To find what you're looking for in the RLP database of matches, you can use the custom match list tool.
This guide will explain each parameter you can filter on and how to make use of each one effectively to find what you're after.
Using the form and selecting filters
Any filters with a selection can be cleared by clicking or tapping on the X button. For filters that allow multiple values, such as players, you can use the X button next to the individual selected value to remove it, or use the X on the left-hand section to clear them all.
Single select
Competition category is an example of a single selection option, meaning you can only select one at a time. Click or tap on the drop down, and then choose the value needed. If you choose something and then select another value, it will replace the first selection.
Multiple select
Options like Competition will allow you to choose multiple values. Click or tap on the "Select [filter]" box, and it will bring up a list of all available values, along with a search box and "Select All" option at the top of the list. You can scroll through the list and select each one you want to include, and as you do, your selections will be displayed above the search box. If you choose 4 or more, this will change to a message saying how many you have selected.
In options with a lot of items in the list, for example Competition, it's recommended to use the search option to filter the list down first. You can then use Select All, which will only choose items that come up in the search results.
Search select
There are a number of options which require searching before you can choose any values, for example Teams, Venues and Players/Referees/Coaches. You can tell if it requires a search by the presence of a "Search" button beside the input box.
To use, type your search term in the input box and press the Enter key or click/tap the Search button to the right of it. You should be presented with results, from which you can make your selection using the arrows on the keyboard to navigate to and press Enter to lock in, or you can click/tap the result in the list.
These types of selects are a mix of single select and multiple select. For multiple (like Players), the values you've chosen will appear above the search box and you can remove individual choices at any time using the X button immediately to the right of each one. To remove all selections, click or tap on the X button to the left of the list of selected values.
Number select
These work the same as single select, they are handled via drop-down selections for choosing the number you want.
Date select
These options will bring up a date selection dialogue which is limited to the complete date range of matches in the RLP database. The dialogue will be specific to your device and browser.
Competition filters
Provides filters based on the categorisation and competition the matches are in.
Competition category
Single select. Broadly defines the level of match - International, Representative and Club level (both separated by Europe and Australiasia) and then Miscellaneous covers any levels fhat fall below that (reserve grade for example).
Note that this filter does not distinguish on classification of matches, such as SIMs, specific rep groupings like State of Origin, or club level matches such as the NRL, and League/Cup matches in the UK. Use the Competition section option below for these.
Competition section
Multiple select. This filter categorises matches based on the type of competition it's a part of, such as the NRL, State of Origin, Super League, and more. You can also filter on First Class and Senior International Matches (or Test matches) here.
Being a multiple select option allows you to filter across a number of competition types at once. A couple of examples might be:
- State of Origin and Interstate Matches
- NRL, Super League and English Championship
- NRL Magic Round & SL Magic Weekend
Competition
Multiple select. Allows you to choose a specific competition, which differs from the section in that it filters down to the specific year (or years) of the competition in question, such as the 1980/81 English Championship or 1995 World Cup. For groupings like SIMs, you can use this option to filter down to a specific calendar year of matches.
Because you can choose multiple, an effective use is to search on a year, and then choose a number of competitions within that year. You can also search on a specific comp and then select a range of years, such as all Challenge Cup matches from the 1930's.
Round
Multiple select, limits your results to the rounds selected. Note that "Round [n]" is equivalent to "Game [n]" which is the terminology used in tours and series.
Finals match
Single select, allows you to filter results on only finals matches, or specifically exclude them.
Time period filters
Year & Date
These filters simply allow you specify a range of years or specific dates. Note that you don't have to use both. If you specify a "from" year or date only, it will show all matches that are on or after. The same applies with only specifying a "to" year or date.
Day of week
Single select. Choosing this option will only return matches that were played on the selected day of the week.
Match filters
Venue
Single select, only return matches played at the selected venue (or ground, or stadium, or oval, or park..)
