| International Rugby League - reflecting the birth of the sport itself - could
be said to have its roots in the need for players to be adequately paid for
their labours. The 1907 All Blacks Rugby Union tourists were paid 3 shillings a
day expenses and played in front of many bumper crowds. An enterprising
Albert Baskiville recruited 28 of the best
New Zealand Rugby Union players, picked up Australia's
finest Dally Messenger on the way, and toured the Northern Union clubs - learning
the rules of the new game on the way. In the process they won the first ever
Rugby League Test series by 2-1, and distributed the clear £ 9,493 profit
between them. The squad were quickly dubbed the "All Golds" by the pro-Union
press for being mercenaries.
To celebrate these pioneers, a Centenary
International was played in October 2007, with team representing the
Northern Union and the All Golds. New Zealand Warriors' Australian
captain Steven Price played the Dally Messenger role, and the All Golds
were coached by Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australia coaching
legend Wayne Bennett.
Messenger returned to Australia and was instrumental in establishing the game
there, and the first Australian "Kangaroo" tourists
arrived in Great Britain in 1908.
Test football established itself quickly and has produced probably the two
finest matches in British sporting history - the "Rorke's
Drift Test" of 1914 and the "Battle of Brisbane"
on 1958.
The addition of France in the 1930s brought
another dimension to international football, extending the European
international game as well as adding a formidable Test playing nation to the
game. The recruitment of France also gave the impetus for the creation of the
Rugby League World Cup in 1954.
In the 1980s Papua New Guinea - the only country
where Rugby League is the national sport - was added to the Test and World Cup
roster.
The success of the 1995 Centenary World Cup
competition gave something of a false dawn for the extension of international
football, especially in Wales and
South Africa. Hopefully the refocusing of the game on
the importance of international competition after the fallout of the Super
League War has settled should see steady progress built on excellent grassroots
efforts in the South Sea Islands, Russia and the
former Soviet States, the USA, Lebanon, Serbia and Italy amongst many.In the
meantime the profile of Test football is being raised by the resurrection of the
Tri-Nations tournament contested by Australia, New
Zealand and Great Britain.
From 2008, Great Britain will exist only for tours to Australia and New
Zealand - the main Test playing nation changing to
England. Ireland,
Scotland and Wales will play Test football in their own right. |
