central Army Group (CENTAG). By World War II and previous standards, these two formations were only armies, as they contained four corps each. NORTHAG consisted, from north to south, of I (Netherlands) Corps (I (NE) Corps), I German Corps (I (GE) Corps), I (BR) Corps, and I Belgian Corps (I (BE) Corps). Its commander was the British commander of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). CENTAG consisted, from north to south, of III (GE) Corps, V US Corps, VII (US) Corps, and II (GE) Corps in the extreme south of the Federal Republic of Germany. The commander of the U.S. Seventh Army commanded CENTAG.


title: Army group

text: In November 1991, the NATO heads of state and government adopted the "New Strategic Concept" at the NATO Summit in Rome. This new conceptual orientation led, among other things, to fundamental changes both in the force and integrated command structure. Structural changes began in June 1993, when HQ Central Army Group (CENTAG) at Heidelberg and Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) at Mönchengladbach were deactivated and replaced by Headquarters Allied Land Forces Central Europe (LANDCENT), which was activated at Heidelberg on 1 July 1993.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-venture was formed between the St. George Dragons (est. 1921) and the Illawarra Steelers (est. 1982). They officially formed as the game's first joint-venture club on 23 September 1998 and it remains the only inter-city team in the NRL. The team has its headquarters and leagues clubs in both Wollongong and the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, and trains and plays games regularly at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, as well as at Jubilee Oval in Kogarah. From 2006 to 2018 the club was jointly owned by the St. George Dragons 50% and Illawarra Steelers 50%. In August 2018 WIN Corporation purchased the Illawarra Steelers' 50% stake.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The Dragons reached the grand final in their first season in 1999, losing to the Melbourne Storm. St. George Illawarra is one of only two clubs (the other being the Sydney Roosters in 1908) to finish runner-up in its inaugural season. St. George Illawarra also fields teams in local competitions within the St. George and Illawarra regions. In 2010, the Dragons won their second successive minor premiership and became the first team to be awarded the J. J. Giltinan Shield in consecutive years since the National Rugby League was formed in 1998.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The Dragons won the 2010 NRL Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters 32–8 at ANZ Stadium, Sydney. They then won the 2011 World Club Challenge, defeating the Wigan Warriors 21–15 at DW Stadium in the UK. With its World Club Challenge victory, the club became the first Australian team since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992-3 to win the minor premiership, premiership and World Club Challenge simultaneously.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the wake of the Super League war of the mid-1990s, and the resulting split competition of 1997, the Illawarra Steelers found themselves struggling financially and seemed unlikely to survive past 1999. The St. George Dragons largely financed a proposal for a joint venture which would see the St George Illawarra Dragons playing in both Kogarah and Wollongong. Essentially, St George would provide the money while Illawarra would provide a broader junior and fan base. With the NRL's intention to rationalise the competition from 20 teams down to 14 teams and with a $4M incentive and a relaxing of salary cap requirements for a joint venture, the Dragons and the Steelers ensured their survival by forming the League's first joint venture on 23 September 1998.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: A joint venture entity being a new concept in Australian rugby league, the public watched closely in anticipation of success or failure. No-one was certain how the top players sourced from the two clubs would perform when they ran out onto the field. They were unsuccessful in their first outing, losing to the Parramatta Eels 20–10, but by the 4th round they had started to form some cohesion and would go on to achieve a top eight position on the competition ladder by the end of the regular season. In the semi-finals the Dragons won against the Melbourne Storm at Olympic Park, before returning to Sydney to dispose of the Sydney Roosters and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to reach the Grand Final.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 1999 Grand Final, the club were leading by 14–0 at the break in front of a world record crowd of 107,999. A fairytale of a title in their first year as a joint venture seemed destined to come true; something of an advertisement to any other clubs considering the option of a joint venture, but Melbourne recovered from their poor start and went into the final minutes of the game with St. George Illawarra leading by 18–12. The Dragons were forced to perform a drop kick from their own goal line, and on the fifth tackle Brett Kimmorley kicked high towards St. George Illawarra's corner of the field. As Melbourne's winger Craig Smith caught the ball over the goal-line he was knocked unconscious in a tackle by Jamie Ainscough and lost the ball. Referee Bill Harrigan deferred to the video referee who ruled a penalty try on the grounds that contact had been made with the head, giving Melbourne a 20–18 lead and the premiership title.