Rugby History Thread

[Futtocks]

5 minutes ago, longboard said:

An evocative photograph, with a now famous name in rugby standing in the middle of the back row:-

http://www.huddersfieldrlheritage.co.uk/Photos/Team/Post WW2/content/Huddersfield_1972_73_large.html

He hasn't changed his facial expression since then! Nice find.

[longboard]

A cracking photo from the first Challenge Cup final.

https://twitter.com/heritage_quay

 

[JonM]

On 17/04/2017 at 11:54 AM, Lounge Room Lizard said:

 

Just revisiting this - does anyone know about the structure of the cup here? It seems like there are a very high number of local derbies, so clearly the draw was regionalised. How was this done? Did it persist in the later rounds? There are clearly Lancashire clubs playing Cheshire clubs, so it's not completely county based, but the Cumberland clubs seem to be mostly playing each other and Barrow play Seaton, Morecambe play Kendal, Millom play Lancaster. Was there a Cumberland/North Lancs/Westmorland pool?

[marklaspalmas]

Took some finding this thread....

 I am currently working (with others) on Featherstone rugby history from 1889 to 1921, compiling fixtures lists, results and teams, etc. Laborious but enjoyable work as Im sure many historians will know.

I would like to ask about a few of the competitions that Rovers took part in during those seasons and whether anyone has info such as results, or league tables for these leagues. Any help much appreciated.

1. The Northern Union Combination (1912 to 1921)
2. Wakefield & District League (1919 to 1921)
3. Dewsbury, Wakefield & District League (1908 to 1912)
3. Leeds & District League (1913 to 1921)

And then further back (even into RU days)

1. The Charlesworth Cup (1889 to 1905)
2. The Dunhill Cup. (1890 to 1894)
3. The Yorkshire Second Competition (1898 to 1902)
4. The Yorkshire Combination (1905 to 1912)

5. The Yorkshire Junior Cup (1909 to 1921)

Many thanks!

[Futtocks]

Here's a slice of more recent history - Kent Invicta v Castleford. Gary Hetherington plays at LF for Kent.

 

[Copa]

 

Rugby league match between a British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) team of Australian soldiers and crew members of HMS Shropshire.

japan 1946

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1144123?search

 

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by Copa

[Copa]

A lot more old photos of military guys playing rugby league at this link including portraits of unknown british and commonwealth  soldiers in rugby league kit in Japan and elsewhere.

yep rugby league in the British military. I thought it was banned. I guess these matches were unofficial. They were also possibly Australians on both teams in those days 

https://www.awm.gov.au/search?q=Rugby league

 

a sample... 

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by Copa

[Futtocks]

This just appeared in the right-hand column of my YouTube screen. We see many highlights reels with familiar action, so a big thanks to the guy who assembled this compilation of excellent but lesser-known tries.

 

[Futtocks]

Australia v the Rest of the World, 1997

https://youtu.be/ywHRkyl1krs

[Big Picture]

The 1989 promotional match between Wigan and Warrington in Milwaukee organized by Mike Mayer.  I don't know how to get the Youtube image to display though.

[Padge]

Interesting snippet on R4 this morning

The British Amateur Rowing Association had extremely strict rules on amateurism until the 1930's.

You could not be a member if you had have entered a competition with a financial prize, if you had been employed as any form of employed payed or not as boatsman, if you had been employed in any form of manual labour or profession.

We thought the RFU were strict.

The whole thing came to a head in the 1930's when the Australian Olympic Team where refused to compete in the Henley Regatta because they were all employed as Policemen.

Their was derision in in the colonies, which spread to the UK and the whole thing was brought up in Parliament. The ASR had to back down.

The commentator on R4 said it then meant that it was no longer money that decided who was best but athleticism and ability.

In Rugby the concern was that the working classes who did a lot of manual labour and where therefore physically stronger were taking over the sport, there inclusion was stopping the rich from being the winners.

Later when the split occurred, it wasn't the rich players who were the problem, but the rich owners. The more money the owner had to throw at his team, the more successful they would be. This remains true until this day.

 

[Futtocks]

Official snottiness about paid sport extended further than that. Jim Thorpe's records are still not officially recognised by the IOC.

The magnificent Daley Thompson only did the Decathlon. Thorpe won the Decathlon and the Pentathlon, at the same Olympics. As well as that, he excelled at other sports. And he was hounded out of the history books, in a manner at least as vengeful as any Twickenham whitewash of a "non-person".

