History of rugby league: Encyclopedia II - History of rugby league - After 1995

History of rugby league - After 1995

While the Super League war was being fought in Australia, Rupert Murdoch approached the British clubs with a view to forming Super League (Europe) (SLE), primarily as a way to gain the upper hand during his battle with Kerry Packer for control of the sport in Australia. A large sum of money from News Corporation's UK subsidiary, BSkyB, helped fund the proposal. The new competition got under way in 1996. As part of the deal, rugby league switched from a winter to a summer season. The British, Australian and New Zealand seasons are now played concurrently from March to October, and major international tournaments are now largely played in November. The French, however, have continued to play a winter season.

In 1995 rugby union went professional, and those who had long derided rugby league as merely a professional version of that game were soon predicting the demise of the sport. The Super League war, the financial problems of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup and the signing of several high-profile rugby league stars by the union game gave ammunition to this claim. In reality the game proved far more resilient.

Some players such as Allan Bateman, Scott Gibbs and Scott Quinnell, who were originally union players, moved back to the union game. In some case, players who had never previously played union also moved across, one of the most successful being English wing-cum-full back Jason Robinson. It is generally considered that transition is easier for "backs", because of the technical skills required in forward play in union. One rare example of a forward switching codes was Brad Thorn, a New Zealander. However, he returned to play rugby league in 2005. Welshman Iestyn Harris, hailed as the saviour of Welsh rugby union, was a generally regarded as a failure in that sport, and also returned to rugby league. Henry Paul has failed to consistently make the England rugby union team, whereas Wendell Sailor played for the Wallabies. It is rare however for professional players to switch codes, and of more concern to the rugby league authorities is the 'poaching' of youth players by rugby union clubs.

Meanwhile, in Australia the Super League war came to an end, with News International and the Australian Rugby League agreeing to merge their competition to create the National Rugby League, which commenced in 1998. Several clubs were either forced to merge (e.g. St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers became St. George-Illawarra Dragons), or were left out altogether. The omission of South Sydney Rabbitohs, one of the founding members of the original NSWRL, led to mass protests. Although Souths did not participate in the NRL during 2000 and 2001, a Federal Court decision in July 2001 paved the way for them to return to the league in 2002.

In Britain, the ending of discrimination against rugby league resulting from professionalism in rugby union led to an increase in numbers in the amateur game, with many rugby union amateurs keen to try out the other code. In 2004 the Rugby Football League was able to report a return to profitability, a re-unified structure and a 94 per cent increase in registered players in just two years [1].

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "After 1995", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki