August 1907. Rugby league in this country was born in this month, 111 years ago.
One-time English cricket umpire, the always jovial, and much loved David Sheppard would very possibly be hopping around on one leg as I write – were he was still with us of course.
Anyway, I digress.
What I really want to say is to comment on how far the game has come.
In 1907, those gentlemen who secretly met in a basement of a warehouse to scheme against the popular game of the day, rugby union, produced something that was a breath of fresh air for many.
Forget that their meeting was clandestine and underhanded. It means nothing. It was for the good of the people.
A new game, a game which would be loved by all, was born. Forget the treacherous and underhanded way it was contrived, such skullduggery would never be witnessed again. It was well intentioned and that’s all that mattered.
Their actions, as distasteful as they were, were for everyone’s good and surely there would never again be such infamy.
Move forward two short years, (yes that’s right, an entire 24 months) and the South Sydney Rabbitohs agree with the Balmain Tigers to boycott the grand final because of the governing body’s decision to play the match as a curtain raiser to an International match, rather than a stand alone game.
Honorable I hear you say.
Of course, it would have been, except for the fact that one team – South Sydney – decided to show up, kick off, and claim a forfeit.
Fast forward 80-odd years and we have Melbourne coercing their star-studded players (most of who are now being referred to as legends and the greatest of all time – how sad) to sign two sets of contracts to try and beat the salary cap in order to win premierships and you’d be forgiven for thinking not much had changed over time.
More on now to 2018.
We have a set of triplets controlling referring, a CEO sacking a coach and trying to poach another coach (that he doesn’t particularly like, just quietly, but who is the father of his No. 1 gun player) who still has two and a half years left on his contract with his current club, and you have to start to wonder, “Has anything changed?”
Sadly, I’m starting to think not.
Still, I’ll continue to believe in people like Dave Brown and Arthur Beetson and Wayne Pearce and keep telling myself that the game I love, “The Greatest Game Of All” is full of good-hearted honest men who only have the game at heart.
I can live in hope.
Michael Gannon
Guest
Why no Roar story today about RFL Challenge Cup Final with a French team in it?
Rellum
Roar Guru
Yes, the QRL miss the old BRL teams. I would love to see Valley's there so we can smash them, well at some point. I would agree a tough loss, but it is nothing different that what has been offered up over the last 12 weeks with a few more points added in. For the last 12 weeks we have been the worse team in the comp by some margin.
Nat
Roar Guru
And the mighty Diehards. They launched Return of the Diehards a few weeks back. It offers a bit of history to your point/s above but most from one POV. Tough loss to your guys last week.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I am mixed on having separate the records but right now we have NRL and NSWRL records combined and the BRL left out. That is not right and needs to be fixed. I would rather combine them all so Wally officially gets the three premierships he earned in the eyes off all league fans, Mal gets the 5 he won and Bennett gets the 8 he won plus all the others get their due.
Wayne Lovell
Roar Guru
Rellum you are right in assuming that NRL record keeping is inaccurate, but I’m not sure including Brisbane’s first grade results is the way to fix it. I think NRL results and records should start with the NRL, the same way Super League results do in England. All results prior to that should be classed as NSW and QLD state titles, as is reality. If the NRL wants to truly be a national sport it should include all the results in the official records not just half of them.
Paul
Roar Guru
Souths whinged loud and long after getting beaten in the 69 grand final by Balmain because the Tigers slowed the game down by repeatedly having players hit the ground with injury, occasionally real but mostly imagined. Tigers fans hit them with the payback line for what Souths did in the very first season
Paul
Roar Guru
which makes the image even more powerful, Matt. Yep, Lawler was not exactly a favourite of the Wests faithful after that Grand Final.
Rellum
Roar Guru
From wikipedia The first official club competition kicked off in Brisbane on 8 May 1909. Norths played against Souths before a handful of spectators at [[Brisbane Cricket Ground ]].[1] Matches were played under the auspices of the Queensland Amateur Rugby Football League (later renamed Queensland Rugby League). The foundation clubs were: North Brisbane Fortitude Valley South Brisbane Toombul My team South Brisbane magpies have been around as long as league has in this country.
Rellum
Roar Guru
The Brisbane/QLD history is generally derided and ignored by too many, mostly from down south.(not accusing the author of this). THe QRL should be making it a priority to have all BRL records before 1988 recognised in the same way the NSWRL records are. I know we don't have all the records but there should be enough to fill in some gaps and get the respect the game here deserves from the national bodies.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Sounds interesting...you should write an article about it
KiwiBear
Roar Rookie
The true birthday of league is 1895 when the Northern Unions broke away in the "Mother" country and for NSWRL the foundation clubs were born 110 years ago. Any of the other background of this is just the prelude to the main act. Let's also acknowledge that Queensland gave us some clubs born in early 1908 too. Modern day politics in league, I would guess behind the scenes, is almost as bad as the parliament in Canberra.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Except that in that grand final Summons and his team were convinced that the referee had money on the Dragons, never proven of course.
Wayne Lovell
Roar Guru
As a Brisbane boy it should be prudent to include Rugby League history in its entirety in an article like this, not just the HALF of history that everyone knows about. “Discussion about breaking away from the rugby 'union' and forming a professional 'league' in Queensland can be traced as far back as 1905 through the visions of then Deputy State Premier, Michael Allison.”
Nat
Roar Guru
Competition will bring out the best and worst in people. No large organisation has enjoyed success without some type of skulduggery and I will challenge you to offer a large sporting organisation that hasn't had some type of manipulation, just look at Qatar, Russians Olympics team, Lance Armstrong and our own sandpaper gate. The advantage of youth, which you could argue RL is in, is the ability to change and adapt and I cannot think of another $1b sporting competition that has introduced so many rule changes, some to increase the entertainment value and others to decrease poor sportsmanship (looking at you Bellamy). However, as a spectacle and on the whole, the player have never been fitter, faster and more skilled than they are today and who knows what it will be in 10 years time. Didn't know that about Souths. I have to say breaking a gentlemens agreement in that time is worse than salary cap breaching in ours.
Paul
Roar Guru
The version of the history of Rugby League posted in this article bears little resemblance to reality, but the basic points are quite valid. A group of people got together in a pub to try and get money flowing to players, especially when in Rugby, some players were being paid anyway. There's lots to criticise in the game, but that would not be an appropriate thing to do on it's birthday. It's way better to remember all the good things the game has provided, lots of very happy memories about some great moments in sport. It must also be the only sport where the Premiership trophy shows 2 guys who have clearly given it everything on the field, embracing with total respect for each other. That sums up the game for me.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Souths the OG grubs...