Rugby league rules the world

[Will Ritson]

This interesting, and somewhat patronising, AH comment appeared in Britain's Guardian newspaper on Saturday.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbylea...582540,00.html

So with it being finals weekend over in Australia and the apparent number of closet treizistes on here, lets have a situation with a POD after 1945 where League becomes a dominant world sport.

Bonus points if the POD is the Super League war.

[DMA]

Now this one's a tough one. Somehow I doubt League could ever be the dominant world football code. I don't think soccer is ever going to be replaced there.

Likewise I doubt American Football is going to be knocked off it's #1 spot in the US either.

What could happen is that there's a merger between League & Union sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. That somehow Murdoch buys League, which he more or less did one way or another, then he buys Union as well. Then he merges them to become a big money world game based as much on local games as TV coverage. Come the next Rugby World Cup, where it's now called the World Union Super League Cup (where the rules more or less resemble League), & it has teams playing from all over the world akin to Union.

Needless to say, some local League & Union competitions will view Murdoch's purchases as nothing more than a money grabbing exercise , so they will naturally resist - especially were there's big money involved. So I'd expect there to be a split in Australian League circles. Likewise, some of the traditional Union diehards will reject it as well. So again there'll be a Union hold out as well. But Mrudoch will have the money & the TV audience. As a result, we may end up with three Rugby codes: Rugby Union, Rugby League, & Union Super League.

I don't think, though, whatever League ends up as, it'll ever replace Soccer, as I said, but it could quickly become the second world football code after Soccer.

[Beaker]

But Rugby League would be a good replacement for Gridiron in this ATL for the following reasons:

a) same type of field and scoring system
b) similar structure of play
c) professionalism is encouraged in League unlike Union.

With League as popular as Gridiron IN the US in this ATL it was have a wide reach but not world wide. I couldn't see it take hold in continental Europe like soccer but it would have better penetration in this ATL. It could be popular in Japan.

However the best POD for such an ATL is in the early 1900's where Gridiron is banned due to the deaths that arise from the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...all.2C_1905-12

This is just as Rugby League is starting to sprout. Have Dally Messenger or someone of his ilk come to America to tour the game and the seeds are sown

[Will Ritson]

I kind of agree. League is and always has been the 2nd most popular football code in the UK; it would be very difficult to break soccers dominance on a worldwide scale any later than 1900.

Here goes with a POD in 1944, based on more publicity around the French ban and a minor incident in the British armed forces sparking a very public clash of the codes.

Apologies for the UK slant to this. I will update on the international game later.

-----

1941 The Vichy regime bans RL in France (nb. RL was significantly more popular than RU in France prior to WW2)

1944 RL leagalised in France after liberation, amongst much wider publicity of the role of RU in collaborating with Vichy, leading to an attitude of RU being seen as unpatriotic. US servicemen stationed in northern England and Australia start playing RL and touch footy (this actually happened in Warrington).

1945 End of WW2. 1945 Start of period of UK sporting boom in UK. Touch footy played by occupying forces in Europe and Eastern Asia. RU hit by massive decline in France. American Servicemen introduce the game to the USA.

1946 "Indominatables" Lions Tour to Australia and NZ. British armed forces at Suez court controversy by playing an impromtu touch game against the Lions side on route to southern hemisphere. (nb. RL was banned in British armed forces until 1990s). British RL raise issue with Atlee's Labour government, who promise to look into discrimination. Newly elected Labour MP and rising star in the party, Harold Wilson, is commissioned by Atlee to look into the role of sport in the community, including a look at the relationship between RL and RU. Wilson, a keen sportsman, grew up in Huddersfield, the birthplace of the league code.

1948 Publication of the Wilson Report on sport. The groundbreaking report highlights the role of sport in healthy living and the grassroots contribution of sport to communities. RL - almost exclusively a working class phenomenon - comes out for particular praise for its work in the industrial northern cities. The report leads to playing fields and sports clubs becoming a key feature of the governments New Towns policy. Whilst the Wislon Report falls short of condemning the ban in the armed forces, it is highly critical of the RFU and it's attitude.

