I first became passionately interested in international Rugby League when I watched the Centenary Rugby League World Cup 1995 which was hosted by England and Wales. It was my first real memory of watching international Rugby League on TV and I really enjoyed following England's route to the World Cup final at Wembley, where we sadly lost to Australia 16-8, having beaten the Aussies' in the opening group match 20-14 at Wembley.
My love for international Rugby League grew from there and I was really excited when it was announced the World Cup 2000 was to be held in Europe. I was so interested in the international game, that I began looking into the history of all aspects of the international arena and it turned into a huge passion of mine during my teenage years. I began making my own Rugby League records books, which I still have to this day, I wasn't just interested in the scores and the winners of the past international tournaments and test series, but I was also interested in record attendances and other details, it was such a passion that in 2001 I created my own website dedicated to international Rugby League.
Although, my passion for the international game, and Rugby League in general is not the same as it was 12 or 13 years ago, I still very much care about international Rugby League and here is my view on the state of international Rugby League and also, key factors about how the international game has changed in the so called 'modern era'.
I feel that the international scene is the strongest it has ever been in the history of the sport. Attendances are on the rise, the big three nations are fiercely competitive (despite the fact England or Great Britain still haven't beat Australia in a major final or test series since 1972), New Zealand have regularly beaten Australia in major finals over the past 10 years, England and Great Britain have reached finals in the last 10 years and are now getting closer to the quality of the Australasian nations, the introduction of the Four Nations tournament and the huge success of last year's World Cup - financially, commercially, television coverage and higher attendances all suggest to me that international Rugby League has never been in a better place, certainly in the modern era.
I don't want to go too much into things now, as I will make things clear as you read further into my blog, but the success of the World Cup 2013 in the UK and France has really caught the imagination of the international and casual Rugby League fans and the important people and most powerful governing bodies in charge of our sport (RLIF, RLEF, RFL, ARL, NRL, Super League Europe) need to keep this momentum going if we are to keep growing our great sport on the world stage.
I think the most important thing we have seen from the success of our recent international tournaments is the growth at grass-roots level in countries who barely played the sport 10 to 15 years ago. Countries such as Lebanon, Serbia, Moldova, Canada, USA, Ireland and Jamaica all have fully fledged domestic competitions and are now bringing through much of their own talent now instead of relying on English or Australian players with their countries ancestries playing for them.
Ireland is a fine example, in the mid 90s to early 00s, Ireland had a very good international team, but most of their players were English or Australians who could play for Ireland on the so called 'grandparent rule', many of these players were out of favour for their country of birth team so chose their 'second nation' if you like, which strengthened the Ireland team at the time, but Ireland didn't have a grass-roots level. Now, 15 years on, many of Ireland's players have 'Irish accents' and have come through their own system. Although they have a blend of players from their own domestic league and some professional players, it is now clear to see that grass-roots level in Rugby League is growing and the same is happening in many of countries too.
Television coverage of the international game has never been better. The World Cup 2013 was broadcast to a wider audience that ever before. The tournament was broadcast by BBC and Premier Sport in the UK and parts of Europe, Setanta Sport in Ireland, EMTV in Papua New Guinea, beIN Sport in France, Seven Network in Australia and parts of the Pacific Islands, Sky Sport in New Zealand, Fox Sports in America, and the tournament was broadcast in the Middle East and North Africa for the first time by OSN network, something I and many other Rugby League fans would never have imagined 10 years ago. I still feel the sport has a long way to go in getting the sport to a wider audience but we are definitely on the right track.
The previous 10 World Cups had being held as one group ranging from four teams to five teams, where the top two in the group would face each other in the final. There were four nations making their World Cup debuts and the new format saw one group of four teams and two groups of three teams. It was a huge step up for international Rugby League, which also saw Great Britain broken up into England and Wales, where as traditionally, Great Britain played in the World Cup rather than England and Wales, the two traditional strongholds of the Great Britain side.