Official/Referee
Single select. Will allow you to see a list of matches that involved the selected official. Currently doesn't allow you to filter down by their specific role (referee, touch judge, video ref) so it will return all games the selected individual was part of.
Points for a try/field goal
Both single select options. Gives you the ability to filter matches based on the pointscoring rules they were played under. Rugby League was originally played with 3 point tries (until 1983) and 2 point field goals (until 1971). This can be helpful when looking for pointscoring feats but you wish to distinguish your findings around these pointscoring rule changes.
Team filters
Team
Single select. Filter match list on the specified team. Choosing a team here will also have a major effect on the subsequent team-specific filters.
If you choose a team, all of the following filters will be specific to the selected team. If you don't choose a specific team, all of the following filters will be applied across all matches.
For example: if you set the team as Wigan and choose "Yes" under the "Team had sendoffs" filter, you will be given a list of matches in which a Wigan player was sent off. If you don't enter a team though, you'll get all matches which had a sendoff, regardless of who they was playing.
Team points (mininum & exact)
Number selections. Entering a number in either of these will filter the results accordingly. Note that you should only choose one or the other, because the exact option will render anything entered under minimum irrelevant.
Team had sin bins / sendoffs
Single selects, will allow you to filter on whether the selected team or the match had any players sin binned or sent off. Note that this covers both 5 and 10 minute sin bin offences.
Tries/Goals/Field Goals - Any player in team (min)
Number selects. All of these allow you to filter results on matches where a player met the minimum value specified (eg. 3 tries). If a team is selected, it will limit on players achieving the feat for that team.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This filter will only work on matches which the RLP database includes individual scorer info for. This is usually the case, but the most significant gap here is all matches prior to 1980/81 in the English Championship/Northern Union, where scorers and appearances are not yet available.
Opposition team filters
All of these options will have the same effect as the above Team filters, just in the context of being opposite the chosen team. You must select a team for any of the filters in this section to have any effect, but you don't have to specify a team in this section to use all of the filters.
For example, you can determine a list of matches where players scored hat-tricks against Australia. To do so, you would choose Australia in the Team filter, then specify 3 under the "Tries - any player in opposition team (min)" filter.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The options in this section rely on choosing a specific team in the previous section. At this time, only the Opposition Pts (Exact) can be used without specifying a team, and only when also specifying Team Points (Exact) as well. This particular scenario allows you to find matches with a specific scoreline, which is used in conjunction with the Scorigami section.
Player filters
In this category of filters, selecting one or more players is not required. You can specify that you want to find a list of matches in which any player performed certain scoring feats, or was sin binned or sent off.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The player filters will not be usable on matches where appearances are not yet available. The most notable example of this is English club-level matches prior to 1980/81, meaning a search on players from that era and level will not produce results.
For a more detailed breakdown of available data in RLP, navigate to the competition type of interest and check the appearances column in the "Data" section.
Player
Multi-select. Use the search to find one or more players to filter the list on. When choosing multiple players, the results will only include matches that all players selected appeared in. In most scenarios you would only choose one player at a time, but you can also create match lists of particular combinations.
Position
Single select option, gives you the ability to limit any above selected players to their matches was named in the selected position according to the data in the RLP database.
You can choose "Starting" if you want to filter specifically on players who were in the run-on side.
Player tries/goals/field goals/points
Choose any values in these single select options to limit the results on matches where any of the selected players (or if none are selected, any player in the match) met the selected scoring feat. Great way to find matches where hat-tricks were scored.
It is worth noting here that you can also specify 0 as the value, and that will allow you build a list of matches where the selected player(s) failed to score any of the corresponding type.
Player sin bins/sendoffs
Single select, and similar to the above filters. Can be used to find matches where the selected, or any, players were sin binned or sent off - or matches where they weren't.
Opposition player(s)
Multiple select. Must be used in conjunction with the player(s) filter above. Allows you to find a list of matches where one or more players were specifically up against the one or more players specified here in the opposing team.