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 2000 NRL season though they had a rough start, and in Round 5, St. George Illawarra recorded their worst defeat for the club, losing 70–10 against the Melbourne Storm. This was the first game these two teams played against each other since the 1999 grand final, and was played at the MCG. On 3 May to the surprise and shock of fans and club officials, Anthony Mundine announced his retirement from the club and rugby league in general with immediate effect to pursue a career in boxing. The Dragons were not going well in the first half of the 2000 season, and the main coach David Waite was replaced with assistant coach, Andrew Farrar. Soon after the replacement of coaches, St. George Illawarra recorded their best ever win. They defeated the New Zealand Warriors 54–0 in round 14 at WIN Stadium, with debutant Amos Roberts scoring a record 22 points (one try and nine goals) for any first grade player on debut. St. George Illawarra, however, missed out of the finals series, and came 9th. Despite their poor season, Trent Barrett was awarded with the Dally M Medal.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In 2003, Nathan Brown, the joint venture's first number 9 achieved the position of coach, becoming the youngest non-playing coach in premiership history at the age of 29. St. George Illawarra finished the season 10th. Nathan Brown was also involved in a sideline incident when he had slapped Trent Barrett in Wollongong during a game against Manly, and was issued a $5000 fine.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: 2004 saw the final season of the try scoring talent Nathan Blacklock. An extraordinary scoreline was seen in the round 25 clash with Manly. Trailing 34–10 after 53 minutes the club came back to win the match 36–34. This was the second biggest comeback in Australian Rugby League history. Finishing 5th, the club were eliminated in the first round of the finals after losing in a thrilling game 30–31 to 4th placed Penrith.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In 2005, after their worst start to a season yet (losing 5 of their first 6 games), the St. George Illawarra side finished second in a close season on the ladder at completion of the 2005 NRL season, just behind minor premiers the Parramatta Eels on points difference. After progressing to the finals they defeated local rivals the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28–22 in the quarter final of the finals series though the Dragons eventually fell 12–20 to eventual champions the Wests Tigers in the Preliminary Final. The club broke the ground record at WIN Stadium twice in the 2005 season. First against rivals the Sydney Roosters and then at their home quarter final game against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In early 2006, WIN Television Network bought a 25% stake in the Illawarra Steelers Club for $6.5 million, erasing most of the debt Illawarra had to St. George. This formalised the strong support the network has shown for the Steelers in years gone by and ensured that Wollongong continued to host world class rugby league matches.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: After a bad start to the 2006 NRL season, the club put on a midseason seven/game winning streak. This was followed by a form slump, with a record five consecutive losses, only to return to form with a victory over the Wests Tigers, and continue this positive form leading into the finals. The club ended the regular season in sixth position.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the finals campaign, St George Illawarra faced the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in the first round, St. George Illawarra won the game 20–4. In the second round, they met the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at the Sydney Football Stadium winning 28–0. In the grand final qualifier, they played the Melbourne Storm, where the club went down 24–10 bowing out of season 2006.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St. George Illawarra could take solace from the fact that they did defeat the eventual premiers, Brisbane, three times during the 2006 season – 26–12 at Wollongong in Round 4, 18–16 at Suncorp Stadium in Round 15 and the aforementioned qualifying final match.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Season 2007 saw an early injury to Mark Gasnier in the Charity Shield match against South Sydney Rabbitohs creating another poor start for the Dragons. Combined with the loss of key players such as Luke Bailey, Trent Barrett and Shaun Timmins in the off-season, the Dragons faced NRL newcomers, the Gold Coast Titans, in Round 1. The joint-venture club won the historic match 20–18, however lost 6 more matches after that leaving the Saints sitting in 15th place on the NRL Ladder. This was a very inexperienced Dragons team that seemed destined for a poor injury plagued season. However, in Round 17 (vs Canberra Raiders at WIN Stadium), the Saints scored four times more points than their previous game average, winning the match 58–16, equalling their highest ever score and their largest victory in three years. The club's season ended with a 28–24 loss to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval, finishing in 13th place, their lowest finish to date.