Rugby Reloaded #140 - State of the Rugby Codes in 2020 with Mark Evans (part two) →

In the second part of our wide-ranging interview with Mark Evans, the former Harlequins and Melbourne Storm CEO who is now head of Global Rapid Rugby, we talk about at the state of the two codes in the northern hemisphere and look at the prospects of South Africa joining the Six Nations, the difficulties of private ownership in rugby clubs, and the way forward for rugby league in Britain.

Mark and Michael Aylwin’s excellent look at the state of rugby union Unholy Union: When Rugby Collided with the Modern World is now out in paperback and is high recommended.

Rugby Reloaded #139 - State of the rugby codes in 2020, with Mark Evans (part one) →

This week's episode is the first of a wide-ranging two-part interview with Mark Evans, the former Harlequins and Melbourne Storm CEO who is now head of Global Rapid Rugby, the Asia-Pacific rugby union competition. This week we look at the state of the rugby codes in the southern hemisphere, starting with the emergence of rapid rugby, then examining the consequences of the end of Super Rugby, before looking at how the NRL has come out of the pandemic better than its rivals. Along the way, we look at how the historical cultures of the different codes have shaped their decision-making today - and why we can't unwind 1895.

You can find out more about Global Rapid Rugby here and the details of Mark and Michael Aylwin’s Unholy Union: When Rugby Collided with the Modern World are here.

Rugby Reloaded #138 - Gus Risman: Rugby Renegade?

Gus Risman was one of the greatest of Cardiff’s rugby codebreakers. The son of immigrants who grew up in Tiger Bay, he played top-class rugby league for more than a quarter of a century, was a Championship and Challenge Cup winner with two clubs, and captained the 1946 Lions. Not only that, but he also captained the Wales in war-time rugby union internationals while a rugby league player.

This week’s ‘Rugby Reloaded’ looks at his career and argues that he was not just one of the greatest rugby players of all time, but one of the greatest footballers in any code.

You can buy a copy of Gus Risman’s autobiography ‘Rugby Renegade’ (with an extended introduction that looks at the topics in this episode in more depth) from Scratching Shed Publishing here.

Rugby Reloaded #137 - The 'Corinthian Spirit', soccer and amateurism with Prof Dil Porter →

You often hear talk about the 'Corinthian Spirit' in sport. But who were the Corinthians? And why has the club's name passed into the folklore of almost all the football codes?

This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Professor Dil Porter about his book 'English Gentlemen and World Soccer: Corinthians, Amateurism and the Global Game' (co-written with Dr Chris Bolsmann) which looks at the history of Corinthian FC and examines the myths which surround the club.

Could they really defeat professional soccer clubs very easily? Did they always refuse to take penalty kicks because they considered it 'ungentlemanly'? Dil digs deep into Corinthian history to separate fact from fiction.

The book, English Gentlemen and World Soccer: Corinthians, Amateurism and the Global Game by Dilwyn Porter and Chris Bolsmann is available from Routledge here.

Rugby Reloaded #136 - 'The Rugby Codebreakers' redux with Carolyn Hitt →

This week's episode talks to award-winning journalist Carolyn Hitt about the BBC's 'Rugby Codebreakers' documentary on the Welsh rugby players, many of whom were black, who left Wales to play rugby league. We talk about the personal journey she went on as the presenter of the programme, the history of Welsh players 'going North', the differing responses of league and union fans, racism in rugby, and how things have changed over the past thirty years.

The Rugby Codebreakers is available to watch on BBCiPlayer until 2 November 2020. You can read Carolyn’s regular columns for the Western Mail here.

To find out more about the campaign to build a statue to the rugby league heroes of Cardiff Bay, go to www.rugbycodebreakers.co.uk.

Rugby Reloaded #135 - Sky Sports' Brian Carney on Gaelic football and Rugby league →

This week we talk to Sky Sports' rugby league and GAA presenter Brian Carney about Gaelic football and rugby league. We compare and contrast the cultures of the two sports, ask what they can learn from each other, explore the importance of history and heritage to sport, and, because he's a dual rugby international, we discuss relations between the codes. And, of course, we chew the fat about future directions for rugby league.

You can find Brian’s GAA club, Valleymount, here and there are photographs of the club’s stunning location here. The episode of Rugby Reloaded on the origins of Gaelic football that Brian mentions is episode 30, How Football Began: The Birth of Gaelic Football.

Rugby Reloaded #134 - Sports’ archives and mapping Irish women’s football with Helena Byrne

This week’s ‘Rugby Reloaded’ talks to Helena Byrne (@hbee2015), web archive curator at the British Library’s Web Archive Unit, about sports history web archiving and her work with the Mapping Irish Women’s Football Project, charts the history of women’s involvement in all football codes in Ireland. Helena also talks about her fascinating research into the unique story of women’s indoor football in Ireland in the 1960s. 

