FLASHBACK: The 2000 Rugby League World Cup

Lote Tuqiri had a decorated career in both rugby codes, playing in front of packed houses from Auckland to Cardiff, and from Sydney to London. But a campaign in which he played at relatively obscure grounds, in front of sometimes tiny crowds, remains one of his fondest memories.

It was the 2000 Rugby League World Cup in Britain and France, with Tuqiri, then only 21, given the honour of captaining the country of his birth, Fiji.

He was one of a hundred or more Australian based players recruited by 14 of the 16 teams, to bolster their ranks. Another dozen or so Aussies contracted to English clubs, were also snapped up. Only England and France relied entirely on home talent, with New Zealand controversially recruiting Queensland State of Origin star, Tonie Carroll from the Broncos.

The World Cup came just four weeks after the Olympic Games in Sydney, and was a brave attempt to spread the game’s wings, with matches played in many venues outside league’s traditional bases, with cities such as Belfast, Watford, Gloucester, Wrexham, Glasgow, Dublin, Edinburgh and Paris awarded the rights.

For Tuqiri’s Brisbane Broncos’ teammate, Kevin Campion, whose grandfather was Irish, it was an unexpected chance to play in the Emerald Isle, in a team coached by a Kelly (of course) – Andy Kelly from Wakefield in England. The Irish even made the quarter finals, where they put up a brave showing, before succumbing 26-16 to the might of England, at Headingley, Leeds.

Winger, Brian Carney, a former Gaelic footballer from County Wicklow, was the only born and bred Irishman in the team.

“But most of the support staff were Irish, and they instilled in us a hatred of the English,” Campion said. “Brian is a character, and proved a wonderful tour guide, especially when we played in Dublin. “But all the boys were great story tellers, and it was a fantastic experience. A lot of the players came from the North of England, but they had strong Irish backgrounds. Terry O’Connor was the captain, and he was as tough as teak. My roomie was Chris Joynt from St Helens, and he was so proud to represent Ireland.

“For me, it was a joy to be able to play alongside my former St George teammate, David Barnhill again, and to also take the field with the likes of Luke Ricketson from the Roosters, and a young bloke from Norths in Brisbane, Liam Tallon. I also have French ancestry and I was sounded out by France before the tournament. I was chosen for Ireland from the Broncos, and I’m actually a bit dirty I am not on the club’s roll of honour, as one of their internationals. People might laugh, but we (Ireland) were actually a good side.”

Queensland Rugby League Statewide Competitions Manager, Dave Maiden had two English grandparents; one Welsh and one Scottish, and his mother was born in England. He opted for Scotland.

“It was a phenomenal experience,” he said. “The only bloke with a Scots accent was our manager. They had to select the team from Australia and England, because the only league in Scotland was at university or amateur level. It was great to be able to explore your ancestry, and we were passionate about doing Scotland proud. We could belt out ‘Flower of Scotland’ with the best of them, and sang it with pride before every match. We were a bunch of misfits, but showed plenty of ticker.”

While Ireland won all three of their pool matches, the Scots failed to record a victory, although they came close against Aotearoa Maori, going down 17-16 in Glasgow, with Maiden, a centre, scoring a try. The next match was against Ireland in Dublin, with the home team, winning 18-6 after the score was only 10-6 at halftime. Samoa won the third match 20-12 in Edinburgh, with former Queensland Origin player, Adrian Vowles one of Scotland’s try scorers. Maiden and Vowles played with North Queensland Cowboys in their inaugural season in 1995, and were playing in England in 2000, for Hull and Castleford respectively. Maiden presented Scots’ players with their jerseys ahead of the World Cup in Australia in 2017.

Another former Cowboy, Kris Tassell played centre for Wales, and scored a try in the Welsh team’s brave 46-22 loss to Australia in a semi-final at Huddersfield, with the Welsh having led 20-14 at halftime. (I covered the tournament for News Ltd. and I this match was the most exciting).

“My grandfather was coal miner in Wales, and it was wonderful to represent him and his family in the tournament,” said Tassell, who was contracted to Salford in England in 2000.

Cairns Brothers’ product, Craig Cygler played for Russia under the grandparent rule, and has since visited Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) where his father’s family came from.

Current Leeds’ coach, Brad Arthur was in charge of Cairns Brothers in 2000, and knew of Cygler’s Russian heritage, so, through International Federation official, Tas Baiteri, Arthur was able to arrange for Cygler to meet with Russian officials, who were on a scouting trip in Wollongong.

