Rugby League’s World Cup has a very intimate relationship
with the birth of Rugby League in France. Without France, we may have never had
a World Cup at all. And it is because of France that a World Cup may have
happened nearly two decades earlier than it did.
The late 1920’s and early 1930’s saw Rugby Union in
France riddled with sickening violence on field, which saw three players killed
in the 1929 and the death of teenage winger Michel Pradie the following year.
The violence coupled with secret payments to amateur
Union players led to the French Union being described as ‘shamateurism’. In
1931 the games governing body omitted France from the 5 Nations Championship
and all future international matches until they cleaned up their act. They were
readmitted in 1939, but due to the war, did not play an official international
fixture until 1947.
This decision meant France had no official countries to
play International fixtures against; games which were the biggest drawcards in
every country. The only country willing to play France was Germany, a very poor
quality side that was regularly beaten.
On New Year’s Eve, 1933 Australian Rugby League tour
manager Harry Sunderland, organised a game between his touring Kangaroo’s and
the English team to be played in Paris. The French public starved of real
international Rugby for a few years, flocked to the game in atrocious
conditions. Australia, led by the brilliant Dave Brown, ran out convincing
winners 63-13 in front of 10,000 cheering French in the snow. The very next
day, Frenchman Jean Galia resigned from the French Rugby Union and set about
starting the game of Rugby League in France. On April 6, 1934 they were
officially a Rugby League nation.
Just 9 months later, the Rugby League Council debated the
merits of a World Championship tournament proposed by the French officials,
which would include teams from England, Wales, France, Australia and New
Zealand. The council though rejected the concept citing “the impossibility of
fielding truly Australian and New Zealand teams.”
As World War II drew nearer, France’s national side
became stronger and more competitive. In 1938/39, they won the European
Championship for the first time, defeating England 12-9 and Wales 16-10.
The War though saw the game in France suffer horrendously
at the hands of the pro-Nazi, collaborative Vichy Government, who set out to
‘delete’ Rugby League, and for a brief period, succeeding.
Paul Barriere, a highly decorated French Resistance
fighter, was elected vice-president of the French Rugby League on September 16,
1944, working as the understudy to Marcel Laborde. On July 2, 1947, Laborde
handed the reigns over to the much younger and energetic Barriere, giving him
the onerous task of reviving the game in France.
Four months later, Barriere proposed to the Rugby League
Council his idea for a “World Championship of Rugby Leagues” to be played
between Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand. Barriere estimated that the
tournament would generate £24,000 which would be more than enough to cover
travel expenses for all teams to travel to France. The concept was supported by
the Council’s secretary Bill Fallowfield. The board members decided to discuss
the concept with their respective national boards before reconvening in the New
Year to discuss the matter further.
Barriere’s biggest hurdle in the early stages of his
talks regarding the World Cup was that he represented a nation who themselves
were not represented on the Rugby League Council. Thus, he put forward another
proposal, to form a new governing body for the game that would include a member
from all Test playing nations. The Council agreed and on January 25, 1948 in
Bordeaux, the International Board of Rugby League was formed. Barriere continued
to push for the World Championship but was constantly met with concerns about
costs and conflicts with international tours, while also trying to figure out
the logistics of such a competition that neither Rugby Union nor League had
ever staged before.
After years of providing solutions to problems and
designing a format for the competition, Barriere informed the games governing
body in early November of 1952, that the French Rugby League would provide
£25,000 towards expenses for the tournament. He proposed for the tournament to
last 15 days and to be held in France around April and May of 1954. The British
delegates immediately accepted the proposal, however the Australian and New
Zealand officials were apprehensive and agreed to defer their decisions until
after they’d spoken with their respective national bodies.
Ten weeks went by without any word on the progress of
talks between the Australian and New Zealand boards, so Barriere sweetened the
deal moreso by increasing France’s guarantee from £25,000 to £36,000 as well as
proposing to put all the New Zealand and Australian players on the one plane and
fly them to France, at the French League’s expense.
French Rugby League secretary Antoine Blan also proposed
that a team from the United States would be invited to field a team in the
inaugural World Cup, as a means of taking the game to new shores.
