Other Nationalities, Exiles and ANZACs
England are due to play the "Exiles" next month in a match dubbed an international and evisaged as necessary preparation for the end of season, Four Nations competition. I am personally uneasy about the concept and would prefer international matches to be competitions between sovereign nations but I am also unhappy about the name because, even allowing for the way use of language changes, the word "exile" has connotations of penal servitude which is obviously insulting to our Australian friends. The concept actually deomonstrates how history has a habit of repeating itself England's first International RL match took place in 1904 when they defeated the Other Nationalities 9-3 at Bradford. It was not a spectacular start for International RL as the game was played in poor weather on a Tuesday afternoon at the same time as a Broughton Rangers v Bradford cup tie which caused player withdrawals and affected the attendance. Only 6000 spectator...