The last time Australia were beaten by a new rugby league country, rock and roll was yet to be born.
It was a Monday in fact: 11 June 1951. The game-day paper reported that the French coach would be allowed to sit near the touchline, a break with the custom for the Sydney competition.
“Some of the Frenchmen wept and kissed their teammates after the victory,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported on its front page the next day after the tourists’ 26-15 win in front of 60,160 fans at the SCG.
Over the next month the likes of chain-smoking fullback Puig Aubert and halfback Jean Dop became household names – and, although the term had not yet gained widespread usage, sex symbols – in the rugby league-playing states of Australia.
“It was not mere froth and bubble yesterday – there was plenty of body in this French champagne,” wrote the legendary Tom Goodman on the Tuesday.
“There was enough sparkle to show up the stale beer of Australia’s orthodoxy.
“So far as Australia is concerned, France has ‘arrived’ in Test football.”
The French lost the second Test 23-11 in Brisbane before returning to the SCG, where they triumphed 35-14 in front of 67,003. I grew up hearing about the exploits of Jacques Merquey and Edouard Ponsinet from my uncle Tom.
I got off school early in 1981 to see the touring Frenchmen at the Wollongong Showground, demanding my French teacher instruct me on how to ask for an autograph.
Back in 1951 it must have seemed from Australia like a whole new world was opening up for rugby league internationally.
But over the next 68 years the United States (touring Australia just two years later), Wales, South Africa, Scotland, Samoa, Russia, Papua New Guinea, Lebanon, Fiji, Ireland and Lebanon would all try to topple the green and gold.
And they all failed.
That’s why it was a highlight of my entire involvement in rugby league – back to before that mid-week tour match in Wollongong – to be present at Eden Park on Saturday night.
(Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
Change in the sport happens at such a glacial speed that – to mix a metaphor – your eyes can glaze over after a while. Rugby league mostly sells the same thing to the same people decade after decade. In most places it has enough trouble servicing its current constituents.
The people in charge – outside the NRL – are run off their feet dealing with limited resources and keeping things ticking over without being able to properly execute anything new.
They need outsiders to do that. Toronto in Super League is a mind-blowing, completely new development for a competition that was starting to look very old and stale.
And as the above reminiscence illustrates, Tonga winning on Saturday night is our sport’s America’s Cup. The sands have shifted permanently.
To those who suggest the result should have an asterisk or isn’t that big a deal for a variety of reasons, I make three points.
One, International Rugby League has already designated it a full Test.
Two, yes, players can switch countries easily. But what were the qualification rules in 1951? Did they check birth certificates then? Was it citizenship or residency or… no-one knows or remembers, and no-one will remember the qualification rules of 2019 either when they look down the column of results and see Australia losing to Tonga.
Three, of course they are all NRL players. That’s how things work this century. Amateurs don’t beat full-time professionals at the top level. The French beating Australia in 1978 was a bigger upset, but it wasn’t comparable historically because they had been beating Australia regularly since 1951.
(Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Tonga has never beaten Australia, and the countries listed above had all tried and failed since 1951. When NBA players represent other countries against the US, American fans might say, “That’s not an upset – I know that guy”. But the result is significant for international basketball regardless of whether one group of fans know the players or not.
Results may lie, but the lie is soon forgotten and the result stands.
Tonga could win the World Cup, but Fiji have made the semis every tournament since 2008. They’ll want a say in that. So will New Zealand, Australia and England at a bare minumum.
I’m not sure if uncle Tom was actually there in 1951 and I’m not sure if there is anyone left alive to find that out for me.
But I am now placing on the public record the fact that I was there in 2019. I was there.
Gorgonite King
Roar Rookie
#gut
Bunney
Roar Rookie
Great stuff Steve. I'm happy for you that this win was clearly something special, something you are passionate about, and that you were there to witness it. I get like that with a few things, but my tastes are a little weird, so not many people share my excitement. I understand yours in this time. Enjoy :happy:
deucer
Roar Rookie
It's hard to believe now what huge crowds used to go to international RL matches - 60,000 to French Australian games - you'd be lucky to get 10,000 now. France were always quite strong and used to beat England, NZ and Wales on a regular basis. It's quite sad to see how terminal the decline became. What makes it even worse is having a Lebanon team made up of players that have never been there, beat a fully home grown French team at the world cup. This does absolutely no favours trying to restore the game in France - which would be so beneficial, especially in the commercial sense - Tonga would need a negative cash flow, although they do provide many athletes.