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: 2008 saw the end of an era, with coach Nathan Brown's contract not renewed after yet another poor start to the season, winning one of their first six matches. The club received a boost in May when former dual-code international player Wendell Sailor joined the team. Several notable players departed at the end of the year including Jason Ryles and captain Mark Gasnier. The club finished the season in 7th place, however they lost in the first round of the finals to eventual premiers Manly (whom they defeated 20–18 in round 11) 34–6 at Brookvale Oval ending yet another disappointing season. The era under Brown was one of frustration for Dragons fans, as there were high expectations for the strong side, but ultimately no premierships.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: 2009, a new season a new coach and ground sponsor WIN at Jubilee Oval. Several new faces joined the club, including Jeremy Smith, Darius Boyd, Neville Costigan, Michael Weyman and Luke Priddis. The season opener against the Storm ended in a thrilling golden point extra time loss (17–16). Round 3 set a new crowd record with the victorious return to WIN Jubilee against Cronulla.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: They were consistently placed first on the competition ladder in 2009, contributed by a continuous winning streak of seven games since their win against the North Queensland Cowboys on 14 June. They lost first position after a three-game losing streak while the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs won all games in that period, but remain in the top three. However, in the final round of the 2009 regular season, St. George Illawarra defeated in-form Parramatta Eels 37–0, a game in which winger Brett Morris obtained a hat-trick and man of the match honours, while Canterbury lost 34–12 to the Wests Tigers. In the same game, St. George Illawarra five-eighth Jamie Soward surpassed Harry Bath's record for most points in a season by a St. George player. As a result, St. George Illawarra won the minor premiership for the 2009 and Wayne Bennett's first season at the club, but the team was eliminated from the finals after losing both their finals matches, therefore becoming the first minor premiers since 1993. In the first match they were humbled in front of a packed Jubilee Stadium, before traveling to face Bennett's former team. Brisbane defeated the Saints.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Season 2010 saw the club lose seven matches – the same tally as in the 2009 home-and-away season, against eventual wooden spooners the Melbourne Storm, 2008 premiers the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, their perennial bogey team the Canberra Raiders, 2003 premiers the Penrith Panthers in round 17, the Gold Coast Titans in extra time in round 20, Bennett's old team the Brisbane Broncos in round 21 and a second time to the Canberra Raiders in round 24. The team has been placed first since round five.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The team won its second minor premiership in succession (the first NRL team to do so since the inception of the NRL in 1998) with victory against the Newcastle Knights in the penultimate round of the 2010 NRL season. The joint-venture club had led the competition from round five right through to the final round, spending 21 consecutive weeks on top of the ladder and therefore spending the longest period of time on top of the ladder in NRL history (not including the Melbourne Storm).


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St George Illawarra met Manly in the first week of the 2010 finals and produced a 28–0 victory. St. George Illawarra then defeated Wests Tigers 13–12 with Jamie Soward kicking the winning field goal for a place in the 2010 NRL Grand Final.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 2010 NRL Grand Final, St. George Illawarra defeated the Sydney Roosters 32–8, to secure the club's first grand final victory. The club overcame a poor first half performance to pull a thrilling victory out of the hat. This victory made Wayne Bennett's grand final record at 7 wins from 8 and thus continuing Brian Smith's poor grand final record of 4 losses from 4. Darius Boyd won a premiership with Bennett and the Brisbane Broncos in 2006, won the Clive Churchill Medal for best on ground in the match. The Grand Final victory also ended 31 years of hurt for St. George fans as the club had lost previous finals in 1985, 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1999.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St George Illawarra began their 2011 Season with pre-season wins in trials over Canterbury and South Sydney in the Charity Shield. The club also claimed its first World Club Challenge Championship, defeating Wigan Warriors 21–15 at DW Stadium. As of Round 14 2011, the Dragons have won 10 straight (excluding a 14–14 draw against Parramatta in Round 13).


