The World Health Organization declared the global pandemic on 11 March, the day before the 2020 NRL season was scheduled to start.
Instead the Warriors decide to relocate to Kingscliff, New South Wales and play their round 2 game at the Gold Coast Titans' Cbus Super Stadium instead of their home ground in Auckland.
[1] Melbourne Storm were also affected by the COVID-19 situation in Victoria and chose to relocate to the Sunshine Coast, Queensland for the remainder of the season.
[16] The RFL suspension was only planned to last for three weeks with 2 April marked as the date for a return to playing, in the end it was 2 August before the Super League competition resumed.
[20] The only exception to the latter were three home games played by Catalans in Perpignan where French government COVID-19 regulations allowed crowds up to 5,000 to attend.
[26] In the play-offs they and close rivals St Helens reached the Grand Final played at the KCOM Stadium, Hull, instead of the regular venue at Old Trafford due to concerns from Manchester United about the event likely needing to be rescheduled, which they could not accommodate.
[29] The 2021 Super League season, which ordinarily would have started in late January, was delayed until March with the hope that the combination of a second full lockdown announced by the UK Government in early January, and start of the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme would allow for a safer state of play when the league eventually returns.
[30] On 11 February it was confirmed that match week one would commence on Friday 26 March, with all fixtures continuing to be played behind closed doors.
[32] For the 2021 competitions, the RFL announced that as a precaution against continued COVID-19 disruption both league tables will be based on win percentage.
[34] The RFL therefore remade the draw for the sixth and subsequent rounds to only include the 11 remaining Super League sides.
Due to non-league team not competing in the tournament, the first two rounds of the competition were made concurrent with the 1895 Cup in an attempt to ease the fixture list.
[39][40][41] The pandemic forced the organisers of the World Cup to develop contingency plans to defer the tournaments to 2022 should it become necessary to postpone in 2021.
[42] In July 2021, Australia and New Zealand pulled due to the pandemic aimed concerns around the emergence of the Delta variant in the tournament's hosts country England.
[50] The planned tour to Great Britain by Australia scheduled for October and November 2020, including the revival of The Ashes, was cancelled.