SUPER League has often been accused of being, in the main, confined in an M62 straitjacket.
But 25 years ago, the competition boldly broke free and spread its wings – if only for 17 days.
When the fixture planners got to work ahead of the 1998 campaign, the third after the big switch to summer rugby and the first in 25 years to feature play-offs to determine the champions, a three-week gap was deliberately left in the July.
Super League was keen to avoid a clash with the closing stages of the football World Cup in France, knowing it would dominate the sports pages.
And the Rugby Football League wanted to fill the break by sending a Great Britain side to the Southern Hemisphere to face Australia and New Zealand in a tri-nation tournament.
The World Cup – for the first time featuring 32 teams (up from 24) and won by the hosts, who beat Brazil 3-0 in a Parisian final noted for the late reinstatement of Ronaldo to the South Americans’ line-up after the star striker had originally been omitted – was considered a success.
But the plan for the three-strong rugby league event was abandoned, partly due to the conclusion of Australia’s so-called ‘Super League war’ and the creation of the NRL, leaving those in charge of the Northern Hemisphere’s top flight with a headache.
They came up with the novel idea of inserting an extra round of Super League games into the void and taking the six matches ‘On the Road’ to give other parts of the UK a chance to see rugby league in the flesh.
While the pairings for the additional set of matches, the 14th of what became 23 for each club, were decided on the straightforward principle of the previous season’s final league positions, first versus second, third against fourth and so on, there was plenty of debate over the best destinations.
In the end, convenience prevailed, with two matches going to Gateshead, one each to Cardiff and Swansea (all three of which had Super League franchise bids on the table as the powers that be eyed a longer-term expansion of the still-fledgling organisation) and one apiece to Northampton, where interest in forming a club had also been shown, and Edinburgh.
The ‘On the Road’ round got off to an inauspicious start at Gateshead’s International Stadium, which was to host the North-East town’s newly-formed team Thunder the following season.
On a wet, cold Friday night, Leeds and Salford (fifth and sixth the previous season) attracted only 4,122, who saw a scrappy game.
While the Rhinos were going well under Graham Murray, they were given a test by the Reds, who handed debuts to two teenagers, stand-off Simon Svabic and winger Stuart Littler, and had to work hard for their 34-16 success, with three of their six tries coming late on.
The disappointing turn-out didn’t deter Kath Hetherington, who had joined forces with Australian Shane Richardson to launch Thunder.
“If you put this game on in Wigan, you wouldn’t get that many,” she insisted.
Northampton’s Sixfields Stadium, home of the town’s football club, was the scene of game two the following Friday, when Halifax Blue Sox met Sheffield Eagles.
Having finished seventh in 1997, Halifax were a stronger force under John Pendlebury, and swept to a 32-10 victory in front of 3,087, with the atmosphere at the tight venue reportedly good, but many complaining that both sides wearing blue and white made it hard to distinguish one from the other.
The rugby league roadshow concept really took off the following evening in Scotland, with an estimated 4,000 Bradford fans swelling the gate for the reigning champions’ clash with London Broncos, the 2007 runners-up, at Heart of Midlothian Football Club’s Tynecastle ground to 6,863.
Any curious locals must have been impressed with the masterclass put on by Broncos’ star and former Bulls halfback Shaun Edwards, who pulled the strings as the capital team triumphed 22-8.
It was back to Gateshead on Friday, 24th July, for the meeting of 1998 Super League newcomers Hull Sharks and Huddersfield Giants, the latter having sacked player-coach Garry Schofield earlier in the week.
Huddersfield had won only twice in 13 games, and Phil Veivers, who had been Schofield’s assistant, was unable to conjure a third victory, although his charges put in a good performance before 4,306.
With Kiwi centre Logan Campbell catching the eye, Hull, who were to merge with Gateshead Thunder at the end of the following season, claimed their fifth win of the campaign by a 21-10 margin.
Attention shifted to South Wales on the Saturday and Sunday, as the road trip ended with games between Castleford and Warrington at Cardiff and St Helens and Wigan at Swansea.
There were 4,437 at the Arms Park, where the Tigers, having ended up tenth the year before, claimed their first Super League win over the Wolves, edging a real cracker 23-16 after the sides were level with six minutes left.
After Lee Briers hit a post with a field-goal attempt, Brad Davis struck a successful one-pointer for Castleford, who cemented the points with a Danny Orr try and Francis Maloney conversion.
Meanwhile the roadshow’s biggest crowd of 8,572 crammed into Vetch Field, the home of Swansea City Football Club, to see Wigan, leading the league after a fourth-placed finish in 1997, seal a fourth win over arch-rivals Saints that year (after one in the Challenge Cup and two in the league).
Two-try fullback Kris Radlinski starred as his side downed Saints 36-2. The Warriors went on to top the table and claim their first title of the summer era by beating Leeds 10-4 in the inaugural Grand Final, a clash of Australian coaches John Monie and Murray.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 487 (August 2023)
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