Filled with expectation that this year’s inaugural World Club Series in England will survive the long haul, my mind is cast back some 40 years to an equally ambitious and successful concept that still brings a smile to the face.
A colourful splash enhanced rugby league’s monochrome image during the 1970s in a story that’s since faded. But, like the Chiko Roll snack of the time, it will never go away.
Three years before Kerry Packer brazenly launched World Series Cricket in 1977, rugby league had commenced a revolution of its own.
Inspired by improved sports coverage overseas following the introduction of colour television, Sydney-based entertainment promoter Colin McLennan dressed rugby league for the primetime with a cleverly disguised offload named the Amco Cup.
With telecasts mostly from Leichhardt Oval, the midweek knock-out tournament treated TV starved footy fans to a fresh Wednesday night alternative.
And thanks to the jeans manufacturer and Channel Ten, the comp pushed top tier participation beyond the traditional strongholds of Sydney and Brisbane.
In its first season, all 12 Sydney clubs plus the second-tier’s best were joined by Auckland and NSW country divisional sides.
The mix varied across the competition’s 16 years including combinations from regional Queensland, Brisbane, New Zealand and other Australian states, including the Northern Territory with Port Moresby taking part in the final four seasons.
Despite its doubters, the four-quarter format became a 1974 debut smash hit, with bushie outfit Western Division remarkably topping the charts in stunning Sydney’s elite.
Lounge lizards also scored, with broadcasts incorporating change room access and a red-faced Ray ‘Rabbits’ Warren, who reverberated in the path of Ansett’s thunderous low flying late arrivals.
Subsequent seasons provided more leather enclosed gems. Those worthy of inflation fill a vault emblazoned with brown and white hooped Steeden’s, diagonal striped in-goals, penalty count-back victories and silverware frothing with success.
The Balmain Tigers tasted more success than any other – upending the Cup after three of six contested finals – including their last, over Penrith in 1987 where five players jostled for seats in an oversubscribed Parramatta Stadium sin-bin.
Furthermore, the black and golds almost struck against the feed following victory over North Sydney in the 1976 final, with Allan McMahon incorrectly awarded the ‘Superstar of the Series’.
An embarrassing re-tally was enough for Bears and Great Britain international John Gray to belatedly accept the honour.
But that bungle seemed inconsequential to Eastern Suburbs fans 12 months later when rock-star fullback Russell Fairfax duffed a simple conversion following a superb kick-chase try that ultimately handed the Western Suburbs Magpies their last first-grade title with a famous 6-5 victory.
Although heartbreak for the Roosters was eased, safe in the knowledge their 1975 Cup-Premiership double was a first, subsequently matched by Parramatta’s pair in 1986.
Amco’s inspirational association came to an end in 1979, when for the last time, the player of the match squeezed into the seller’s finest denim.
A sensation not bestowed on the founding sponsor’s last trophy, which still stands alone in Cronulla’s spacious cabinet amid the echoes of Kurt Sorenson’s crunching defence.
On a night when Souths prop Peter Tunks shocked the scorers and centre Mitch Brennan raised the Cup before 23,079 fans – to this day a Leichhardt Oval ground record.
The Rabbitohs’ only midweek trophy was to be Tooth’s last, with naming rights transferred to iconic beer label KB for the 1982-83 seasons, both won by Manly.
The first coincided with the Tommy Raudonikis-led Newtown Jets’ last grand final in the big time, while the second – a win over Cronulla – confirmed a Sea Eagle resilience matched only by the sponsor’s ankle-busting dent-proof gold cans.
Legends Peter Sterling, Steve Rogers and Ray Price embraced the Cup concept, replicating their Rothmans Medal-winning form to earn ‘Superstar’ status under the midweek moonlight.
But it was Wally Lewis who shone brightest, skippering both victorious Brisbane-based outfits.
The crafty Queenslander far more efficient at blocking the shining lights of New South Wales than the black eye-polish donned by the games most gullible.
The King dominated the 1984 series, best remembered for exploiting the no-marker rule in scoring a decisive grand final try in Combined Brisbane’s 12-11 triumph over Easts.
Then five years later, backed up to collect the Brisbane Broncos’ maiden title after rolling a young Illawarra Steelers, whose aspirations rested in the unusually small shorts of two Wigan superstars, Andy Gregory and Steve Hampson.
By its final season in 1989, the founding mantra of the Cup still rang true. With the game’s widening appeal extended to Western Australia, the WACA hosted top-level league for the first time in a contest that saw Parramatta overrun Balmain before a packed house.