Two days later, Australian Rugby League secretary Harold
Matthews revealed “France’s idea was a very good one” but the major stalling
point was the proposed dates for the competition. Barriere had suggested May 16
to May 31, however the English team would be touring Australia and New Zealand
around that time and thus they requested that the tournament be held in October
1954 instead.
The following week, Barriere unveiled the mechanics of the
competition. Australia, England, New Zealand, France and United States would
all play each other once. The top two teams with the best records would play
off in a final to determine the World Champion.
Impatience and frustration reared its head on April 19,
1953, when the British Rugby League officials declared the Australian board as
inconsiderate for not immediately agreeing to the World Cup concept. They even
proposed moving the British tour to Australia and New Zealand to 1955.
Finally, on November 26, 1953, the Australian Rugby
League board approved of France’s World Cup concept, after French and British
officials agreed to move it to October and November of 1954. The Australians
agreed on the provisos that the French Rugby League:
*would pay for return air fares for all players
*would pay £2,000 to all competing teams to cover
accommodation and player allowances
*would retain 20% of all gate receipts to cover ground
hire and organisational expenses
*would receive the first £5,000 of the remaining profits,
while the remaining profits would be shared equally between the other competing
nations.
The Australian board believed that if these were agreed
to, that the New Zealand board would also accept the World Cup concept. Blan
and Barriere agreed to the provisions set down within a few days. Shortly
after, the New Zealand board approved of the World Cup concept.
On December 16, 1953, Barriere sent an invitation to the
United States, asking them to send a team to play against France to determine
if they would be competitive enough to take place in the World Cup. English
officials were not happy about having the United States involved in the World
Cup as they hadn’t played any international games and thus were not worthy.
Bill Fallowfield suggested that Barriere’s programme should not be adopted
until the Australian and New Zealand officials had discussed it.
Barriere quite happily suggested that if the United
States were not good enough, then he’d be more than happy to send Wales an
invitation. On January 9, 1954 France easily accounted for a United States team
31-0 and the decision was made to omit them from the World Cup. Wales however
was not approached to replace the United States.
The International Rugby League Board convened in Brisbane
on June 27, 1954, where Antoine Blan explained how the competition would be run
and that after the final was played, the World Champion team would play against
a combined side made up from players from the other competing nations. This
idea was met with little interest. Blan later revealed that the organisation of
the World Cup could likely cost the French £47,000, not including the World Cup
trophy, which was commissioned by Barriere at the cost of 8 million francs and
then donated to the International Rugby League Board.
Just a month before the tournament was due to begin, a
heavy blow befall England’s side, when a number of prospective representative players
refused to be considered for selection as they believed the wages they would
receive for competing was not enough. Other English players made themselves
unavailable due to domestic reasons, some of whom were to be undertaking naval
training.
After 20 years, a World War, a government that deleted
Rugby League in a country, high expense, deliberation and most of all, amazing
patience, vision and generosity by the French Rugby League, especially Paul
Barriere, the inaugural World Cup kicked off on October 30, which saw France
defeat New Zealand 22-13 at Paris in front of 13,240 spectators.
England eventually defeated hosts France in the final
16-12. Overall, a total of 138,329 people attended the 7 games, bringing in
around £45,000. France’s official outlay was £38,000. This left £7,000 as
profit. According to the arrangement made, France was to receive the first
£5,000 and the remaining monies would be split equally among the remaining
three countries. However the French tax department claimed all of the remaining
monies, leaving the other three countries without a bonus; however the French
officials did honour their agreement of paying for each team’s airfares and
expenses, leaving no country at a loss.
The inaugural World Cup was considered an overwhelming
success on and off the field. Australian team manager Jack McMahon rejoiced,
saying “It was a terrific gamble by the French, but it has been a great thing
for our code.”
And it continues to be.
1954 World Cup
Details
Oct 30 – France def Wales 22-13 – Crowd 13,240
Oct 31 – Great Britain def Australia 28-13 – Crowd 10,250
Nov 7 – Australia def New Zealand 34-15 – Crowd 20,000
Nov 7 – France drew with Great Britain 13 all – Crowd
37,471
Nov 11 – France def Australia 15-5 – Crowd 13,000
Nov 11 – Great Britain def New Zealand 26-6 – Crowd
14,000
Final
Nov 13 – Great Britain def France 16-12 – Crowd 30,368
************This article Appeared in Men Of League Magazine***************