Additional match list options
Columns to include
The match list functionality will automatically determine (to the best of its ability) the appropriate columns for the resulting list of matches. If there are any missing that you want to ensure are included, select them here and they will be added.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If a column is not selected here, it doesn't ensure that it won't be included in the results. These selections can only be used to enforce or add columns to the list.
Other settings
Similarly to columns, there are a number of options applied to the results that are automatically determined based on the filters specified.
These options are used in a wide range of different circumstances, and to assist with the flexibility of this tool, each one can be forcibly enabled or disabled.
Suppress team and venue links
Typically, each team name shown will link to the corresponding team season summary or team page. Enabling this setting will remove those team links.
Hide round headings
When set to Yes, will prevent headings being shown for each round. Setting to No will ensure these headings can't be hidden.
Hide competition headings
Competition heading rows will appear for each new competition in the list of results. You can set this to Yes to ensure they're hidden, or No to ensure they aren't.
Hide date headings
Enable this to hide the functionality which shows each new date as a heading row. If you do want this, ensure this is set to No so they can't be hidden.
Hide week headings
Similar to the previous hide options, when revealed, will ensure each new week of the year is included as a heading row in the list of results.
Combine competition and round headings
Setting this option to Yes will crunch any comp/round header rows together as a single heading.
Show match scorers
Where available, enabling this option will include all of the match scorers under each result. Note that this option doesn't currently work if you have a player selected.
Right-align home teams
Small formatting option which will right-align the home team name.
Show column headings
Include titles at the top of each column when set to Yes, removes them with No.
Sort by competition
Set this to Yes to ensure results are ordered by competition when there is multiple in the results list on the same day.
Group by month
Sections results off by months when set to Yes.
Group by round
Ensures that results are grouped together by comp / round with headings when enabled. Note that this can be overridden if Hide Round Headings is set to Yes.
Group by competition
Set to Yes to make sure a heading is shown each time the competition changes, otherwise set to No to hide. Can also be overridden by the corresponding Hide setting.
Show separate midweek headings
Assuming round headings are visible, and the competition is the older style non-round-based English Championship/Northern Union seasons with the occasional midweek rounds, setting this to Yes will have those midweek games display with their own grouping/heading.
Space weeks within month groups
When Group by Month is enabled, will add an extra bit of spacing between matches where a new week begins.
Hide match-link help
Stops the "To view more info on a match" help message showing at the beginning of the list of results.
Use compact match display
Tightens up the spacing between rows when this setting is enabled.
Show byes
Where possible, include the mention and listing of bye teams for competitions where they are used.
Sort using converted kickoff times
May sometimes be needed for games played on similar dates across time zones. For example, a match in Australia at 7pm on the same local date as a match in England at 3pm will happen much earlier, but when showing matches based on their local timezone, the Australian match will appear second in the list. Enabling this option ensures that the matches are listed in their true chronological order.
Reverse display sort order
As the name says, set this to Yes to reverse the ordering of results. Typically they are displayed oldest to newest, so this will generally result in the list being most recent matches first.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This currently doesn't work properly when there is more than 200 results which results in pagination being applied.
Show competition notices
Some seasons have major events, such as the onset of war or the COVID-19 pandemic causing a full suspension of proceedings. When events like this impact a competition, a notice can be included in the list of match results to denote exactly when it happened. You can set this to Yes to guarantee they'll be included where available, or No to make sure they're hidden.
Keep bracketed team-name text
Many teams have multiple forms, such as a Women's side or Reserve grade. When these teams have the same name, they will include bracketed terms after the name such as (W) and (R). Enabling this option makes sure those indicators are shown against the team name, and setting it to No hides them.
Kickoff grouping
Choose the option you prefer if you'd like to control how matches are grouped together. If you set it to Day, it will group and sort all matches on that day by the name of the home side.
Display timezone
Select a timezone to display all kickoff times and dates in, regardless of where the match was played.