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: It was announced in March 2011 that Bennett would leave St. George Illawarra after the 2011 NRL season, signing a four-year deal with the Newcastle Knights from the 2012 season onwards. Steve Price was named as his successor.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: 2012 saw the club with a new coach. St. George Illawarra narrowly missed out on a Finals spot, finishing up in 9th position. Several notable players departed from the club at the end of the season, including Ben Hornby and Dean Young, who both retired from the sport. The start of the 2013 NRL season saw the arrival of few key acquisitions, namely Gerard Beale from the Broncos and Tyson Frizell from the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The season was plagued by inconsistent form, alongside injuries and speculation regarding Price's future at the club. After winning three straight matches on the lead up to the annual Anzac Day clash with the Sydney Roosters, it was announced that Price would be signed for another year with an option for a second at the clubs disposal. Despite the clubs faith in Price as well as the arrival of star fullback Josh Dugan from Canberra – in a mid-season transfer, the club was unable to string together consistent performances and finished the year at 14th position.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Star five-eighth Gareth Widdop joined the club for 2014, but by late May 2014, just after the star signing of Benji Marshall, the board sacked Price as coach due to some embarrassing defeats to start the season. Assistant coach Paul McGregor was named as his replacement until the end of the season, and was eventually employed full-time following improved results. This culminated in the club returning to the finals in 2015 and enjoying a successful year.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 2017 NRL season, St George Illawarra lead the competition after the first eight rounds before a dramatic slide which saw the club record only six wins for the rest of the season. In the final match of the regular season, St George Illawarra played against Canterbury with a win guaranteeing them a finals spot and jumping ahead of North Queensland. With under ten minutes to play, St George Illawarra were ahead on the scoreboard before two quick tries gave Canterbury a 26–20 victory.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The 2018 NRL season saw the arrival of two star signings, English international James Graham and the Australian and Queensland halfback Ben Hunt. These signings and a successful season culminated in the club returning to the finals in 2018 and enjoyed a successful year. On 9 September 2018, St. George Illawarra Dragons won their first qualifying final in 8 years, defeating the Brisbane Broncos 48–18 at Suncorp Stadium. The following week, St George Illawarra played against South Sydney in week 2 of the finals series and were defeated 13–12 in a tight game. The match was also the first time since 1984 that the two clubs had played each other in the finals.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The Intrust Super Premiership NSW St. George Illawarra also had a strong year finishing second at the end of the regular season were they made the preliminary final but were defeated 28–26 by Canterbury.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In August 2018 WIN Corporation purchased the Illawarra Steelers remaining 25% stake in the club for a "commercially in confidence" sum. The St George Dragons and WIN Corporation now have a 50% stake each. WIN Corporation has paid off the $6 million debt the St. George Illawarra Dragons owed the NRL. The club's home venues will continue to be WIN Stadium and Jubilee Stadium.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Before the start of the 2019 NRL season, St. George Illawarra were expected by many to reach the finals and continue their good form from the previous year. A few weeks out from the club's first match, Jack de Belin was stood down indefinitely by the NRL in relation to an incident which happened in December 2018. On 18 April 2019, McGregor was granted a two-year contract extension by St. George Illawarra, keeping him at the club as the head coach until the end of the 2021 NRL season after the side had won four of their first six games.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St. George Illawarra would then go to only win three of their next 17 matches which left them second last on the table above the last placed Gold Coast. On 2 September 2019, it was revealed that McGregor's position at head coach would be coming under review following the conclusion of the season. St. George Illawarra finished 15th on the ladder and did not qualify for the finals after having a horror season.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: On 13 August 2020, McGregor was terminated as head coach of St. George Illawarra after a poor start to the season left the club with four wins in thirteen games, he was subsequently replaced by Dean Young. At the end of the 2020 NRL season, the club finished a disappointing 12th on the table and missed out on the finals.