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61. Rugby Wars in Two World Wars
This week we take a look at how the war between union and league played out in the UK during World Wars 1 and 2 - with union’s league ban lifted, league stars shone in union. But it still wasn't a level playing field, as the Welsh league player forced to play for the England rugby union side discovered. And when the world war was over, the rugby war resumed with a vengeance.
62. Race, racism and the origins of Aussie Rules with Roy Hay
This week's 'Rugby Reloaded plus' talks to Roy Hay about his new book Aboriginal People and Australian Football in the Nineteenth Century: They Did Not Come from Nowhere which looks at the contribution of Indigenous Australians to Aussie Rules football in the nineteenth century. It's a story of racism and resistance to racism as Aboriginal players fought their right to play football.
63. From the Football League to the Champions’ League: How Soccer’s league system began
Following Saturday's Champions League final, this week's 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the origins of the first league of football clubs, soccer's 1888 Football League. Is a European soccer super league inevtiable? And what does the history of the Football League have to teach the rugby codes? Take ten minutes to get the historical perspective on the debate on the shape of football leagues to come.
64. Football Firsts… The Last Thing Historians Need?
How important are 'firsts' in the history of the football codes? Does it matter if a club is the 'oldest'? Do they distract from the bigger issues in the history of how the different games emerged and evolved? For this week's ten-minute trip through the football code time tunnel I'm giving the talk I gave at last week's International Football History Conference - @footycon - on whether 'firsts' matter.
65. From Chooms to Poms: How Rugby League explains Anglo-Australian Relations
It's State of Origin Game 2 on Sunday, but 50 years ago the same intense focus would have been on a Great Britain v Australia Ashes series. This week's episode looks at why Origin overcame the Ashes and explores the history of Anglo-Australian rugby league. Discover how rugby league explains Australia's changing relationship with its former 'Mother Country'.
66. A Short History of Samoan Rugby
The Samoan rugby league team broke its drought at the weekend with victory over Papua New Guinea, while Samoan rugby union remains at its weakest point for decades. But how did it become a powerhouse of rugby? This week's Rugby Reloaded looks back at what makes Samoan history unique and how globailsation could be the saviour of both codes.
67. Rugby in Brazil: Past, Present and Future with Victor Ramalho
This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' plus edition talks to Victor Ramalho, historian of Brazilian rugby and ESPN Brazil rugby commentator. Victor talks about how rugby lost out to soccer, its slow growth in the 20th century, its new popularity, the women's game, and the emergence of rugby league.
68. Queenslander! with Joe Gorman
With the deciding State of Origin rugby league match just two days away, Rugby Reloaded plus chats with Joe Gorman about his outstanding book Heartland: How Rugby League Explains Queensland. We talk about why Origin is so important for Queenslanders, what it says about their identity, how racism has been undermined and why the future of the game could be female.
69. How Rugby Union became An Afrikaner Game
For over a century, rugby union has been a symbol of Afrikaner culture and white South Africa. But why did the Afrikaners play the game of their British war-time enemies and rivals? This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' takes ten minutes to look at the legacy of the Boer War and the 1906 Springbok tour, and discover what made rugby so appealing to Afrikaners.
70. Harold Wagstaff: A Northern Union Man
Harold Wagstaff died 80 years ago on 19 July 1939. This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' takes a ten-minute tour of his life and times to explore why he was he arguably rugby league's greatest-ever player, and also how he came to symbolise league culture in Britain and Australia. For more information about 'Ahr Waggy', go to www.HuddersfieldRLheritage.co.uk, where there are also details of the Wagstaff Heritage Trail organised by David Thorpe. There is also a new biography of Wagstaff out this week by Robert Gate and Graham Williams, called A Northern Union Man published by London League Publications.
