For most of us, the older supporters of rugby league, hailing from before the Super League wars and the NRL, Rugby league was a tough sport.
Those days bred tough players, players like Ray Price, Bob McCarthy, Tommy Raudonikis, and many others.
It was seen as a working class game. They say that union is a game played in heaven, then league must be a game played in hell.
So, what is exactly this funny old game called rugby league? We all know the story of William Webb Ellis and his picking up of a soccer ball and running for it, ending up inventing rugby union.
It wasn’t until 1897, Huddersfield, England, that rugby league came into fruition as a break away code called Northern Union.
Between the years of 1897 to 1907, 80 league clubs sprung up like mushrooms after a rainy day.
Some players were paid so they can practice training for the rest of the week (bit like now, isn’t it?). These were your elite players, your GIs, Billy Slaters, JTs, and Jarryd Hayne (maybe that was going a bit too far).
In 1898 a meeting was called to arrange rugby league into a professional code.
Players started getting wages, some left their jobs to concentrate on their sporting career while others kept working to support their families.
In 1899 new rules were introduced. The rule regarding kicking off after a try was scored or goal kicked. In union, it was placed on the 25 yard line, making it unfair so the rule changed that they placed the ball on the halfway instead.
Another one, still applies today was the play-the-ball. The old rules said that once a player is tackled, he must place the ball at his feet and play at it.
That leads to the loose scrums we seen in union today. However, rugby league decided to alter the rules by saying if a man and ball be fairly held, the ref awards a scrum. If the ball is not held the player can either pass or drop it at his feet, providing the ball falls at the front of his feet.
And the introduction of 13 players instead of 15 came into play. Many rules adapted the game to make it faster and more entertaining. More working class people started turning up at games and by 1907, as I said before, around 80 clubs all sprung up.
In 1907 the Australian rugby union was shocked when 14 of their top players defected to rugby league. By 1908, rugby union was almost on its knees while league was standing proud.
1907 saw the first international rugby league, a game between NSW and New Zealand where the players were paid £1 each.
Players like H.H. ‘Dally’ Messenger and Dave Brown became legends. Messenger got an award named after him and Brown is still remembered and revered by the Roosters. Then the game was born.
Teams like Balmain, Easts, Souths, Cumberland, Glebe, Newton and North Sydney, even Newcastle had a team then, all conversed into the rugby league competition.
Let the game begin!
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