International RL Blog

13 November 1954              France 12    Great Britain 16      Parc de Princes, Paris The First Rugby League World Cup was organized by the French RL under Paul Barriere and took place in  France  in 1954. This was 33 years before the first RU equivalent.  Australia ,  France , GB and NZ took part and t he teams were evenly matched although GB were forced, through injuries/withdrawals, to select an inexperienced squad led by Scotsman Dave Valentine. It was a pleasant surprise when they made the final against the home team. France led early in the second half due to a try from Cantoni but Great Britain fought back with their their dominance in the forwards and centre Phil Jackson playing a starring role. France had played a tough match against Australia in Nantes two days earlier. The  BBC  broadcast the match live in the UK which was a novelty for the time...

2 nd  November 1972           Great Britain  10    v    Australia 10      Lyon The 1972 World Cup was played in  France  and  Great Britain  and  Australia  fought their way through to the Final. Clive Sullivan and Mick (Stevo) Stephenson scored tries for  Great Britain  and Terry Clawson kicked a goal. Artie Beetson and John O’Neill replied for  Australia  which took the game into extra time although no further points were scored and  Great Britain  were declared the winners courtesy of their superior record in the group stages of the competition. The game is best remembered for the brilliant try by Clive Sullivan and the accompanying commentary by Eddie Waring. The Australians felt hard done by due to a Graeme Langlands try disallowed for offside. This was the last time to date that a UK  side has won a ...

14 th  July 1914                    Australia  6  Northern Union  14            Sydney The 1914 GB Lions tour to  Australia  became controversial when the third and deciding test was brought forward against the wishes of the GB team who were struggling with injuries. They were ahead 9-3 at half time but were reduced to ten players with 30 minutes to go (in the days before substitutions) during the second half when Frank Williams, Douglas Clark and Billy Hall were injured. The team defended heroically and even managed to increase their lead to 14-3 with a try from John Johnson (a forward playing on the wing in place of Williams) after a great break by captain and Price of Centres, Harold Wagstaffe. Sid Deane scored for  Australia  in the last few minutes but the Lions hung on for a magnificent win

The Great Britain Student Pioneers have created a huge stir on tour in Ghana After delays caused by a tropical storm, the squad ran coaching sessions to introduce RL to around 180 children and they loved it  In their opening game, GB Student Pioneers beat a Ghana All-Stars 48-10 selection in Legon at the Presbyterian Boys’ School. CLCK HERE for more info

It's not been confirmed, but it seems certain that the GB Lions Tour to Australia in 2015 will not take place. They haven't been invited!!! It appears that the Australian players don't want to play because they are guaranteed a winter off every four years. I find this very hard to believe!!! Which Australian players don't want to represent the Kangaroos in an Ashes series against the Lions? The RL Ashes is a competition with a long history which has not been contested since 2003. That series was very close, despite the 3-0 scoreline and the overall scoreline is very close too despite recent Australian dominance. On either side of the world, crowds would flock to see the Burgess brothers, Widdop, Graham, Tomkins etc represent thec Lions There are many thousands of very good RL players in Australia. Why don't they ask for volunteers? The queue would start in Preston Let's hope International Federation Chairman, Nigel Wood has some power and influence an...

I've just seen the schedule for the British Lions RU tour to Australia in June 2013. Not only have they stolen the British Lions name (used by RL long before RU) but they are visiting similar places in a similar way at the same time of year as we used to do. They are even playing mid-week country matches. They are stealing our clothes on and off the pitch and getting away with it

In chronological order with no consideration of merit The First International RL match 1 st January 1908               Wales 9   New Zealand All Golds 8                Aberdare In 1907-08, Albert Henry Baskerville organized a group of New Zealand players for a professional tour to the UK against Northern Union opposition. Dubbed the All Golds they included Australian susperstar Dally Messenger as a guest and played a total of 46 matches including the first RL international against Wales . Although the All Golds led 8 -3 at half time the Welsh came back strongly and Dai Jones scored a try with only minutes to go. They held on for a famous victory although Dick Wynard of the All Golds missed a great opportunity       Dally Messenger               ...

I wish everybody a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Lets hope it's good one Let's hope we can avoid the repeated missed opportunities that has blighted our game over the years Thankfully, Crusaders are still with us and still have the opportunity to add to their growing band of supporters and build on the great work carried out in Wales recently.  I'm sure we'd all like to forget the the calamitous Leighton Samuals regime which was awarded a three year SL franchise and embarrassed the RFL and it's vetting procedures. We can all be wise in retropect and it's great to see us not repeating similar mistakes made with Paris St Germain (PSG) and Gateshead. Paris St Germain, who were  the mother of all missed opportunities, played in the initial SL competition all those years ago and were a great success. They were a high profile, capital city, French club who plaid in front of big crowds and were very co...

A test series between England and Australia, those famous old cricketing rivals is about to begin, the Ashes are at stake and we're all very excited. Unfortunately, here is no prospect of that other famous Anglo-Australian test series taking place in the near future. The RL Ashes seem to have largely been forgotten I would like to see a twelve match Kangaroos tour to the UK in June/July including matches against the top six SL sides and a three test Ashes series against GB. It could be reciprocated two years later in the Southern Hemisphere and the cycle repeated every four years. It could complement European and Pacific Cups as well as four nation cometions but would meed detailed plans made in advance by the RLIF which has never happened before. It would also mean players would have to be released by their SL/NRL clubs during the domestic season as happens in cricket, RU etc. Maybe central contracts would help this. It won’t happen. Othe...

Consider this. The USA sets up a professional RL comptition with professional marketing and promotion. It is successful, achieves significant growth and becomes fashionable. Interest developes throughout the world and RL starts to be taken seriously rather than a regional sport. A successful, fully professional USA RL competition is very possible. The USA could then export RL to other countries (including the UK and Australia) as they do with much of their lifestyle, culture etc… It would give us much needed credibility. RL could no longer be portrayed as a minority sport played by northerers/antipodeans. We should all suppport USA RL.