For more information on the topics Helena discusses in this episode, follow these links:

Mapping Irish Women’s Football Project: https://blogs.bl.uk/thenewsroom/2020/06/mapping-irish-womens-football.html 

British Library UK Web Archive: https://blogs.bl.uk/webarchive/2018/09/sports-collections-in-the-uk-web-archive.html  

Helena’s article on the history of Irish women’s football: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17460263.2019.1604422 

British Library blog on its work on sports history: https://blogs.bl.uk/webarchive/2020/09/national-sporting-heritage-day-2020.html

Rugby Reloaded #133 - O Canada: Lessons of British Rugby League Expansion →

On Friday the Super League clubs deferred a decision whether Toronto Wolfpack could take part in the 2021 competition.

But what can be learnt from British rugby league's attempts to expand beyond northern England since the 1900s? The latest ‘Rugby Reloaded’ asks if it is doomed to failure or are the lessons going unheeded... and why might Canada offer an answer?

For more on the early history of rugby league in Canada, listen to Rugby Reloaded episode 57: Before the Wolfpack.

The first RL exhibition match in Canada… in 1928

Rugby Reloaded #132 - TV, the BBC & British rugby league →

Rugby's relationship with television is starting change. As the Rugby Football League annouces that it is putting its TV rights out to tender, this week's 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the game's historic relationship with the BBC. Over-dependency on TV money, concerns about the style of presentation and a constant comparison with other codes - just as in 2020, these were the same problems that faced the sport in 1970…

For more about rugby league and the BBC, look no further than Tony Hannan’s outstanding biography of Eddie Waring: Being Eddie Waring: The Life & Times of Sporting Icon.

Rugby Reloaded #131 - 40 Years of Fulham and London rugby league expansion →

On 14 September 1980 Fulham rugby league club ran out for its first match at Craven Cottage - and professional rugby league returned to London. But the history of London rugby league stretches back to 1908 and Fulham were the latest attempt to establish a pro club in the capital. What does the past forty years tell us about rugby league expansion in London? This episode explores the struggle to keep the league flame burning in London and the lessons it has for future expansion.

The Fulham team from the first match on 14 September 1980: Back row: Harry Beverley, Tony Gourley, Roy Lester, Ian Van Bellen, John Wood, Dave Allen, John RIsman, David Hall, Tony Kinsey. Front row: Adrian Cambriani, Derek Noonan, Mal Aspey, Tony Karalius, Neil Tuffs, Reg Bowden, David Eckersley, Iain MacCorquodale.

Rugby Reloaded #130 - The Secret History of Leeds Utd →

The new Premier League season starts this week so, as Leeds Utd once again take their place in the top flight, the new 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the secret history of the origins of professional soccer in Leeds in 1904. It's a tale of intrigue, double-dealing and concealed conflicts of interest of businessmen and journalists that led to the death of a rugby league club and the birth of commercial soccer.

For more on the background to the clash between rugby league and soccer in the early 1900s, take a listen to Rugby Reloaded episode 99, Bradford’s Great Split: Soccer versus Rugby in the Woolopolis.

Holbeck FC (c. 1895): the rugby club that built Elland Road.

Rugby Reloaded #129 - 25 Years of Professional Rugby Union with Ben Darwin →

Last week marked the 25th anniversary of rugby union abandoning amateurism and legalising professionalism on 26 August 1995. To mark the occasion, we chat with 28-cap Wallaby prop and CEO of Gainline Analytics Ben Darwin.

Ben played before and after 1995 and experienced rugby as an amateur and a professional, so he brings his personal insights as well as a deep knowledge of both rugby codes to our discussion about the reality of amateurism, the problems of professionalism, and the real differences between union and league.

You can follow Ben on Twitter at @BenDarwin and discover more about his work with Gainline Analytics here.

Rugby Reloaded #128 - 'Rugby League: A People's History' book launch →

This week's special edition marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of rugby league, with guest presenter Dr Kevin Moore interviewing me about my new book 'Rugby League: A People's History' which is published this week by Scratching Shed Publishing. 

We talk about the origins of the sport, the strengths and weaknesses of its culture, and its prospects in the 21st Century. In 13 questions, we dissect rugby league's past, present and future. 

You can buy the book now direct from Scratching Shed at just £14.99 by clicking this link.

Rugby Reloaded #127 - The 1946 Indomitables' tour of Australia and New Zealand →

Less than a year after the end of World War 2 rugby league’s Lions toured Australia and New Zealand - a tour that was made possible thanks to an aircraft carrier, a military train & the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

This week's ‘Rugby Reloaded’ tells the story of the incredible 1946 ‘Indomitables’, the tour that relaunched international rugby league and, in hindsight, was the last summer of unrivalled British dominance of the game.