Eventually, the renamed Panasonic Cup had run its race. A victim of its own success, having stimulated two periods of premiership expansion through the inclusions of Canberra, Illawarra, Newcastle, Gold Coast and Brisbane.
Now more than 25 years later, as World Club Series organisers approach the pioneering kicking-tee. A favourable breeze of Amco inspired foresight may just be the entrepreneurial oomph that gets the new six-team format over the global expansion crossbar.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Haha Tiger Mac - I reckon I may have held a similar discussion with you in the past, can't remember where though. Anyway, maybe I should look into it. Would be worth including something on David Brooks and that missing headgear.
TigerMac
Guest
G"Day Jason, A great article. You got me thinking of the golden times trudging up the hill to Leichhardt Oval, the Commonwealth Bank Cup precursor to the Amco Cup where so many stars where born. How a piece on fallen heroes of yesteryear and where they have come from and where they are now. Scott Wilson would be an interesting subject.
swamprat
Roar Pro
No Tripehound there is no massive profile of any RL team from Ozzie here in the UK. Keep it real. Good reads though .
Tripehound
Guest
Cheers Jason, got a couple of technical issues with my laptop at the moment, getting it sorted and will kick in with a few articles. Thanks mate.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Insightful as usual, Tripehound. Would make for a great Roar article if you ever feel the urge. Cheers, Jason
Tripehound
Guest
It's interesting how things evolve, with the scrapping of A team football all the emphesis was placed on the younger players in the pro game, the average age of squad players in the immediate aftermath of full time professionalism reduced considerably. For me this always seemed to be rather blinkered, ofcourse developing young talent and bringing it through a structured system is the way to go, but not eveyone develops at the same rate and certainly, in the UK, for a good few years after the start of ESL if a player hadn't made the grade by their early 20's they were deemed to have missed the boat. Previously there had always been a route through from amateur open age to first grade for late developers. In more recent times, with improved fitness, nutrition, etc players have begun to extend their careers, going well into their 30's and one of the encouraging things to happen here is that we are begining to see more players coming up from the championship at a later age and making a real impact in Super League. A good example is prop Chris Hill who had been playing at Leigh, then signed for Warrington in his mid 20's and was playing international football within a couple of seasons and for my money he's looked right at home at that level, he had a great series in the recent four nations. The development and resources at the kids level has really come on leaps and bounds in recent times, with the SL clubs being more involved with the structure and development of local clubs within their area. One specific region where this is very noticeable is London and the South East, not a traditional stronghold for Rugby League but the junior and amateur scene has come on leaps and bounds over the last twenty years and although there have been issues with the professional game in the capital (which I think is finally being resolved with the current owner and staff) the set up beneath this is really strong. This can only bode well for England in the future, a strong presence in London will only help with greater media coverage, plus it opens up a whole new talent pool, into which we can dive in, rather than dipping our toe in! For me this always seemed to be rather blinkered, ofcourse developing young talent and bringing it through a structured system is the way to go, but not eveyone develops at the same rate and certainly, in the UK, for a good few years after the start of ESL if a player hadn't made the grade by their early 20's they were deemed to have missed the boat. Previously there had always been a route through from amateur open age to first grade for late developers. In more recent times, with improved fitness, nutrition, etc players have begun to extend their careers, going well into their 30's and one of the encouraging things to happen here is that we are begining to see more players coming up from the championship at a later age and making a real impact in Super League. A good example is prop Chris Hill who had been playing at Leigh, then signed for Warrington in his mid 20's and was playing international football within a couple of seasons and for my money he's looked right at home at that level, he had a great series in the recent four nations. The development and resources at the kids level has really come on leaps and bounds in recent times, with the SL clubs being more involved with the structure and development of local clubs within their area. One specific region where this is very noticeable is London and the South East, not a traditional stronghold for Rugby League but the junior and amateur scene has c
Jason Hosken
Guest
Thanks Tripehound. Interesting feedback, similar concerns being addressed now in Oz. 2nd tier has made way in some respect to the u20s comp. Most NRL coaches argue the u20s doesnt properly prepare players for NRL ie: would rather they mix with open age 2nd tier. Sounds like this is about to be rectified. Your junior setup sounds encouraging. Perhaps Oz could learn something from that - many junior comps are merging to ensure a there are enough sides for a meaningful comp...also occurring at open age amateur level. Stiff competition from AFL and soccer. Car smash scenario a big issue for NRL. 10m rule and speed resulting in wrestling in ruck. Ugly stuff, something has to give, all part of evolution.