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: On 1 June 2021, it was announced that Jack de Belin would return from his 987-day hiatus after charges against him were dropped.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: On 5 July 2021, the NRL handed out a total of $305,000 in fines to 13 players of the club after they attended Paul Vaughan's property for a party in the midst of Covid-19 restrictions which were in breach of the code's bio security protocols.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The season finished with the club finishing in 11th place, missing out on finals for the third consecutive year. The season started with four wins from the first five games, however over the next 19 games, the club only obtained another four victories, with the club losing eight matches in a row to close out the season after the infamous barbeque. It capped off a mediocre first year under Griffin's reign.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St. George Illawarra finished the 2022 NRL season in 10th place and missed the finals. Between round 17 to round 22, the club managed to win only one match which saw them go from 8th to 11th on the table. St. George Illawarra would win their last three matches of the season to finish in 10th position.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The team colours of the St. George Illawarra Dragons are red and white, colours shared by both the St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers. The merged entity's logo was taken directly from that of St George, with the addition of "Illawarra" to the bottom of the emblem. The emblem reflected the rich history of the St George Dragons, including an incredible 11 consecutive premierships, and the future strength of the club with the Illawarra.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The club name Dragons, is a shortened version of "Dragonslayers", the original nickname of St George. The emblem features a red shield with a silhouette of St. George, overlaid with a white stylised Dragon, with the words "ST. GEORGE" and "ILLAWARRA" above and below the shield respectively. It was originally intended for St George to face right and the Dragon to face left.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: When the St George Illawarra Dragons were formed in 1998, it was decided that the jersey of St George (first used in 1945), the famous "Red V" on white, would become the main jersey for the new club. The red used was changed to the scarlet tone used by the Steelers.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The alternate jersey initially used by the club was red and white horizontal stripes, similar to the 1921 St George Jersey known as the "blood and bandages". Since 2006, this Jersey has been reserved for use as the St George Illawarra Heritage Jersey for special occasions. This Jersey is worn during Heritage Round, when the Dragons confront fierce local rivals the Bulldogs RLFC.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In 2004 and 2005, the club used a jersey similar to the Steelers main jersey for Heritage matches, acknowledging the rugby league history of the Illawarra region, though not as a full-time alternate strip. This jersey was predominantly red with white stripes on the sleeves. With Adidas producing the club's official merchandise from 2006, a generic Adidas design – predominantly red with three white stripes down the sleeves – was adopted as the full-time alternate strip; before another re-design in 2008, which better reflected the old Steelers jersey.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Reebok produced supporter and team kits from the 2010 season until 2013. Again the Red V was the Main jersey and the Alternate jersey was a red design with white slash marks. ISC became St George Illawarra's apparel partner in 2014 until 2017. XBlades became the main supplier for the 2018 season and ended their contract in 2020. Classic Sportswear currently produce the club's team kits and supporter gear.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Half of the Dragons home matches are played at WIN Stadium (previously the home ground of the Illawarra Steelers) and the half at Jubilee Oval (previously the home of the St George Dragons).


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The club has previously played Sydney home games out of the Sydney Football Stadium (2000–2002) and Stadium Australia (2008), as well as the Sydney Cricket Ground on special occasions.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The club has taken their home ground advantage away from their usual home grounds to the Sydney Football Stadium for the Club ANZAC Game against the Sydney Roosters in the 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 seasons. In 2002 when the match was first held, the Sydney Football Stadium was, at the time, one of the Dragons' main home grounds, whilst in 2008 the match was played at ANZ Stadium, a very unpopular move amongst supporters.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In 2013, the club entered into a four-year agreement with the NRL to move 4 of their 12 home games to one of the major Sydney stadiums (Allianz Stadium, Sydney Cricket Ground, ANZ Stadium).