Going into the tournament, Australia were massively weakened as many of their best players were banned to play for Australia's Kangaroos' by their governing body ARL. There was a power struggle in Australian Rugby League where a rebel competition was formed by News Corporation who created the Super League Australasia competition. All players who signed with the Super League were banned from playing for the Australia team for the World Cup.
The tournament itself was a huge success, such so that it almost became the sports downfall as over confidence crept into the organisation of the international scene.
The final was contested between hosts England and champions Australia. The Australians won 16-8 and 66,540 attended the final at old Wembley Stadium.
The success of the Pacific Islands nations such as Fiji and Western Samoa kicked off the game in their islands and strengthened the game further in Papua New Guinea, the only country in the world where Rugby League is officially recognised as the national sport.
Alongside the main event, was the inaugural Emerging Nations Tournament, which was a great success and was won by the Cook Islands who defeated Ireland 22-6 in the final. Cook Islands is also a nation where Rugby League has recently been officially recognised as their national sport. The Emerging Nations tournament gave the newer nations to the sport a taste of international Rugby League. The 1995 Centenary World Cup was the birth of the current 'tournament' style format of the World Cup and was the start of what was to come.
News Corporation wanted to created a new professional league for Australasia (Australia & New Zealand) called Super League Australasia to rival that of the current ARL Optus Premiership. What began was a a very public power struggle between the two corporations and it split the divides of the best players in Australia. Some signed up to play in the Super League who were offering multi-million dollar deals while some stayed loyal to the traditional ARL.
Due to the power struggle, many politics took place within the game, which saw all Super League contracted players banned from playing for Australia's Kangaroos'. The game in Australia was in tatters, the Super League began creating their own international teams which meant Australia had two recognised national teams. The original ARL Kangaroos' team, who played and won the 1995 World Cup in England and the Super League Australia team who competed in their own tournaments against other Super League contracted nations.
News Corporation were so financially powerful, they signed up almost the whole of the Southern Hemisphere and in 1996, Australia's ARL, were left with nowhere to go, the official international Kangaroos' team of Australia were struggling to find 'official' national teams to play.
News Corporation wanted a 'world Super League' scene and made their presence known in Europe too, establishing the Super League Europe. The British game was in such turmoil financially that most clubs agreed to joining the new proposed 'European Super League' which also included a new French team PSG. Some clubs in England had to merge and identities of some clubs were lost.
The Australian Super League War was causing waves all across the Rugby League world, players didn't know what was going on, clubs in England that missed out on the European Super League were going bust and fans were becoming frustrated.
In 1996, the British game moved from a winter season to summer, to run alongside the Australasian season and in 1997 the Super League World Championships were formed, where every club from both hemispheres faced each other home and away. The competition was a disaster both on and off the pitch. The European teams were on the wrong end of lopsided results and the final in Auckland, New Zealand was contested by two Australian sides (Brisbane Broncos 30-12 Hunter Mariners).
It had such an impact on British Rugby League and the international scene that there was no structure to the game and fans began losing interest, British Rugby League had become a laughing stock to most Australian fans and there was no interest in seeing British sides tour Australia.
The Super League War had a huge negative effect on the international game which saw the credibility of the international scene questioned, Australia were so dominant, it was almost becoming a farce. While the club game was becoming strong in the UK with the financial success of the Super League Europe, their international team seemed to be getting worse.
The dominance of Australia really shows when the only other previous World Cup winners are three time world champions Great Britain (now known as England) and New Zealand, who have won the World Cup, just the once.
In the 1950s, and 1960s, Great Britain were seen as the dominant side in international Rugby League, the Australians struggled against the Lions' in the Ashes Series and World Cups, even France were up there with Great Britain as one of the top nations while New Zealand traditionally lagged in fourth place in the pecking order.
The last time Great Britain won the World Cup was 1972, and since then, Australia have won every single major final or test series against Great Britain or England since that World Cup.
