This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' takes a look at the history of Jewish involvement in rugby league. The birth of the sport coincided with a wave of Jewish immigration to Britain in the 1890s, and Jews in the big cities of northern England quickly took the game to their hearts. The same was true in Sydney, where a Jewish rugby league competition was played in the 1920s. From pioneers like Eli Jacobson to superstars like Albert Rosenfeld, and modern-day administrators like Todd Greenberg and Simon Johnson, Jews have played a major role in the history of the game.

There aren’t, as yet, any books on the Jewish history of rugby league, but it’s worth checking out Anthony Clavane’s story of Jews in soccer, Does Your Rabbi Know You're Here?: The Story of English Football's Forgotten Tribe, Dave Dee’s Sport and British Jewry, and Phil Goldstone chapter on sport in Leeds and its Jewish Communities.

Albert Goldthorpe, Eli Jacobson and Hunslet official Joe Lewthwaite in 1929.