History of rugby league: Encyclopedia II - History of rugby league - Australasia

History of rugby league - Australasia

History of rugby league - New Zealand

In 1905, as New Zealand's rugby union team (the All Blacks), toured Britain, they witnessed first-hand the growing popularity of the Northern Union games. In 1906, All Black George William Smith, while on his way home, met an Australian entrepreneur, James J. Giltinan to discuss the potential of professional rugby in Australasia.

In the meantime, a less-well known New Zealand rugby union player, Albert Henry Baskerville (or Baskiville), was already about to recruit players for a group of players for a professional tour of Great Britain. It is believed that Baskerville first became aware of the profits to be made from such a venture while he was working at the Wellington Post Office in 1906: a colleague had a coughing fit and dropped a British newspaper. Baskerville picked it up and noticed a report about a Northern Union match that over 40,000 people had attended. Baskerville wrote to the NRFU asking if they would host a New Zealand touring party. George Smith learned of Baskerville's activities and they joined forces to recruit a team.

History of rugby league - Professional rugby begins in Australia

In Australia, especially in the rugby stronghold of Sydney, issues of class and professionalism were beginning to cause friction. Rumours and claims of "shamateurism" in rugby union were circulating. The growing tension was exacerbated by an incident in 1907, when a working class player, Alick Burdon, broke his arm while playing for the New South Wales team, and received no compensation for his time off work.

George Smith cabled a friend in Sydney to enquire whether there might be any support for a tour by his New Zealand professional team. Word reached Giltinan, who took great interest. Giltinan announced that he had invited Baskerville's team to play three matches in Sydney. The Australian press responded by dubbing the travelling New Zealand team "All Golds", a sardonic play on the nickname of the New Zealand rugby union team, and the supposedly "mercenary" nature of the new code. The games where a great success; leaving the rugby rebels of Australia with much needed funds which soon proved to be vital for rugby league in Australia.

A meeting was held at Bateman's Crystal Hotel in Sydney on August 8, 1907, to organise professional rugby in Australia. Giltinan, Burdon and the great test cricketer Victor Trumper were among those who attended. The meeting resolved that a "New South Wales Rugby League" (NSWRL) should be formed, to play the Northern Union rules. This was the first time that the name "rugby league" was used by an organising body. Players were soon recruited for the new game; despite the threat of immediate and lifetime expulsion from the rugby union. The NSWRL managed to recruit Herbert "Dally" Messenger, the most famous rugby player in Sydney at the time.

History of rugby league - The All Golds tour

When the All Golds stopped off in Australia, three games were played at the Sydney Showground, against a professional NSW rugby team. These games were played under rugby union laws, as no copies of the Northern Union laws were available. Baskerville was greatly impressed by Dally Messenger, and persuaded him to join the touring party. For this reason, the All Golds are sometimes known as Australasia, rather than New Zealand.

The All Golds arrived in Britain late in 1907 having never even seen a match played under the new Northern Union laws. They undertook a week's intensive coaching in Leeds to bring them up to speed, and after playing a number of touring matches the first true rugby league test was played, with the team went down 8-9 to Wales in Aberdare on 1st January 1908. The All Golds gained revenge however, defeating the full Great Britain side in two of the three test matches, which were played at Leeds, Chelsea and Cheltenham; a surprising choice of venues given rugby league's northern base. The tour was a great success, and gave a much needed boost to the game in Britain, which was struggling financially against the rise of association football.

History of rugby league - Queensland

The All Gold tour also served to kick start the game in the Australian state of Queensland, the great rival of NSW in rugby union. On May 16, 1908,the returning New Zealanders played a hastily assembled Queensland team in Brisbane. Observers of the new game were shocked when Albert Baskerville fell ill in Brisbane and died of pneumonia. (Test series between Great Britain and New Zealand are played for the Baskerville Shield, named in his memory.)

A "Queensland Rugby Football Association" was founded, and in early July, informal club games were played in Brisbane. Later that month there were three representative games against NSW, and these acted as selection trials for a national team. The first game was also notable for a Queensland tackle which rendered one NSW player, Ed "Son" Fry, completely naked from the waist down — an event which did not stop him from scoring a try.

A Brisbane club championship began in 1909. By the 1920s the Queensland Rugby League had established itself as a force to rival the NSWRL.

History of rugby league - Early setbacks for the game in New Zealand

Apart from the blow presented by the sudden and premature death of Baskerville, other difficulties would soon trouble the game in New Zealand. In some ways, the All Golds were too successful for the good of New Zealand rugby league, as many team members would soon accept lucrative contracts with British clubs. Baskerville's game would soon establish a strong following, especially in Auckland, but rugby union's strong grassroots organisation and finances in New Zealand — its "veiled professionalism" in the eyes of many observers at the time — meant that rugby league was unable to become quite as dominant there as in some regions of Australia and England.

History of rugby league - Rugby League's Ashes

Also in 1908, the Australian rugby union team returned from a tour of the British Isles, for which the team had received three shillings a day, for "out-of-pocket" expenses. Thirteen of the players immediately joined rugby league teams. By the northern winter of 1908-09, an Australian touring party was headed for Great Britain, and the test series was dubbed "The Ashes" by the press, in imitation of The Ashes cricket matches, contested by Australia and England.

Later in 1909, when New Zealand toured Australia, the home team's jersey featured a kangaroo for the first time, giving them the enduring nickname of "The Kangaroos".

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