There has been some famous Australian Kangaroos' touring sides to hit the British shores and cause a storm, none more so than the great 1982 Invincibles' who went the whole tour unbeaten, and whitewashing Great Britain in the Ashes Series.
The last time Great Britain had a genuine great world class team who challenged the Australians, and ran them close in their own backyard was the Lions' team of the early 00s, a notable performance was a 33-10 victory over the Kangaroos' in Melbourne during the 1992 Ashes Series, which Australia won 2-1. The 1992 World Cup final at Wembley Stadium before a then international record 73,631 fans saw Australia pip Great Britain 10-6 after a last gasp try by Steve Renouf.
That 1992 World Cup final was to be the last time the Australians probably genuinely feared losing to Great Britain, another Ashes Series in 1994 and the World Cup final 1995 saw the British give Australia a good test but what was to come would shatter the international game.
With barely any meaningful international Rugby League played between Australia and Great Britain between 1995 and 200, the World Cup 2000 was a disastrous display by England in the opening group match where Australia brushed England aside 22-2 before a mere 33,000 fans at Rugby Union's home stadium of Twickenham. Australia dominated the World Cup and won the final against New Zealand comfortably 40-12. This was one of the greatest Australian teams of all time but due to how easy they won the World Cup, didn't get the credit they deserved.
The international game was dying, it was in turmoil. Australia's dominance was beginning to hurt the game on the world stage. Instead of celebrating a great sporting team, the sport were looking at ways of minimising Australia's chances by playing most test series and tournaments in the United Kingdom. When the Great Britain side did play a one off test against Australia in Sydney, they were embarrassed losing to a record defeat of 64-10. Something had to change on the international stage.
The Lincoln Financial Group World Cup 2000 held in the UK and France was the biggest tournament of its kind. A 16-team tournament, with four groups of four it was hoped the tournament would be a flying success. But the truth is, the tournament put the sport back years.
There were too many lopsided mismatch results, nobody were a match for Australia and England were shocking, losing to New Zealand 49-6 in the semi finals stage. The tournament was played in front of mainly half empty football size stadiums and the tournament attracted negative media attention about how the tournament was a failure. The tournament lost millions of pounds and the sport in the UK was now in huge debt.
Due to this disaster, there was no World Cup played for eight years, the RLIF had to regroup and workout a way to get the international scene back in some kind of routine and working order. The only plus that came from the World Cup was the successful qualifying tournaments which took place, and have done ever since. It was a live and learn moment for the sport of Rugby League in the United Kingdom.
After two or three season's of competitive Ashes Series between Great Britain and Australia in the UK after the disastrous World Cup 2000, the RLIF decided to bring back the Tri-Nations.
The tournament made a comeback in 2004, where Great Britain reached the final at Elland Road Stadium before a near capacity crowd in the hope this was the time Australia's dominance would be broken, however, the Kangaroos' put in one of the great performances to take a 44-4 victory after blowing the Lions' away 38-0 at half time.
Despite the blow out final scoreline, the tournament was deemed a success and was again contested in 2005 in the UK, where New Zealand shocked the world, ending Australia's long international dominance by defeating the Kangaroos' 24-0 in the final at Elland Road. Australia won back their trophy by defeating the Kiwis' in the 2006 final which was held 'down under' for the first time.
The first Four Nations was held in 2009 in Europe. The big three of England, Australia and New Zealand are always automatic qualifiers for the tournament and it was decided that when the tournament is held in Europe, the current European champions will make up the fourth team and when held in Australasia, the fourth team would qualify through winning the Pacific Cup.
The first qualifying nation for the European tournament was France after winning the European Cup and the first qualifier for the Australasian tournament was Papua New Guinea, along with France, was very fitting as one of the original and traditional Rugby League international nations.