Fred
Guest
The following 15 players were in the Japanese squad for the Rugby World Cup (out of a squad of 31, so half the team). To be honest I couldn't care less, good on them. I wouldn't have raised it at all if people hadn't questioned the 'Tongan-ness' of the Tongan rugby league team. Isileli Nakajima (Tongan) Asaeli Ai Valu (Tongan) Uwe Helu (Tongan) James Moore (Australian) Luke Thompson (New Zealander) Wimpie (Petrus Willem) van der Walt (South African) Meichael Leitch (New Zealander) Lappies Labuschagné (South African) Amanaki Mafi (Tongan) Hendrik Tui (New Zealander) Timothy Lafaele (Samoan) Will Tupou (New Zealander) Lomano Lemeki (Tongan/Kiwi) Ataata Moeakiola (Tongan) Kotaro Matsushima (South African - to be fair moved to Japan at a younger age)
Loosehead
Guest
My selective outrage? I could care less who played in the Tongan team. You stated that the Japanese side was full of Kiwis, SA etc. Check the players list for the semi against SA and you'll see how many home grown Japanese were on the team. To my reckoning there were 10.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Well mate I lived in Brisbane for 4 years at a time when the Rabbitohs were in "exile" and I never got a maroon itch once so I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Besides like I said "Freddie" has me working undercover for the Blues coaching the little cane toad tadpoles ("kiddies") to pass the ball like Michael Lichaa, catch the ball like the two Burgess twins, kick the ball like Sam Burgess and tackle like James Maloney and Dane Gagai. So I will be very busy indeed. ;-)
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Good stuff Papi. It’s just a small step from that Dolphins jersey to the Maroon of QLD. I can sensea religious conversion coming .
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
I'll get a taste of the best that Brisbane has to offer in RL next year. No, not the Broncos under Seibold and their 58 - 0 finals form but the Redcliffe Dolphins! See you at Dolphin oval jimmmy boy. I'll be in disguise in plain sight with sunnys and a white cap with a black rabbit and either a Rabbitohs or "Blue Dawn" jersey. ;-) :thumbup:
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The irony is in PNG ,they have a semi pro rl comp as well as their team in the Qld comp.This in a country with 40% in poverty. I can name a number of countries much higher up the development ladder, where corruption is rife or not exactly small. Even our black economy in this country is a form of corruption.
Fred
Guest
3/4? Lol. Where'd you pull that from? 14 players in the 'Japanese' team are from Tonga, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. One single player in the Tongan union team is a Tongan resident. Your selective outrage at the proud Tongan rugby league team is laughable.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
It is now ,finally commonsense and fairness prevailed in France.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Yet the game in France after decades of only being able to call itself the Game of X111,finally got the approval to call itself Rugby league once again. Suggesting it should never have been removed in the first place.
Loosehead
Guest
Actually 3/4 of the Brave Blossoms were Japanese the rest qualified under residency rules and yes I cheered them on.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Because you struggle to see any further North than Brooklyn Papi, you may not realise who won the 1951 interstate series,( pre state of Origin of course). I'll give you a clue . it wasn't the Becuahnaland Protectorate. That plus the fact that Churchill would not be eligible for The South's reserves gives me some confidence of a Brisbane victory.
Fred
Guest
Don't want to get bogged down splitting hairs, but PNG is an independent country, (which is the eastern half of the island of New Guinea). The western half of the island is the territory under Indonesian rule (West Papua). Hopefully one day West Papua gains independence from the brutal Indonesian rule. Whether they are their own country or whether they unite with PNG, either way they'd be better off.
Nambawan
Roar Rookie
I think it was (is) called 'rugby a treize'?
clipper
Roar Rookie
Yes, although that's just one of PNG's problems - it is resource rich, but rife with corruption and poor infrastructure, but I think the worst problem is that the country is split in two - the people have no racial or cultural ties with Indonesia, but it seems to be too hot a political potato for anyone to try and solve.
Fred
Guest
It is a code of rugby, so why can't Toronto talk about rugby history? PS as for jab at the Tongan team - the Tongan union team at the recent union world cup featured only a single Tongan resident. ONE. And I bet you cheered on the 'Japanese' union team that was full of Aussies, Kiwis, and Islanders.
Fred
Guest
Yes I actually agree with that. The countries with the highest birth rates tend to be the poorest. But often it's economic growth that slows population growth, which may eventually happen in PNG
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
To be fair jimmmy Souths reserve grade side would have "sunk" any Brisbane side that year. ;-)