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Modern perception is the England rugby league team has never been a formidable rival to the Kangaroos. But it hasn’t always been so.
From the first meeting in 1908, til the 1970s, it was the Lions that held the upper hand most of the time. As with cricket in summer, in winter we wanted to play and defeat the Poms at rugby league.
“It is a like a war when Australia plays England in either football or cricket, and probably always will be,” wrote Frank Burge in 1953. Burge, Australia’s iron-man forward of the 1910s and ‘20s, had played in three Ashes series, and seen plenty of others.
For Burge and everyone else in the game, the contests between the Kangaroos and the Lions were the most demanding of battles you could play in or expect to see. Rugby league delivered a “footballing-Ashes” bi-annual contest.
Club football in our cities and towns had its pre-eminent place every winter, but ultimately its role was to serve the greater goal – the Kangaroos and winning the Ashes or World Cup.
In 147 games since 1908, the Kangaroos hold the edge – 79 victories to the Lions’ 62 (another six drawn). The tally of Ashes series, despite Australia’s domination since the 1970s, stands near enough to even.
Apart from 1911/12, the Aussies were beaten in every Ashes series in England from 1908 until 1963. Even in Australia, the touring Lions were supreme – in 14 Ashes series between 1910-70, the Kangaroos won just four times (1920, 1950, 1954 and 1966).
In 1910, over 42,000 crowded into the old Sydney Showground to watch Australia and England. In 1932 the police locked the SCG gates after 70,204 crammed into the SCG. The Referee wrote at the time: “The Australian public has seen under this brand of rugby some of the most brilliant and stirring games imaginable between Australia and England.”
Other big SCG attendances include 69,990 in 1962 and over 68,000 in both Tests of the 1958 winter. At Brisbane’s Lang Park, more than 45,000 watched Tests in 1954 and 1966.
In England, once the move was finally made to large stadia, records tumbled: 50,583 at Old Trafford (1986), and at Wembley with 66,540 (1995) and 73,631 (1992).
Having an equivalent to replicate (indeed surpass when it came to attendances) cricket’s Anglo-Australian rivalry wasn’t just a fortuitous happenstance that fell into rugby league’s lap, but a deliberately brought about custom. Beating “the Old Country” mattered to many Aussies in winter as much as it did in summer – so why shouldn’t we mirror Ashes-style battles in football too?
Victorian rules offered no hope of internationals, England’s FA clubs saw no financial viability in hosting Australian soccer teams or touring down under.
The Wallabies had first played Great Britain in 1899, but a regular inter-change of home and away series was difficult to put in place without breaching the RFU’s laws against professional payments to players, and to focus on England alone impractical given the national XVs of Scotland, Ireland and Wales were equally part of the equation.
A chance for a shot at a place in a Kangaroo touring team to sail the globe to England was the biggest “carrot” league’s founder, James J Giltinan, could offer any footballer in 1908.
From the outset of Australia v England contests they have built a lasting history. Great teams have been lauded, such as “The Indomitables” (1946 Lions), “The Invincibles” (1982 Kangaroos) and “The Unbeatables” (1986 Kangaroos).
Famous matches have been bestowed names, including “The Swinton Massacre” of 1963, where the Aussies flogged the home team 50-12, and 1914’s SCG “Rorke’s Drift Test”, in which 10 heroic Englishmen held on for the final 30 minutes to defeat Australia (refer to ‘Zulu’ and Michael Caine if you need explanation).
Never-ending controversy has also raged. From the first ever Test (London, December 12, 1908), where a last minute penalty against the Kangaroos for an obstruction play handed England a goal and a 22-all draw, to the 2003 “Great Escape” Ashes where every pivotal 50/50 call seemed to favour the Aussies.
In 1930 at Swinton, in the deciding Test, Australia’s half-back Joe “Chimpy” Busch scampered across in the corner in the dying moments to plant the ball and win the game. Busch and his team were jubilant as referee Robinson called “Fair try Australia!” – and then stood in bewilderment as he over-turned his decision on the say so of a late-arriving touch judge.
At Headingley in 1959, the Aussies again thought they had won the Ashes when Barry Muir raced away under the posts for a try, but referee Gelder somehow found a forward pass. After the match, Kangaroos centre Harry Wells confronted Gelder, plainly telling him, “You’re a thief and you cheated us!” Gelder simply offered up, “I’ve got to live here lad!”
When Lions teams toured Down Under, Aussie referees too found criticism, with the performances of Col Pearce (1966) and Darcy Lawler (1962) still burning English stomachs today.
In Lawler’s instance, the Poms were on the verge of securing their first 3-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia. Lawler sent-off England’s winger Mick Sullivan, and then awarded the Aussies a last-ditch try from a forward pass in the corner, leaving stand-in kicker Ken Irvine a difficult conversion to win the game. Lawler then guided Irvine in the placing of the ball, and the North Sydney flyer duly kicked the match-winning goal.
Unlike in cricket contests between Australia and England, rugby league afforded players the opportunity to take their rivalry to the next level – to get stuck in to each other. Players being sent-off has been a regular feature of the contests.
While cricket has “Bodyline”, rugby league has “The Battle of Brisbane” I (1932) and II (1970), “The Battle of Bradford” (1952) and “The Battle of Leeds” (1970) amongst the countless games that descended into brutal blood-baths and plain back-alley thuggery.
After the live-to-air tv screening of “The Battle of Leeds”, or what is more politely known as the 1970 World Cup final, the front-pages of England’s newspapers launched a tirade of condemnation, notably The Daily Sketch with “Shame On You Dirty Thugs” and The Daily Mail who demanded, “Get These Savages Off Our TV Screen.”
Australia won that cup final in a surprise upset 12-7 victory. England had begun the game as red-hot favourites, and losing was proving difficult to swallow. As time ran down, it became more and more apparent with every passing moment that the Kangaroos were going to win. Over the last 20 minutes, the violence drew increasingly prevalent.
Inside the last two minutes, Syd Hynes (England) and Billy Smith (Australia) were sent from the field for fighting – a pitch-battle that included kicks, punches and head-butts.
After the referee called full-time, a wild all-in-brawl erupted. Incredibly, it was triggered when Kangaroos’ fullback Eric Simms advanced to shake hands with Lions winger John Atkinson – the Englishman launched a head-butt on Simms.
It was Australia versus England, but was no gentlemanly game.
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