1997 New Zealand rugby league season

Canterbury won the Rugby League Cup from Auckland 32–26 in June and then defended it against West Coast (twice), Tasman, Southland and Taranaki before losing it to Waikato 34–18 in the Challenge Cup final.[13]

The Sky Challenge Cup replaced the Lion Red Cup as the main domestic competition.[14] It was cost conscious after the expensive Lion Red Cup and focused on regional pools to save on travel costs.[13]

The Competition started in August and finished on the 12 October with a grand final. Sixteen teams were grouped into four regions. Each regional pool consisted of a round robin followed by a regional three-match play off series to determine quarter final rankings, the competition then moved into a knock out phases including two teams from each region.

The Northern Zone included two Auckland sides; the Auckland Heroes, who were coached by Brian McClennan and included captain Duane Mann, Tama Hohaia, Phillip Leuluai, Dean Clark, Ben Lythe, Anthony Seuseu, Don Stewart, Hare Te Rangi, Willie Wolfgramme, Paki Tuimavave, Charlie Kennedy, Darryl Beazley, Boycie Nelson and Lesley Vainikolo, and the Auckland Raiders, who represented Auckland Rugby League's second division and were coached by Dominic Clark. The Raiders included Tyrone Pau.[15] Other teams included the Waikato Cougars, who were coached by Bill Kells and featured Tukere Barlow, Darryl Fisher and Kelly Shelford,[16] and the Northland Wild Boars, who were coached by Phil Marsh and included Jason Mackie.[13][17][18]

The Auckland Heroes were unbeaten in their six-round robin games while the Auckland Raiders won just once in the round robin.[13] Waikato won three of their six matches.[19]

On the 14 September Waikato defeated the Auckland Heroes at Carlaw Park for the first time since 1943, while Northland eliminated the Raiders from the competition.[20] Northland were subsequently eliminated by the Auckland Heroes.

The Eastern Region featured the Bay of Plenty Stags, Hawkes Bay Unicorns, Coastline and the Gisborne-East Coast Lions. Bay of Plenty included Patrick Kuru and Mark Woods. Coastline included Andrew Leota.

The Central Zone featured the Wellington Dukes, Wellington Pumas, Taranaki Rockets, coached by Howie Tamati and including Artie Shead, and the Manawatu Mustangs.[21] Wellington Rugby League approached the Auckland Warriors about releasing Syd Eru and Stephen Kearney for the competition, but they were unsuccessful.[22] The Wellington Dukes included Denvour Johnston. The Wellington Pumas were a second XIII from the region.

The Dukes won the zone with the Rockets finishing second. Manawatu did not win a game.[21]

The Rockets them eliminated the Pumas in a close zonal play-off match.

The Southern Zone featured the West Coast Chargers, Canterbury Reds, who included Simon Angell, Blair Harding, Mark Nixon and were coached by Gerard Stokes, the Tasman Orcas and the Southland Rams.[23]

Southland had defeated Otago 34-20 to qualify for the round robin.[24]

Canterbury hosted the West Coast at Lancaster Park, the first time they had played there since 1920.[24]

Canterbury were undefeated in the round robin while Tasman failed to win a match.

Canterbury defeated West Coast in a close South zone final, 28–21, on the 14 September.[20]

In the first round of finals on 28 September Canterbury defeated Taranaki while West Coast also advanced to the semi-finals with a shock 34–22 win over the Wellington Dukes.[21][25]

In the semi finals on the 5 October Canterbury defeated the West Coast 24–30.[26] In the other semi final Waikato defeated the Auckland Heroes for the second time to eliminate them from the competition.

In the grand final on 12 October, which was played in Christchurch's Rugby League Park, Waikato defeated Canterbury 34-18 to win both the Challenge Cup and the Rugby League Cup.[19]

After the victory, Lion Breweries' Kevin Moore declared that the Cougars deserved a public parade.[27]

Aranui High School upset St. Paul's College, defeating them 48–6 in the final held at Rugby League Park. Mark Leafa, Wairangi Koopu and Henry Perenara all competed in the competition, for De Le Salle, Rakaumanga and Lynfield College respectively.

The Glenora Bears won the Super 10 Fox Memorial grand final, beating the Mangere East Hawks 34–14.[13] The Glenora side included Duane Mann, Cliff Beverley, Boycie Nelson and Ben Lythe.[28] Mangere East had finished the season as minor premiers while Marist won the Roope Rooster pre-season trophy and Otara won the Stormont Shield. Tukere Barlow from Mangere East won the season's best and fairest award. Mangere East also included George Tuakura and Anthony Seuseu.

This was the first year of the Super 10 competition. The ten teams involved were: Glenora, Mangere East, Northcote, Marist/Roskill, Otahuhu, Manurewa, Manukau, Te Atatu, the Central Sharks and Ellerslie. Mt Albert, Mt Wellington, Hibiscus Coast and Richmond applied to join the competition but were unsuccessful.[29] The Central Sharks consisted of Richmond, Ponsonby, Mt Albert and City-Pt Chev.[30]

Richmond defeated Hibiscus Coast 30–20 in the final of the Sharman Cup.

Willie Wolfgramm played for Marist while Don Stewart and Paul Rauhihi played for the Northcote Tigers. Otahuhu included Dean Clark and Hare Te Rangi. In the regional cup, James Leuluai coached Mt Wellington, Brian McClennan coached the Hibiscus Coast Raiders and Fred Ah Kuoi coached the Richmond Bulldogs.

The Upper Hutt Tigers won the Appleton Shield. The team included Denvour Johnston.[31]

Hornby, coached by former Kiwi Wayne Wallace, and Papanui met in the Canterbury Rugby League grand final.[32] Hornby defended the Pat Smith Challenge Trophy 20–12.[33] Mark Nixon played for Hornby but missed the final due to injury however Simon Angell did appear in the final. Blair Harding played for Papanui while Phil Prescott coached Halswell.

West Coast's Cobden-Kohinoor Kea's won the Thacker Shield match against Hornby, defeating them 30–10.

The Otaika Eagles, led by Jason Mackie, defeated the Hokianga Pioneers 23–20 in the Northland Rugby League grand final. This was the first year of a Northland wide competition.

The Taniwharau Rugby League Club won the Waikato Rugby League title, defeated Turangawaewae 21–20 in the grand final.[34] Kevin Fisher coached Huntly South.[35]

Putaruru United won the Rotorua-Midlands competition for a second year in a row, defeating Pikiao 18–10. The Turanga Panthers defeated the Paikea Whalers 44-32 to win the Gisborne-East Coast Rugby League grand final. Ranginui won the Coastline grand final 30-22 over Te Paamu. However, Te Paamu won a Rotorua/Coastline combined Super 12 competition, defeating Taupo 42–12 in the final.

The Western Suburbs Tigers defeated the Waitara Bears 30–28 in the Taranaki Rugby League grand final. Otaki defeated Castlecliff 34–18 in the Manawatu Rugby League grand final. In the Hawke's Bay, Taradale won their fourth consecutive title. They defeated the Napier Bulldogs 29–28.

In the South Island, the Whakatu Firebirds defeated the Motueka Tigers 28–4 in the Tasman Rugby League grand final and Cobden-Kohinoor won the West Coast Rugby League competition, defeating Waro-Rakau 20–6. South Pacific won the Otago Rugby League club competition, beating the Wakatipu Cougars 32–24. He Tauaa defeated Bluff 40–16 in the Southland Rugby League grand final.