The 1946 tourists take a break on their marathon train journey across the Nullaboor - the Bradford great Ernest Ward is centre looking at the photographer, Welsh scrum-half Dai Jenkins.

Rugby Reloaded #126 - Rugby Union and the Olympic Games →

9 August would have been the closing ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but...

The new 'Rugby Reloaded' takes a look at rugby union's early Olympic history, starting with the 1900 tournament where the British team did not bother to turn up for a match and ending with the 1924 final that ended in violence. In between, club teams took part, Cornwall contested a final, and the USA won two gold medals.

This was a very different Olympic tradition to the commercial juggernaut of today's Games.

The 1908 Wallaby team that defeated Cornwall for the 1908 gold medal. Seven would soon switch to league.

Rugby Reloaded #125 - World War One and Australian rugby's great myth →

Whenever there's a debate between Australian union and league fans, someone will very quickly raise the question of World War One.

League, so the argument goes, only became the dominant rugby code in Australia because union stopped playing during the war. The implication is that rugby league took advantage of the war to get the upper-hand over union.

But nothing in this debate is quite as it seems, so this week's episode looks at how the war-time league/union divide reflected much deeper divisions in Australian society.

You can find more information on the rugby codes in World War in Rodney Noonan’s paper of rugby league in the great here; in Tom Hickie’s books A Sense of Union: A History of Sydney University FC (1998) and The Game for the Game Itself : The Development of Sub-District Rugby in Sydney (1983).

The Glebe-Balmain rugby union team in Sydney, which went through the 1917 season with just two losses.

Rugby Reloaded #124 - Roy Francis & the Harry Sunderland Trophy →

Roy Francis was the first black athlete to play for Great Britain in 1947, and was one of Wales' greatest rugby league players. But even more significantly, he was the godfather of modern coaching, starting at Hull in 1949 where he transformed an average team into a powerhouse of the game, coaching them to three consecutive Championship finals, winning in 1956 and 1958, and two Wembley finals. In 1963 he moved to Leeds where he built a team famed for its fast, free-flowing rugby.

It's high time his achievements were recognised, so this week's podcast looks at the campaign to rename the Grand Final Player of the Match award as the 'Roy Francis Trophy', and tells the contrasting stories of Roy Francis and Harry Sunderland, after whom the trophy is currently named.

For more on Roy, take a look at Squidge Rugby’s YouTube video ‘So Who Was Roy Francis?’ and ‘Celebrating Roy Francis’ by Hull FC historian Bill Dalton.The Australian Dictionary of Biography entry on Harry Sunderland by Brisbane rugby league historian Edmund Scott can be accessed here. Robert Gate’s obituary to Roy, in which Robert explains Roy’s view of Harry Sunderland, is in issue 11 of Code 13 (June 1989), pp. 4-5.

Roy Francis on the Hull FC bench in 1953. L to R: Johnny Whiteley, Norman Hockley, Bill Riches, Roy Francis, Albert Tripp, Mick Scott and Bob Coverdale

Rugby Reloaded #123 - 'Prescott's Match' & the Secret History of the 1958 Lions' Tour →

Sunday was the 62nd anniversary of Great Britain's Ashes series win in Australia. The 1958 Lions tour was famous for 'Prescott's Match' when an injury-ravaged Lions led by Alan Prescott, who played for 78 minutes with a broken arm, defeated Australia.

But behind the scenes, this was the most controversial tour of all, plagued by management disputes and player rebellion. This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' takes the lid off one of the great tours in rugby league history.

You can see the 1958 Lions playing against a Sydney representative team below:

Rugby Reloaded #122 - Rugby Union after the Pandemic, with Rhiannon Garth Jones →

Of all the football codes, rugby union has faced the most troubled times during the Coronvirus pandemic. Wage disputes, club v country clashes, and the splitting apart of the game in the Southern Hemisphere have thrown the game's long-time issues into sharp light.

For an insight into the game's problems, this week's episode talks to rugby union analyst Rhiannon Garth Jones about where the sport stands today and where it is going. You can read Rhiannon’s rugby journalism and analysis at RugbyPass.com.

Rugby Reloaded #121 - 50 Years Since the Lions won the Ashes (or, why the Poms Don't Win Anymore) →

Saturday 4 July marked the 50th anniversary of the last time the Great Britain Lions won the rugby league Ashes. This week's episode looks back at the tour which summed up all the political tensions and latent hostilities that exploded between Britain and Australia in the 1960s - and then asks perhaps the most important question in rugby league: why can't the Poms beat the Aussies anymore?

You can see the highlights of the 1970 Ashes series here. Phil Clarke and Stephen Owen at Sky Sports also carried a wonderful interview the great Johnny Whiteley about coaching the 1970 Lions - interspersed with random comments by me - on their Golden Point Vodcast.