“They put me through strength and skills tests, and wanted to know what it meant for me to play for my country of heritage,” Cygler said. “The biggest issue I found, when I went into camp with the team, was the language barrier. The coach (Eugene Klebanov) didn’t speak English, but we had a manager, who had lived in the US, and he would translate. The Russian boys were gym fit, but obviously were raw, when it came to league skills.”

Cygler played against Fiji at Barrow and England at St Helens, but a shoulder injury ruled him out of the match against Australia in Hull, which Australia won 110-4. Russia’s try was scored by Matthew Donovan from Wests in Sydney, who ran onto a grubber kick from Redcliffe forward, Robert ‘Berty’ Campbell. Roosters’ forward, Ian Rubin was captain of a squad which included 17 born and bred Russian players, 16 of them playing in domestic football in Russia, with one (five eighth, Andrei Olar) playing for Toulouse in France.

“We were paid by the manager in American dollars,” Cygler said. “He had this wad of cash and he would dish out $100 bills like he was playing cards.”

Cygler retired after the World Cup, but mid-way through 2001, Brad Arthur convinced him to lace on the boots again. As managing director of Cairns based national company, NQPetro (petrol products), Cygler has sponsored Brothers, and also Queensland Cup club, Northern Pride.

For Lote Tuqiri, the 2000 World Cup was the launching pad to his representative career. Under the coaching of former Australian coach, Don Furner, Tuqiri, playing at fullback, proved the star of the Fijian side, the highlight a magnificent try against Australia at Gateshead, when he went head-to-head with Broncos’ teammate, Darren Lockyer.

“There’s no other player in Australia, who can do what this fellow can do,” said Furner. “I’d like to have his future”.

In 2001, Tuqiri made his Queensland Origin debut, with Kevin Campion and a host of other newcomers chosen by Wayne Bennett, who had been returned as Queensland coach, following New South Wales’ convincing series win in 2000. Tuqiri also made his Test debut for Australia in 2001.

Tuqiri, whose family had moved to Australia from Fiji when he was only three, was recruited by the Broncos after he played under-16s for Brothers St Paul’s, now Logan Brothers. He was named Broncos’ Rookie of the Year in 1999, and then in 2000 played 26 games, scoring 18 tries, including the first in the 18-6 grand final win over the Roosters.

He rates 2001 his best year at the Broncos, on the back of that premiership, and the World Cup.

“I remember not being too fazed about the opposition player I was up against, because I just had supreme confidence in myself, and the boys around me, doing their job,” he said. “I was proud to represent Fiji, but I always wanted to play Origin and represent Australia”.

Tuqiri’s Broncos’ teammate, Tonie Carroll was born in Christchurch and put his hand up for the Kiwis. He scored a try in New Zealand’s 40-12 loss to Australia in the World Cup final at Old Trafford, Manchester. Four years later he was playing for Australia against the Kiwis in Auckland, with local fans dubbing him a traitor. He was the first man since Bill Kelly, in 1914, to represent Australia and New Zealand in league.

“Growing up in Australia, I wanted to play Origin for Queensland, and that meant being available for Australia,” he said. “I was only given dispensation for the 2000 World Cup after I didn’t make the Australian side. And I still had a New Zealand passport. I loved seeing both sides. The New Zealand aspect was so family oriented, and that’s the Kiwi way. If you did anything, the families were involved.

“When I played for Australia – maybe because a few of the guys didn’t think I deserved to be there – it was hard to break into the group. There were a lot of egos, but we broke that down and moved on.”

Ironically the World Cup probably hastened the defection of several Australian stars to rugby union, most notably Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers in 2002, followed by Tuqiri in 2003. With such easy victories in the World Cup, and with crowds often struggling to reach the five-figure mark, Sailor and Rogers were looking for fresh challenges at international level, and the Wallabies always played in front of packed houses in the UK, Ireland and France.

Being Fijian, union was in Tuqiri’s blood, and he played 67 Tests for the Wallabies, before returning to league in 2010, when he again broke into the Australian team, and also won a premiership with South Sydney, to add to his 2000 triumph with the Broncos.

TEAMS AT THE 2000 WORLD CUP

Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Lebanon, Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Russia, South Africa, Aotearoa Maori. The Lebanese team, coached by John Elias, was made up entirely of Australian based players, with ‘Immortal’, Arthur Beetson as an assistant coach. Other Australians to coach in the tournament were Bob Bennett (Papua New Guinea); Murray Hurst (Tonga); Shaun McRae (Scotland) and Don Furner (Fiji).

The tournament’s Operations Director was Jason Harborow and the Media and Marketing Director, Neal Coupland. Harborow still has an involvement with the code – at Swinton in Greater Manchester.

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