1946-1952 RL enjoys spectatular rise in popularity in northern England, France, Australia and New Zealand. France suggest concept of World Cup, to take place in 1954. British RL begins expansion policy based on grassroots participation, coupled by cooperation with the government. The policy, based upon an earlier idea by the late Lance Todd, advocates a switch to summer RL, to fall in line with the Australian season. The motion is passed by a narrow margin. 1948-9 last winter season.

1948 The Wilson report hits the RFU hard, with the publicity surrounding it highlighting the shamateurism of the body, and introducing a number of Olympic participant nations to RL. The RFL advocates a two division structure for the game.

1949 A number of RU clubs play RL in summer in protest at the publicity around the Armed forces ban. These clubs tend to be Midlands based, grassroots and in industrial communities. Grassroots RL clubs formed in a number of new and rebuilt towns, including Coventry, Hemel Hempstead and Sheffield, leading to a "Southern Rugby League" being formed at grassroots level.

1949 The Challenge Cup moves to August Bank Holiday weekend, attracting a crowd of 95,000 to Wembley Stadium.

1950 Several RU clubs suggest putting out summer teams. They are expelled from the RFU, and subsequently join the flourishing "Southern Rugby League".

1951 The Wilson Report is largely brushed aside with the election of the Churchill government and an end to the social welfare policies of the Labour administration.

1954 France win World Cup to massive national acclaim. Tournament held across France leads to significant grassroots take-up of the sport, establishing France as a world power. The final between GB and France is televised, leading to a group of sports promoter establishing new teams professional sides in Birmingham, London and Sheffield. Many emerging players from the grassroots clubs provide a sustainability to RL outside of the north of England that it has never had before.

[Will Ritson]

1955 In Australia a British armed forces unit is disciplined after playing a game of rugby league against an Australian unit, to much publicity across Australia, and condemnation by the Australian government.

1956 Rugby league continues to grow in state schools across the south of England. Cardiff RUFC is expelled from the Welsh RFU after fielding a player with rugby league experience. Cardiff join RL, followed by three other Welsh clubs.

1957 The RL introduce a three division structure based upon the soccer model (Div 1, Div 2 Div 3 North, Div 3 South) to accomodate Welsh clubs.

1958 Four team World Cup won by Great Britain who defeat Australia in the televised Wembley final.

1959 Conservative candidate for Wakefield, Michael Jopling, is banned by the RFU after performing a ceremonial kick-off at Wakefield trinity. The move attracts widespread national publicity, and leads to the Conservative government putting pressure on the RFU. Ban on RL in armed forces and universities relaxed due to pressure from government. Armed forces teams across the Commonwealth begin playing RL, introducing many local forces to the game rapidly. The local populations identify more with the game due to its anti-establishment nature.

Elsewhere 1950-1960 Leading college RU clubs in the USA switch codes to RL. The union code is increasing being seen as a fringe sport by the public, but has only suffered a minor decline in popularity in England where it is still the leading middle-class sport. The main countries to suffer a decline are NZ, Wales, USA and France, as well as a smaller decline in other western European nations, where the game is still a minor sport. West Germany is the major European success story, where the game was introduced by US troops after WW2. RL in USA a very minor sport with an almost cult following as an extreme form of Gridiron, with College RL being the main growth area of the game.

[DMA]

WOW! You're really getting into this Will.

Great stuff! Keep it up!

BTW - Are you going to have Murdoch in the middle of the Super League War?

[Will Ritson]

Originally Posted by DMA

WOW! You're really getting into this Will.

Great stuff! Keep it up!

BTW - Are you going to have Murdoch in the middle of the Super League War?

Yeah; I'm quite enjoying it too.

The strange thing is very very little is different to what actually happened. It is often argued that the British RL lacked bite; in this TL they are prepared to fight their corner a bit more. Most of the incidents mentioned here (eg. US servicemen playing touch footy; Michael Jopling's ban).