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The strategic intent was to replicate the success of the annual game played against Sydney Roosters on ANZAC day. As part of this initiative, the club and the NRL sought to introduce an annual Heritage Round game against South Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In 2017, the club announced that the NRL had only provided three appropriate games to support this initiative for the 2017 season.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: It was announced that from the 2018 NRL season that all games (except for the ANZAC clash Vs the Sydney Roosters and one other round) would be shared equally between Kogarah and Wollongong.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: As well as having two administrative offices, St. George Illawarra are supported by two separate Leagues clubs – one in each of the St. George and Illawarra areas.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The St. George Leagues Club is located on the Princes Highway at Beverley Park close to the northern home ground of Jubilee Oval at Carlton. Established in 1963, St. George was one of the first Super Leagues clubs developed in the 60s and was commonly referred to as the Taj Mahal because of the use of white marble in the original building.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Very little of the original building is still there today after extensive refurbishing and redesigning the entire club to make it one of the most superbly fitting clubs in Australia.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Situated in the middle of the City Beach precinct, the Steelers Club is located adjacent to WIN Entertainment Centre and WIN Stadium. It is directly across the road from the grounds Western Grandstand. Established in 1990, the club has struggled financially against much larger and more popular leagues clubs in Wollongong, such as Collegians, Dapto Leagues Club, Wests Illawarra Leagues Club, and Shellharbour Workers Club in Shellharbour. However, after a major restructure of its operations, the Steelers Club traded profitably. Twenty percent of the club premises were sold to Bermuda-based Billionaire and owner of WIN Corp, Bruce Gordon. The sale fetched $2.6 million.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Many supporters of the Dragons mainly come from the club's local areas, the suburbs of the St. George district in Sydney (the Hurstville, Bayside, and Kogarah Council regions), and the Illawarra on the south-coast of NSW. The St. George Illawarra Dragons also have a huge following in south-east Queensland, as a significant number of the club's 'Red V' memberships are from people in this area. The Dragons also have a large number of supporters from all over NSW, with the club receiving record crowds at away games at Stadium Australia at Sydney Olympic Park.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Some notable supporters of the team include Bryan Brown, Mike Dalton, Billy Dib, Jihad Dib, Sally Fitzgibbons, Mick Fuller, Dave Gleeson, Geoff Harvey, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, John Hewson, John Howard, Morris Iemma, Stephen Jones, Matthew Jurman, Neel Kolhatkar, Mark Latham, Brett Lee Stephanie Magiros, Robert McClelland, Ian McNamara, Matt Moran, Drew Morphett, Kerry O'Keeffe, Marise Payne, Graham Perrett, Melissa Perrine, Lara Pitt, Graham Richardson, Ken Rosewall, Bob Simpson, Tony Squires, John Stanley, Mitchell Starc, Mark Taylor, Barrie Unsworth, and Alexander Volkanovski.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Due to St. George enjoying great success over the years, St. George Illawarra have inherited several fierce rivalries, while also creating a few new ones since forming the joint venture.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St. George Illawarra has a fierce rivalry with neighbor the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Canterbury-Bankstown were founded in 1935, 14 years after St. George. St. George inflicted a RL record 91–6 defeat of Canterbury in 1935 but Canterbury enjoyed premiership success first, however St. George recorded 11 straight premierships in the years following (1956–1966).


