THE BIRTH OF THE GAME
This is the first instalment of a 14-part history of Australia’s national rugby league side, the Kangaroos, now coached by Immortal, Mal Meninga. ‘Big Mal’ commissioned me to write the ‘history’, to be presented to his players as they entered camp for the 2024 Pacific Cup campaign.
Mal wanted his young men to know who the dug the well from which they are drawing considerable benefits, and to fully appreciate the heritage of the jersey which they were to wear.
I thought I would share what I wrote, in the hope it will enlighten readers of my website about the proud history of the Kangaroos.
CHAPTER 1
If not for progressive thinking men in the North of England, there might only be one code of rugby now, and the Wallabies our only national team. Instead we have two codes – rugby union and rugby league – and the Kangaroos are the proud representatives of the ‘rebel’ 13-man code.
Rugby League did not begin in Australia until 1908, and the first Kangaroos toured Britain later that year. But the game itself had its roots in Lancashire and Yorkshire, where 22 top clubs broke away from the London based Rugby Union in 1895. Clubs involved in the very first weekend of football in a new competition included Hull, Wigan, Leigh, Leeds, St Helens and Warrington, all current members of Super League. Games were played under rugby union rules.
The meeting to confirm the establishment of the new game took place in The George Hotel, Huddersfield, a venue which has been a place of pilgrimage for many Australians, including Kangaroo touring teams. The new competition was known as ‘The Northern Union’. The Northern clubs formed their own competition because the London Rugby Union ‘bosses’ had refused requests for compensation for lost wages, when men played football on a Saturday, which was a working day. The London authorities said Rugby must remain amateur.
Most of the clubs in England’s north drew their playing strength from mills, foundries and coal mines, and the five-day week was still many years off. If you wanted to play sport on a Saturday, you forfeited that part of your wage.
The amateur rules were not written by blue collar workers. They were codified by men who could take time off from their properties, businesses and professions – men who mainly lived in the south of England. The North had become the stronghold of rugby. The British rugby union team chosen to tour Australia and New Zealand in 1888 featured 14 players from the North; four from Scotland; one from the Isle of Man and only two from England’s south.
The Northern Union’s first season began in September, 1895, and each player received six shillings a match (about $80 in today’s money), as long as they could prove they were employed and had lost a day’s pay. The London ‘Establishment’ predicted the renegade competition would come to an early end, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
The English rugby union side, weakened by the loss of those hard men from the North, started to lose Test matches at an unprecedented rate.
After only two seasons of playing under Union rules, the ‘Northern Union’ started making changes, aimed at making the code more attractive. By 1905 the Northern Union was confident enough to invite New Zealand to tour, and by 1907 a Kiwi team, with Australian, Dally Messenger a guest player, visited the UK. It was at the start of the 1906-07 season that the number of players in teams was cut from 15 to 13. By that time the game had become semi-professional.
The first Challenge Cup (knockout) competition was played in 1897 with Yorkshire club, Batley, defeating Merseyside club, St Helens 10-3 in the Final at Headingley, Leeds. Many Australians have played in Challenge Cup finals, including Brian Bevan, Arthur Clues, Harry Bath, Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin, Chris Anderson, Graham Eadie, John Ferguson, Steve Renouf, Michael Monaghan, Chris McQueen, Michael O’Connor, Brett Hodgson and Bevan French.
The Northern Union changed its name to the Rugby Football League in 1922, at the urging of the Australian and New Zealand Rugby Leagues.
Today, rugby league in Britain is played in the universities and armed forces. There are amateur competitions in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as well as the Midlands and South of England.
About Author