Rugby Football League 1960 season
Division One
Barrow
Huddersfield
Hull
Hull Kingston Rovers
Leeds
Leigh
Oldham
Salford
St Helens
Swinton
Wakefield Trinity
Warrington
Widnes
Wigan

Division Two
Batley
Blackpool Borough
Bradford Northern
Bramley
Castleford
Dewsbury
Featherstone Rovers
Halifax
Hunslet
Keighley
Rochdale Hornets
Whitehaven
Workington Town
York

Division Three (North)
Barnsley
Belle Vue Rangers
Blackburn Town
Carlisle City
Chesterfield
Darlington
Doncaster
Lancaster
Liverpool City
Middlesborough
Preston Town
Rotherham Titans
Sheffield
Stoke-on-Trent

Division Three (South)
Acton Town
Birmingham
Bracknell Borough
Cardiff
Corby
Coventry
Croydon Borough
Hemel Hempstead
Kettering
Leicester Tigers
Merthyr
Pontypridd
Stevenage Town
Swansea
Watford

Supported by Northern Rugby League, Southern Rugby League, Welsh Rugby League, Scotalnd Rugby League semi-pro/grassroots competitions

By the start of the 1960 competition British RL is made up largely of established northern English clubs (who still dominate) and a handful of semi-pro clubs in industrial towns, several of which were existing or amalgamations of RU clubs.

The south east and south west are the major gaps in the national spread. The south west is still die-hard amateur RU, while the south east is dominated by establishment RU clubs such as Harlequins, Wasps etc.

[DMA]

Originally Posted by Will Ritson

Yeah; I'm quite enjoying it too.

The strange thing is very very little is different to what actually happened. It is often argued that the British RL lacked bite; in this TL they are prepared to fight their corner a bit more. Most of the incidents mentioned here (eg. US servicemen playing touch footy; Michael Jopling's ban).

I must admit that I'm ignorant about the history of our League playing cousins in the UK & France, other than I recall league became popular after WWII, but then the interest faded. I never knew why. So thanks for sharing

[Will Ritson]

1950 - 1960 International summary
Australia: RL pretty much remains restricted to NSW and QLD, although minor inroads are made in Victoria and Darwin. RL is dominant sport in NSW and QLD.

NZ: Large growth through working class and maori communities in major cities. Wellington, Aukland, Dun Edin and Christchurch became heartlands of the game, although RU dominates middle-classes and universities. RL dominant code on North Island.

France: RL returns to dominant code status by 1952. 1954 RLWC win sees game expand nationwide, especially in Paris and industrial cities. France beat the Kangaroos 3-0 on their 1959 tour.

USA: Rugby league also refered to as "Extreme Football" due to the nature of the game when compared to Gridiron. Thriving in the college sector as a replacement for RU. RL is different in the USA to other areas as it is almost exclusively played by the middle-classes and in the armed forces, as opposed to grassroots clubs.

South Africa: An awareness of RL exists, mainly due to the signing of high-profile RU players by English and Australian clubs. No RL is played. RU dominates in the white community.

Western Europe: Grassroots club RL played, utilising soccer grounds in the off-season. Limited to a handful of amateur clubs, Holland, Germany and Spain all have domestic competitions. Italy and Yugoslavia have small, but developing competitions. Emerging RU talent in these countries is increasingly snapped up by British clubs, leading to a growing awaeness of the RL code.

Colonial/newly independent nations: Significant growth in south east Asia within Australian and French spheres due to armed forces playing the game. Minor growth in Africa. Mainly amongst Police forces and newly created armed forces.

[Will Ritson]

Originally Posted by DMA

I must admit that I'm ignorant about the history of our League playing cousins in the UK & France, other than I recall league became popular after WWII, but then the interest faded. I never knew why. So thanks for sharing

The dissolution of RL in 1941 by the Vichy regime was one of the most despicable events in sport. The French RU, threatened by the massive growth of RL between 1934 and 1940, worked with the regime to ban RL and cause all RL clubs to play union.

The banning of RL in the British armed forces and many universities until the 1980s and 1990s was a similar issue. Until 1995 anyone who had played RL was banned for life from playing RU in the UK. A BBC TV commentator were even turned away from Twickenham because he once played RL. Players were banned for even having a trial at RL, and university and armed forces players often played under false names.

As a result you can imagine the difficulty the game experienced in expanding from it's north of England heartlands. Since the lifting of the ban in 1995 over 100 new adult teams have sprung up in towns and cities across the UK. In London RL is now the fastest growing sport, and at school level is second only to soccer in the capital.