[OriginalMrC]

An interesting bit of history is that Coventry Bears are not the first Rugby League team to play in Coventry. There was a Northern Union Team between 1910—1913. I believe Leeds record score was against them. Also by coincidence they played at the Butts where Coventry Bears play now. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_RLFC?wprov=sfla1

[amm]

By Andrew Ferguson PAUL BARRIÈRE AND THE BIRTH OF THE WORLD CUP

http://commentaryboxsports.com/australian/nrl/paul-barriere-birth-world-cup.html

[southstand loiner]

Leeds won 102-0 with every Leeds player scoring 

[southstand loiner]

On ‎28‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 1:46 PM, marklaspalmas said:

Good call! Wikipedia has it that the RL club were the original owners.

On ‎28‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 1:46 PM, marklaspalmas said:

Good call! Wikipedia has it that the RL club were the original owners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeley_Park

I have a problem with the wiki  article in that it say it was built for rugby league in 1901  which does not tally with stuff I have in which I have a photo of rugby been played there on 1895 and an article saying it was donated by the Sykes family in 1891

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by southstand loiner

[southstand loiner]

2 minutes ago, southstand loiner said:

 

just dug out the map

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by southstand loiner

[southstand loiner]

On ‎07‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 3:38 PM, bowes said:

Basically the lower division Yorkshire based clubs were slower to switch to Northern Union than the Lancashire based ones. This is in large part due to the split from rugby union being for different reasons either side of the Pennines. West of the Pennines the split was primarily due to professionalism and there were close ties between elite clubs and those in lower divisions. In Yorkshire a major factor was the top division clubs wanting a closed shop league, whilst the RFU wanted to introduce promotion and relegation.

In short there may have been local competitions but there was no second competition that season.

I do have the York club details from 1898-99 season on going not all the away teams but quite a lot of them and of course results and scorers both sides 

[southstand loiner]

On ‎13‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 4:31 PM, Oxford said:

I don't know but what a great name and what a pity it's not still with us!

half acre were certainly around in the 1990s as my lads team played there 

[johnny plath]

On 27/02/2017 at 7:43 AM, Padge said:

They are all still football clubs, the business name is neither here nor there. They play under different rules, hence, rugby union football, association football and Rugby League Football. The you have Australian Rules Football, American Football, Gaelic Football.

They are all the same 'sport' but they are playing under the rules of the organisation they have chosen to be affiliated to.

With the Bradford split both teams can have a claim to the history as both teams have a direct association with the previous club, unique as you say, but unique is not impossible just unusual.

Professor Tony Collins agreed with my view that Bradford et al are the same club and that will do for me.

 

probably not the right thread, and don't want to seem like a red herring question, but if the highlighted bit is correct (and I don't doubt you), why is Rugby League having so much difficulty in gaining Sport Accord recognition.  Isn't the argument for rejection based on Rugby league and union being the same sport... taking your point further, all of the football codes should fall into this category but don't appear to.

[Padge]

8 hours ago, johnny plath said:

probably not the right thread, and don't want to seem like a red herring question, but if the highlighted bit is correct (and I don't doubt you), why is Rugby League having so much difficulty in gaining Sport Accord recognition.  Isn't the argument for rejection based on Rugby league and union being the same sport... taking your point further, all of the football codes should fall into this category but don't appear to.

Put simply the IRB (or World Rugby as they now like to be known) claim exclusivity on the sport of "rugby", that is as daft as if they claimed exclusivity on the sport of football, but they don't see it that way.

There are many forms of football, but they are all football, there are different forms of rugby football, but they are still rugby football.

[ROB G]

Would anyone happen to have final tables from the Yorkshire rugby competitions (first thru to 4th competitions) for 1892-95? I'm sure I have most of them somewhere but can't lay my hands on them? Thanks in advance.

[M j M]

Colour footage of Brian Bevan right at the end of his career and Thrum Hall (pretty sure the ground still looked much like that when it was demolished). 

 

[Oxford]

On 10/21/2017 at 7:05 PM, Padge said:

We thought the RFU were strict.

Inaccurate this the sentence should read;  We know the RFU were selectively draconian.

 

12 minutes ago, M j M said:

Colour footage of Brian Bevan right at the end of his career and Thrum Hall (pretty sure the ground still looked much like that when it was demolished). 

 

Fantastic clip that! Made me think at least some people are interested in our past.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Oxford

[Padge]

A well known story, but nicely put over.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/38266996