71. Springboks versus All Blacks: Rivalry, Racism and Ranji Wilson
The titanic rivalry between the All Blacks and the Springboks has dominated international rugby union for one hundred years. But the origins of that rivalry were based on racism and racial exclusion. The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' goes back to 1919 to discover how the great All Black Ranji Wilson was excluded from the first tour to South Africa and how race defined the relationship between New Zealand and South Africa.
72. Why Isn’t Soccer Australia’s Premier Football Code? with Ian Syson
This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' plus talks to Ian Syson about his book The Game That Never Happened which looks at the origins and struggles of soccer in Australia's four-cornered football world. Ian discusses why soccer never became the premier football code down under and how it lost out to rugby league and Aussie Rules. It's a fascinating discussion which throws up lots of questions about why and how different types of football become dominant in different places.
73. The 1982 Invincibles: The Tour That Changed Rugby forever
In September 1982 the Australian rugby league Kangaroos landed in Britain. When they left at the end of November they were acclaimed as the Invincibles, the greatest rugby league touring team ever. Not since the 1905 All Black rugby union tourists had any visiting sports team had such an impact on Britain. This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Mark Flanagan about his new book The Invincibles: The Inside Story of the 1982 Kangaroos, the Team That Changed Rugby Forever about the tour, its consequences and what it tells us about rugby league.
74. The Triumph and Tragedy of Don Fox
It's the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final on Saturday, so the latest 'Rugby Reloaded' looks back at one of rugby league's most iconic moments: Don Fox's dramatic last-minute missed conversion in the 1968 Final. Why has this become a defining event in the history of the Wembley final and why does it continue to resonate with us today after more than fifty years?
75. Dicky Lockwood and Rugby’s Great Split
Ahead of Thursday's anniversary of the founding of the Northern Union in 1895, 'Rugby Reloaded' looks as the forgotten genius of English rugby, Dicky Lockwood. A manual labourer who captained the England rugby union team, Lockwood symbolised the rise of the northern working-class rugby player in the 19th century amd became the living embodiment of rugby's great split, yet his story was ignored and his legacy disappeared. Find out why in this week's ten-minute time tunnel.
76. Fabulous Fiji: Its Rise, Fall and…?
Fiji has been a hotbed of rugby for over a century. It provides stars to the NRL and to rugby union around the world. In the 1950s northern England was lit up by the talent of its players. And it continues to dominate the world of rugby union sevens. Yet it has always been treated as a second-class citizen by world rugby union, and in today's globalised world, it looks like the future pf Fijian rugby could be league.
77. Rugby's First World Cup: the 1954 Rugby League World Cup
As the kick-off for rugby union's world cup in Japan approaches, this week's 'Rugby Reloaded' steps back sixty-five years to explore the origins and tangled history of rugby's first world cup - the 1954 Rugby League World Cup. Initiated by a leader of the French Resistance, the RLWC has a tangled history whose promise has yet to be fulfilled. Could the 2021 RLWC be the turning point?
78. The Origins of Rugby Union's World Cup, with Huw Richards
Rugby Union's World Cup kicks off on Friday - but why did it take the game until 1987 to stage a world cup? 'Rugby Reloaded' plus talks to journalist and historian Huw Richards about the tangled pre-history of the world cup and how it eventually kicked off Down Under.
79. Don't Scrum With A Racist Bum!' The 1969 Springboks' Tour of Britain & Ireland
This autumn is the 50th anniversary of the now infamous 1969 South African rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland. On Wednesday, BBC Wales will screen Gareth Edwards' 'Rugby, Apartheid and Me' in which he re-examines his decision not boycott South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. So this week's 'Rugby Reloaded' looks back at 1969, and the tour that was historic for all the wrong reasons.
80. Unholy Union with Michael Aylwin
This week we talk to Michael Aylwin, rugby union correspondent of the Guardian and the author of a new book, Unholy Union: When Rugby Collided With The Modern World. It’s a ‘state of the nation’ review of the problems and challenges facing rugby union today, almost 25 years since the sport took the momentous decision to go professional. Is its future conditioned by its amateur past, or can it become a purely commercial entertainment?