[DMA]

Just a hint from the Australasian angle - Outside of NSW & QLD, as you've mentioned, you can pretty well forget it. Aussie Rules rules there. They've tried so many times, even Union, to try to establish a half desent comp, let alone a A-Grade team, & they've always failed. Only recently have they finally established a top level team in Melbourne, but that took a lot of money, pain, & effort.

In NZ there's going to be a lot of competition from Union. Even today, with a successful RL team in NZ, Union is still probably more popular. Again it took a lot of money, pain, & effort to get the Warriors well established. So I wouldn't hold my breath expecting any major breakthroughs in either region.

Elsewhere PNG & Fiji might be places worth considering as both have had a League comp & a national side for many decades going back to WWII.

I can't speak for the other locations. In fact I've often wondered why League never took off in South Africa.

Keep going though, as you're doing very well.

[DMA]

Originally Posted by Will Ritson

The dissolution of RL in 1941 by the Vichy regime was one of the most despicable events in sport. The French RU, threatened by the massive growth of RL between 1934 and 1940, worked with the regime to ban RL and cause all RL clubs to play union.

The banning of RL in the British armed forces and many universities until the 1980s and 1990s was a similar issue. Until 1995 anyone who had played RL was banned for life from playing RU in the UK. A BBC TV commentator were even turned away from Twickenham because he once played RL. Players were banned for even having a trial at RL, and university and armed forces players often played under false names.

As a result you can imagine the difficulty the game experienced in expanding from it's north of England heartlands. Since the lifting of the ban in 1995 over 100 new adult teams have sprung up in towns and cities across the UK. In London RL is now the fastest growing sport, and at school level is second only to soccer in the capital.

It all seems stupid to me. Sport is sport & you should be allowed to play whatever you want IMHO. That's obviously an Australian talking for you though

[Will Ritson]

Originally Posted by DMA

Just a hint from the Australasian angle - Outside of NSW & QLD, as you've mentioned, you can pretty well forget it. Aussie Rules rules there. They've tried so many times, even Union, to try to establish a half desent comp, let alone a A-Grade team, & they've always failed. Only recently have they finally established a top level team in Melbourne, but that took a lot of money, pain, & effort.

In NZ there's going to be a lot of competition from Union. Even today, with a successful RL team in NZ, Union is still probably more popular. Again it took a lot of money, pain, & effort to get the Warriors well established. So I wouldn't hold my breath expecting any major breakthroughs in either region.

Elsewhere PNG & Fiji might be places worth considering as both have had a League comp & a national side for many decades going back to WWII.

I can't speak for the other locations. In fact I've often wondered why League never took off in South Africa.

Keep going though, as you're doing very well.

Thanks for that. I'll keep going. The rise of the USA over the 1960s comes next...

The South Africa situationwas affected by apartheid. Apparently RL was even banned at one point due to the power and influence of the SA RFU in the government of the old regime, although I have never seen any evidence of this.

[Will Ritson]

1962 was a big year for the game. Aware of a need to make the game more attractive to new spectators and specifically to a television audience the international board decides to implement new rules ahead of the 1962 World Cup, which takes place in Sydney.

Further changes to scoring: Tries = 4; Goals = 2; Field goals = 1. The board also decides to implement a 6 tackle rule, mainly to assist the expansion of the competition to emerging nations in order to give them more possession. Despite a dubious reception in the press, the new rules go down well.

The ARL decides to take games to Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as QLD and NSW, with supporters in Aussie Rules territory coming out to back the Kangaroos. Italy, the USA and PNG join the competition, with mixed successes and heavy defeats, while GB splits into Wales and England due to demand from the growing number of Welsh players and clubs.

France win the competition in front of a large partisan crowd at the SCG, defeating Australia in the final, 24 - 22. They return to a heroes welcome in France who see their successes as a moral boost on the back of the worsening Algeria situation. The French government increasing look to support RL.

late 1950s - mid 1960s
College League continues to grow in the USA, especially in the deep south, where the inclusive culture of the game provides a welcome change to black students, many of whom are still experiencing segregation in College Football.

