Hoping for a European revival

Sunday 18th October 2009

The Gillette Four Nations tournament presents Rugby League with one of its all too rare opportunities  to put itself onto the big stage, because there's no doubt that the best way for any sport to gain national media coverage  is by staging high-level international competition.

Rugby League has a marvellous international history, full of drama, charismatic figures and great rivalries -but, alas, it is a history that has rarely been recognised beyond the traditional confines of the game. It is very ironic that - whilst certain other sports have needed to have their public relations gurus work so hard to create the "legends" and "characters" that the media now romanticise so much - international Rugby League has always had a very real history full of great British success stories and genuine sporting heroes. We didn't have to make it up. 

In Rugby Union, the aura now created around the British Lions has become a feeding frenzy for the media - it's an absolutely huge commercial cash-cow, especially for those tour operators who take thousands of supporters overseas to follow the Lions. Yet the impression given to the public is that Lions tour history in Rugby Union only begins in 1971, because that was the first time their Lions actually won a Test series. I'd challenge any Rugby Union follower to be able to name any Lions legends, star players or famous events in the years before then.

Meanwhile in Rugby League, our Lions had been winning Test series overseas since 1910, and what could be a greater sporting legend of British success than the epic story of the "Rorke's Drift" Test in 1914, or Alan Prescott and his heroes of Brisbane in 1958?  What more romantic adventure could there be in the story of British sport than the journey of the so-called "Indomitables" who travelled to Australia in 1946 on an aircraft carrier?

Talking of romantic adventures in international Rugby League, none come better than the tale of the game's very first World Cup in 1954- and that's another competition where our colleagues in Rugby Union have now stolen all the thunder despite the fact their inaugral World Cup didn't happen until 33 years after we did it first.

The Four Nations tournament we are going to enjoy over the coming weeks comes as a very poignant reminder of our first World Cup tournament in 1954 because, in that autumn all of 55 years ago, the same four nations gathered: England, France, Australia and New Zealand.

Although in some circles our team back then was described as England, it was - of course - a Great Britain team, captained by a Scotsman Dave Valentine, who lifted the trophy.  In the victorious team which won the first World Cup Final, there were actually two Scots (Valentine and winger David Rose) and a Welshman (prop-forward John Thorley).

That's one significant contrast to what we will see in the 2009 Four Nations since the  decision was taken to play as England rather than Great Britain. The other big contrast is that, back in 1954, Europe emerged as very much the power-house of the game, with Great Britain and France leaving the Australians and New Zealanders trailing in their wake.  

Wouldn't it be great if we could say the same this year? In the 1954 World Cup, the Final between Dave Valentine's Great Britain and Puig-Aubert's France was staged before a capacity crowd of over 33,000 on that autumn afternoon at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Happily, the 2009 Four Nations tournament will have some presence in the French capital as France will play Australia at the Charlety Stadium in Paris. But, sadly, we won't see 33,000 people turning out to watch this time around.

Good performances from both the European teams are essential if the 2009 Four Nations tournament is going to help boost Rugby League's stock in the northern hemisphere. For those two European teams, England and France, the targets - and what would constitute a success - are very different. Both need to win back some self respect after their disappointments at last year's World Cup, but for England nothing less than a place in the Final can be regarded as progress. For France, any kind of win would be a marvellous achievement bearing in mind what they are up against.

Those people who were around in 1954 would find it very hard to believe, if they could have seen into the future, that Rugby League would be here in 2009 with the England team being coached by an Australian and the French team by a bloke from Widnes. To me, that is hardly a recipe for European Rugby League to rediscover its own self confidence and true identity, like in the days when each of the game's four competing nations brought their own unique and very distinctive styles and qualities to the party. That was a huge part of the mystique and excitement of international Rugby League, as it was in all sports.

Let's hope this year's Four Nations tournament can help boost the standing of the game in Europe. It would be nice to think that some success this year can pave the way for international Rugby League to return to those halcyon days of the early 1990s, when record crowds in excess of 50,000 and up to 73,000 were posted for Test and World Cup matches staged at Wembley Stadium.

Read more on international Rugby League and its history in "Rugby League Journal."

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