Tripehound
Guest
Hello Jason, regarding your question on player numbers further up the board. Back in the 70's and 80's there were no more people playing the game, and these days the junior set up is much bigger and more developed. All the English pro sides back in the day would have an 'A' team which was an open age reserve side and a colts team which was an under 19's team. The 'A' teams were scrapped shortly after the full time era came into being in 1996, this as I remember was put down to the cost of running the squad. The direction the game started to move in during the very late 80's and early 90's had a significant effect on how coaches prepared their sides and also the general psychology of players and administrators. That was back in the day when I was still throwing the egg around and cracking a head or two, so I'm speaking from my personal experience. The biggest thing that affected me was when I returned from a really long injury lay off and the defensive line gap had been changed from 5 meters to 10 meters. Boy that took a bit of getting used to, it may seem somewhat innocuous, but the difference it made was incredible with the extra fitness required to get back on side and redeveloping your muscle memory to automatically gain your bearings made a big impact. The increased collision area and improved fitness and conditioning of full time players is really the thing that called the death knell on all the extra competitions and matches. The sheer physicality and punishment placed on the body is what caused the burn out. Back in the day in certain facets of the game was tougher, in the respect that there was plenty of what you Australian gentlemen charmingly like to call 'biff', there was bags of skill but the physical side of the game was more a kin to tavern brawling, the physical side of the modern game is more a kin to being involved in a car crash! The impact on the body, particularly the joints requires much more recovery time. Just for good measure I had a season out in NZ in 1986 and the national Lion Red cup games were split into quaters, again I hadn't come across this previously and you need to adjust your preperation accordingly.
Birdy
Guest
RL has had 4 quarter football for as long as I remember, pre Season trials , pre season comps eg cigarette cup ( I refuse to give any advertising to cancer causes) of course the AMCO cup KB cup . So who cares where it came from ? If it comes it will be all about advertising.
Jason Hosken
Guest
Surely we've moved clear of the 4qtr scaremongering. Id rather see the man of the match receive practical awards again, like jeans...have to Wranglers these days....
Jeremy
Guest
but but but I thought NRL adopting 4 quarters in 2016 was them yet again copying the AFL not league from the 1970s? That's what the media said.
Jason Hosken
Guest
Gday Tripehound. All over the shop here, i asked another question next to your earlier post up the top. Chrd
Jason Hosken
Guest
Tripehound - youve got me thinking, there must have been a massive amount of players on the books to fill all those comps. I guess the talent filled numerous tiers. Anyway, i've always assumed league to be placed well below soccer in popularity but there must have been a significant amount of lads lacing up - even if the ratio much lower than soccer. Wondering if it is still the case or are player numbers falling. Probably worst a separate post. In Oz we are always lamenting a fall in junior and regional playing numbers. Cheers Jason
Nate
Roar Rookie
I have said this for a long time, a mid week Cup would be excellent in Australia to get some money in the coffers. If the NRL had any brains they would have jumped on this ages ago. A Challenge - Type Cup for Australia is an excellent concept and would show case some good teams that the public wouldn't normally see. Please get this off the ground ARl/NRL.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Thanks Tripehound. If held in Oz, looks like the programs will have to be made in England. A sorely missed item from last years Easts-Wigan final.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
That's correct MJ. There were some big games decided in the Amco era on penalties and tries. In Western Divisions great run in 74 they knocked Manly out on a countback. I vaguely recall the Souths-Canterbury game in 89, pretty heated affair...Mario in the sin bin - good days. You could argue try countbacks at least are a fairer way to judge a winner than an overtime field goal shoot out.
MJ
Guest
I actually recall watching a tape (and later a YouTube vid) of a 1989 quarter final between Souths and Canterbury. With no extra time the score at the end of 80 was tied at 10 all. The first tie breaker was the team leading the penalty count which was tied (think it was 11 all) , and the next tie breaker was also tied (most tries, 1 try each). The result was decided in South Sydney's favour because their try was scored first. Can you imagine a game of Rugby League in this era being decided by the winner of the penalty count, let alone first try scorer?
nerval
Guest
According to Steve Mascord, the Dragons and Broncos are going because they actually wanted to go - other NRL clubs were simply not so keen.
nerval
Guest
I hate the measly little collars we have these days. They lack the courage of their convictions. Bring back proper collars!
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
I look forward to the concept growing too. It's such a no-brainer.