23 replies to this topic

[HappyDave]

Just want to show it to a mate. Can't seem to find anything.

Edited by HappyDave, 28 October 2012 - 01:49 PM.

[roughyedspud]

cos its a myth.....i remember when it surfaced about 4-5 years that we trademarked the name..but let the union guys use it....its b0ll0cks lol

[TheMancunianCandidate]

Just want to show it to a mate. Can't seem to find anything.

I don't think the RLWC ever was called the Rugby World Cup. It was the first Rugby World Cup of either code, if that's what you mean?

[HappyDave]

Some people on here claim it was and it says it on the Wiki entry for the 1954 World Cup.

http://en.wikipedia....eague_World_Cup

However not according to Tone?...

http://www.rlwc2013....f-the-world-cup

[Bulliac]

There is only one 'proper' rugby so there is only one proper 'rugby world cup', and it's on next year

[thirteenthman]

I don't think the RLWC ever was called the Rugby World Cup. It was the first Rugby World Cup of either code, if that's what you mean?

I've got a match programme from the 1995 WC which is full of old newspaper articles from previous World Cup's, as well as images of tickets and match programmes from those tournaments. There are references to World Cup Series and World Championships, but none of them refer to a 'Rugby World Cup'. I don't honestly see that it matters. We should be proud to refer to our tournament by the name of the sport - the Rugby League World Cup. Referring to it simply as 'Rugby' would just confuse matters.

[TheMancunianCandidate]

Some people on here claim it was and it says it on the Wiki entry for the 1954 World Cup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Rugby_League_World_Cup

However not according to Tone?...

http://www.rlwc2013.com/rugby-league-world-news/article/history-of-the-world-cup

Interesting. Tony will be correct, one would assume. It's certainly not my recollection that it was billed as the Rugby World Cup. Not that I was there of course but, from working in the sport.

I'm always wary of web 'references' they are often inaccurate and Wikipedia, despite its popularity, is often incorrect too.

[Padge]

The first one was called The World Championship if that helps.

As much as we try to lay claim to it, it isn't that easy to prove.

[HappyDave]

Yeah, I agree, we should be proud to be a Rugby Football code. However I hate it that the Aussies call our sport 'League'. If people know the differences between Rugby League and Rugby League and call them both 'Rugby' then that's fantastic. It just really irks me when they're referred to as 'Rugby' & 'League' [guess which ones which...].

[keighley]

In his book The History of Rugby league Football, published in 1962, long before RU ever thought of a World Cup, Keith Macklin refers about the events leading up to the competition and the competition itself using the term World Cup about ten times. He never uses the word Rugby together with the words World Cup.

[Keith Nutter]

The first one was called The World Championship if that helps.

As much as we try to lay claim to it, it isn't that easy to prove.

The first official International Rugby League World Champions was Australia back in 1936 when they won the Courtney Goodwill Trophy.
I have a programme for the 1954 "World Cup" tournement at France in 1954 but I can't remember what the title of the competition is on that document. You may well be cvorrect Padge and it could well have been titled World Championship. I am back at home on Wednesday so will try to take a look then and report back .

[thirteenthman]

The first official International Rugby League World Champions was Australia back in 1936 when they won the Courtney Goodwill Trophy.
I have a programme for the 1954 "World Cup" tournement at France in 1954 but I can't remember what the title of the competition is on that document. You may well be cvorrect Padge and it could well have been titled World Championship. I am back at home on Wednesday so will try to take a look then and report back .

In one of my programmes from the 1995 World Cup there's a photo of the programme from the 1954 final which calls it the 'Coupe Du Monde de Rugby a XIII'.

[gingerjon]

In one of my programmes from the 1995 World Cup there's a photo of the programme from the 1954 final which calls it the 'Coupe Du Monde de Rugby a XIII'.

That's quite a provocative thing to have called it, I believe?

[Griff]

In one of my programmes from the 1995 World Cup there's a photo of the programme from the 1954 final which calls it the 'Coupe Du Monde de Rugby a XIII'.

Contemporary stuff - you can't beat it.

There's your answer, I believe.

[thirteenthman]

That's quite a provocative thing to have called it, I believe?

Indeed. I thought they were banned from using the word Rugby at this time, but it's what's written. It's what I assume is the cover of a programme or something similar from the group game between GB and France at Toulouse, not the final as I wrote above. There are also clippings from a couple of British newspaper reports about the final itself, and the only reference there is to a Rugby League World Cup.

The Wiki article which refers to the 1954 tournament as being the first to be called the 'Rugby World Cup' seems to only be able to cite 2 references for this 'fact' - a reference in the 2003 Guinness World Records book which cant be accessed online anyway, and a simple copying of the alleged fact in a report by a NZ government agency in 2009.

[Middleton Bull]

I have a book entitled, "The Rugby League World Cup - An illustrated history of Rugby's oldest global tournament" published in the late 90's by League Publications Ltd.

The section on 1954 refers to the "World Cup" and the "Rugby League World Cup (final)" but never, "Rugby World Cup".

[Padge]

In the first one it wasn't the original intention to have a final, it was to be a round robin with the winner based on a table. Because England and France finished on equal points it was decided at short notice to have a play-off game to decide the winner.

The Times in 1954 refered to it as The Rugby League World Cup and as The World Rugby League Championship

The Daily Mail refered to it as The Rugby League World Cup

Edited by Padge, 29 October 2012 - 09:56 PM.

[Padge]

A bit more digging.

In 1953. Paul Barriere sent a telegram to the RFL which said "Sirs, It appears to us that the time has now come to organise a World Cup Series. Indeed, we feel it indispensable."

[brooza]

If people know the differences between Rugby League and Rugby League and call them both 'Rugby' then that's fantastic.

I have to be honest, I've no idea what the differences are!

[Manx RL]

The British Newspaper Archive - www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk - has a record for the Hull Daily Mail, Tuesday 13 November 1934 announcing 'World Cup - France hopes to stage big tourney'. Article goes on to document the French Rugby League ambition to stage a Rugby League World Championship Cup.
John Wilson, secretary of the Rugby League was due to attend a meeting with the French on wed 14th November.


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