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 1942 NSWRFL season, the two clubs met in the 1942 grand final with Canterbury-Bankstown defeating St. George 11-9 in a low-scoring affair at the Sydney Cricket Ground.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: It was also Canterbury-Bankstown who put an end to their Premiership run in 1967, when Canterbury beat them by one point in the preliminary final to face South Sydney in the Grand Final. Since then, both clubs have inflicted Premiership defeats on the other, St George defeating Canterbury-Bankstown in 1979, Canterbury returning the favour in 1985.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The two teams subsequently met in the 1993 preliminary final which St. George won 27-12. They would meet again in the 1995 and 1998 finals series with Canterbury running out winners on both occasions. The elimination final in 1998 was also St. George's final game as a stand-alone entity as the club elected to form a joint venture with Illawarra for the 1999 NRL season.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Since St. George formed a joint venture with Illawarra, the two clubs have met each other in the 2001 finals series which St. George Illawarra defeated Canterbury 23-22 and in the 2015 finals series which Canterbury won 11-10 at ANZ Stadium. In the 2017 NRL season, St. George Illawarra needed to beat Canterbury in the final game of the regular season to qualify for the finals. Canterbury who were already out of contention for the finals defeated St. George 26-20 which allowed North Queensland to get the last finals spot and finish 8th. North Queensland would then go on to reach the 2017 NRL Grand Final as a result.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The two sides are rivals in the NRL Heritage Round. Canterbury and St. George Illawarra also unofficially have a territorial rivalry, with fans from both teams coming in large amounts around Arncliffe, Earlwood, Kingsgrove, Marrickville, and Panania.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: The St. George Illawarra Dragons and Parramatta Eels rivalry stretched back to 1977 when the St. George Dragons and Parramatta played out the first ever drawn Grand Final result. Parramatta, seeking their first minor premiership after they finished the season on the top of the ladder at the end of the regular season, were beaten 22-0 in the Grand Final Rematch by St. George, who won their first Grand Final since 1966.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: There were many controversial matches between St. George Illawarra and Parramatta. Firstly, in Round 18 2005, Parramatta won 40-14 in a match which saw Trent Barrett and PJ Marsh trade blows after Marsh’s crude charge-down attempt at Barrett, sparking an all-in brawl whitest, Parramatta's Wade McKinnon sprinted to score a match-turning 80 metre try.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: A less memorable match saw no points scored between the two teams in Round 13 2006 in the first 70 minutes of play before Parramatta slotted a field goal with nine minutes remaining, before the Dragons struck back with two one-pointers to take a 2-1 lead. St. George Illawarra then scored a try through Matt Cooper with mere seconds remaining on the clock to claim an 8-1 victory.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 2009 NRL Finals Series, St. George Illawarra finished as the Minor Premiership and faced the Parramatta Eels who finished 8th on the ladder, A week earlier at the same venue, St. George Illawarra had defeated Parramatta 37-0 but in the finals game, Parramatta won 25-12 with Parramatta player Jarryd Hayne scoring a brilliant solo try. As of the 2021 NRL season, this has been the last time where St. George Illawarra and Parramatta have met in a finals series.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In 2020 NRL season on the 14/6/2020, St. George Illawarra played there last games under former coach Paul McGregor (rugby league), at CommBank Stadium. The Saints showed a lot of emotion as they won 14-12 unexpectedly against the Parramatta Eels. With Mikaele Ravalawa scoring a double. But Zac Lomax sealed the games with slotting a Penalty goal in the 65th minute.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St. George Illawarra's fiercest rivalries is with their Southern neighbor, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Cronulla-Sutherland originally were part of the St. George juniors area, and Cronulla are often referred


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: St. George Illawarra have had the same amount of success as the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, who have also won one premiership. In fact, since St. George Illawarra entered the competition in 1999, both the Saints and Cronulla have finished higher than the other six times apiece.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Cronulla finished the 1999 season as minor premiers, but St. George Illawarra beat them 26–8 in the preliminary final to progress to the 1999 NRL Grand Final at the Sharks' expense. The Saints trailed 0–8 at halftime.


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: Both clubs have been accused of poaching players from the other, and compete for fans in the same region. In 1999, the Cronulla CEO infamously cut up a St. George Jersey after a match at Toyota Stadium. During the Super League war, Cronulla-Sutherland was one of only three Sydney teams to join the rival competition, entrenching further spite from both the St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers were loyal to the ARL during the Super League War).


title: St. George Illawarra Dragons

text: In the 2002 finals series, both teams met in the semi-final which Cronulla won 40-24 at the Sydney Football Stadium. The rivalry increased further in 2005 when they met in a qualifying final at a sold out WIN Stadium with the Dragons winning 28–22. As of the 2021 NRL season, this is the last time the two club's have played each other in a finals game.