1965 The England team embarks on an ambitious US tour, and are welcomed by a USA caught up in the British invasion and Beatlemania. The northern accents of the England players sit well with an American public familiar with an influx of British culture, and the tour is deemed a huge success thanks to TV coverage of the game between the USA and England in Milwaukee. Although the lasting results are hard to gauge, the game enjoys five minutes of fame which leads to a significant expansion at grassroots, in the armed forces and within the College system. Later in the year a US Army XIII take on a Vietnam XIII in a moral boosting fixture in Saigon, where the game enjoyed success in the latter years of French colonialism. Whilst the event hardly raises media attention outside Vietnam, it shows the growing popularity of the game in certain areas of society.

In the UK the game continues to expand at grassroots level. Whilst it isn't rivalling soccer in many areas of the country, it has led to RU becoming increasing a fringe activity based in the private schools and university sector.

[DMA]

The only thing with League in the USA is, well, Union has been there for well over 100 years. Soccer is the same. Union even has a large college following - even Dubya is a keen fan. Likewise Soccer is popular to the point that the US men have gotten to the World Cup a couple of times, whilst the American women have won it a couple of times.

Yet, for whatever reason, American Football rules. To be honest, IMHO it will remain that way, especially when it has all the money & TV coverage. So I think it's going to take a lot more than Beatlemania to get the general American public to change football codes.

Sorry, I don't mean to be negative, but I can't see the Americans changing in the 1960s or 70s. It really needs someone like Murdoch to come along, who owns something like Fox Media, especially the TV network, to give League equal corporate & media sponsorship to entice Americans to League. And that means League, in the USA, will have to wait until the 1990s.

Keep going though. You're doing very well!

[Will Ritson]

1965 onwards
By the mid to late 1960s rugby league began to experience something of a decline in England, especially in the traditional northern heartlands of the sport. The post-war planning policies in many industrial towns led to the division of a number of traditional rugby league communities, most notably Salford, Swinton, Leeds and Hunslet, where the traditional terraced housing began to be replaced by tower block council flat developments.

The game contracted in the north, while clubs in the south of England continued to boom. Australian legend Johnny Raper, who signed for the flourishing London club, Acton Town, in the mid-60s remembers the period fondly.

"London was the place to be in the mid-sixties, and being a professional sportsman life was fantastic." Loose-forward Raper spent four years at the Acton club, signing from St George in 1966, a massive coup considering that he had just captained Australia to their 1965* World Cup victory.

The rise of Acton Town was phenomenal, and the cosmopolitan vibe of the club was followed by many of the new progressive clubs of the south, who proved a fantastic attraction to northern boys wanting to experience Swinging London.

The 1969 World Cup, which was held in England, saw the power of the southern growth come to the fore, with an England side captained for the first time by a Londoner, James Harris, who discovered the game as a boy with south London's Richmond Park, before progressing through the ranks to join Acton Town.

*The International Board took the decision to move the World Cup one year early so as not to clash with the more high profile Soccer World Cup, Olympic Games, or Empire Games events. It was agreed to play the games every four years thereafter, with a qualifying tournament for developing nations.

Rugby Football League 1970 season
[/i]Division One[/i]
Acton Town
Cardiff
Coventry
Croydon Borough
Hull
Hull Kingston Rovers
Lancaster
Leeds
Leicester Tigers
Pontypridd
St Helens
Warrington
Widnes
Wigan

Something drastic was needed to halt the decline of the game in the north, where the traditional "Roses" matches were increasingly irrelevant. What did strike the northern fanbase was the increasing numbers of England internationals of southern origin. A rivalry built on historical jealousy between two contrasting English cultures.

[sunsurf]

I have this unfortunate habit of taking titles literally. I was trying to think of a situation where the World Government *is* the Rugby League.

[DMA]

Originally Posted by sunsurf

I have this unfortunate habit of taking titles literally. I was trying to think of a situation where the World Government *is* the Rugby League.

I'm sure there are some Rugby League fans who either believe it now or would want it

[thebrewxi]

Will this thread ever be continued??? Top stuff.

[sanusoi]

The only way that could happen if there was a corrpution case that spread across the wgole of international football and it causes the audience to be alienated fromm sport. That's a bit unlikely but that's my best strech.

Got any ideas ?