In 2009, England reached the final on home soil against Australia, but came up short as the Kangaroos' blew the English away late on, in what was a very competitive game. 2010 saw the world champions (World Cup 2008) New Zealand stun the Australians in their own backyard in the final. The success of the Four Nations is proof that international Rugby League is on the right track, Wales and now Samoa are other nations to have qualified for the tournament at some stage and we hope to see other nations like Fiji, Scotland, Tonga or Ireland qualify for the event in the future.
Reverting back to a 10 team tournament, just as at World Cup '95 held in England and Wales, the Australia 2008 tournament hosted all games in the strongholds of the game, where the traditional heartland of Australian Rugby League was, just as the English did when hosting the '95 tournament. Just like the 1995 tournament, the 2008 event was celebrating a 'centenary' year, celebrating 100 years of Rugby League in Australia.
The tournament was a resounding success, it didn't completely set the world alight but it was a success and a big step in the right direction for future World Cups, it was decided the next World Cup would take place five years later in 2013, then every four years after that.
The 2008 tournament also Australia's World Cup dominance ended in dramatic fashion when New Zealand's Kiwis' defeated a stunned Kangaroos' outfit 34-20 in the final before a capacity crowd in Brisbane. It was New Zealand's second final appearance in a row and their first ever World Cup win against an Australian outfit some journalists were claiming could be the best Australian side ever.
It was a 12 team tournament where many other nations also faced each other in qualifying tournaments to qualify for the event. Thirteen years on from when the RFL (Rugby Football League) last hosted the World Cup, this time the organisation of the event was second to none.
The matches were played mainly within the heart land of the sport with the games carefully which were played outside of the Rugby League heartland carefully selected. Instead of selecting stadiums to host matches, each World Cup match had a 'bidding' process, which meant cities had to put together a proposal to host matches.
One of the successes of the tournament was the USA vs. Cook Islands game at the Memorial Stadium in Bristol, not known for its Rugby League, a mid-week crowd of 7,000 watched the USA defeat Cook Islands 32-20 in what was a thrilling match in front of a a pleasing and exited crowd, with much of the stadium watching Rugby League for the first time.
The tournament saw England push Australia all the way in their opening group match and the English were agonisingly knocked out by a last minute try by New Zealand in the semi final before 67,000 fans at the new Wembley Stadium. It was regarded as the match of the tournament by many.
From an English point of view, the British game has shown to be catching up with the Southern Hemisphere nations. England are consistently competing with New Zealand and Australia on a regular basis and it probably is only a matter of time before England win a major final.
The tournament was a great success on the field, teams such as Scotland, USA, Fiji and Samoa all showed promise for the future, although traditional Rugby League stronghold nations such as France, Wales and Papua New Guinea failed to impress.
The next tournament is to be held in Australia and New Zealand with the possibility of some games being played in Papua New Guinea.
Here are some ideas and thoughts for the future of our international game:
Bring back Great Britain Lions' tours of Australasia and the Ashes Series - I think tradition is always important, and although I understand the concept and idea of splitting up Great Britain to develop the sport in the other home nations, I feel we need to keep some tradition. Bring back Great Britain and the Ashes Series, bring back some meaning and pride in beating the Australians. Why not host this event every four years? One time the Kangaroos' tour Europe then the British tour Australasia. Make it old school, so we include New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in the tour?
Papua New Guinea Kumuls' - Rugby League is recognised as the national sport of Papua New Guinea. They are absolutely nuts for the sport on their island. Fans travel 50 to 60 miles walking just to make a game, and even then they aren't guaranteed to get into the stadium. They have real passion for the sport and I feel PNG is still untapped potential.
They have so much raw talent, I think they are a sleeping giant of international Rugby League. They have produced many players who have become stars in the English league and the NRL in Australia, I feel the RLIF need to help them with their domestic structure and stadium facilities etc, I am excited by the potential of PNG Rugby League but also frustrated at their lack of international progress too.
Richard Kennedy-Joyce
formerly Richard Joyce
Twitter: @rjrugbyleague @rjsports1 @joycinho
Instagram: @joycinho