Rugby league was born out of the struggles of the working man to get compensation if he were injured and not able to attend work.
While a Huddersfield hotel in the north of England hosted meetings that would see the birth of the new code, it was in Sydney in 1908 that an organised rugby league competition started.
But the stumbling block was that it needed rugby union players to pull on the boots to fill the teams that played in that first season. Cricket plays a part in this tale as Monty Noble and Victor Trumper were instrumental in pulling the whole show together and persuading the superstar Dally Messenger (and his mother) to switch codes.
With this, the age of the dual international was born. While this is not a definitive list, it highlights ten outstanding players to represent at international level.
Dally Messenger was the superstar of the age much like Don Bradman but only in Sydney. Such is the esteem he is held in that the NRL names its major award after him. Rugby league needed a marquee and in Messenger they got that and more. His name is revered in league more than union because he jumped ship. He also played for New Zealand so he really was a switch-hitter in days when boundaries meant little.
(Image: Public domain)
Ray Price was a Wallaby who left the game a Parramatta legend with a statue outside of Bankwest Stadium. Mr Perpetual Motion was as tough as they come and that trait is more valued than natural skill or ability. He got the job done and was not pretty doing it.
Michael O’Connor was class personified. An electrifying runner with the hands of a surgeon, he left union to join St George then Manly. He lit up State of Origin for NSW and starred on the 1986 Kangaroo tour.
While Ricky Stuart was not a union superstar he became a bigger name in league, winning premierships as a player and coach. While not a one-club stalwart, he is back at his natural home in Canberra and takes his rightful place as a legend of the Raiders club.
Jonathan Davies is quite simply the greatest Welsh rugby union player to play the game. And as such his split to rugby league shook the sport in the north of England. He switched codes for the same reason they did in the early days of the split: he needed the moolah. Union was still an amateur sport and he needed to make a living. After joining Widnes he played in Australia with Canterbury then the Cowboys in a career that didn’t live up to the billing. When he retired he took to the rugby league commentary box with zeal.
Rex Mossop, or the Moose as he is still known to some, was a hard-as-flint union forward who had a distinguished career as a Wallaby before joining his beloved Manly Sea Eagles. Perhaps known for his colourful commentary more than his long past playing days, Mossop had a lovely turn of phrase, which he employed in life away from the camera.
Arthur Summons was a canny halfback who switched from union to league and is best remembered as the shorter half of the rugby league grand final winners’ trophy. He played his first union Test in 1958 against the Welsh in Cardiff and his first league Test in 1961 against New Zealand in Auckland.
Former rugby league players Norm Provan (left) and Arthur Summons. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Ray French is the Ray Warren of British rugby league. He was a long-time commentator for the BBC but this gangly forward played both for Wales in union and Great Britain in league.
Trevor Allan was such a good player in the late ’40s and early ’50s that he now has a statue outside of Sydney Football Stadium. Or at least he did until they pulled the ground down and put the brass work into storage.
Speaking of brass, John Brass is a Roosters legend in Sydney and also played for the Randwick rugby union club. It was from here that he represented Australia for the first time in 1966 and then for the Kangaroos in 1970.
Mark Richmond
Roar Guru
Indeed, I have always thought of Edwards 1, Bennett 2.
elvis
Roar Rookie
I bet he had more fun not having to train! :-)
crocodile
Guest
Ken Kearney seems to be missing. 7 tests for the Wallabies then St George captain during a good chunk of the 11 year reign. Some success as coach with Parramatta.
nerval
Guest
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43307033 It’s the story that you don’t wish to acknowledge that fascinates me. What’s wrong with telling it? These things are better out in the open, aren’t they?
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Oh come on, I expected more entertainment than this.... Is that it? :crying:
nerval
Guest
It's the story that you don't wish to acknowledge that fascinates me. What's wrong with telling it? These things are better out in the open, aren't they?
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Go ahead, tell the story you want to tell… I am still waiting to hear it!
crocodile
Guest
No Ken Kearney
nerval
Guest
I wonder, Nick if you're giving away a lot more about your character than you intended? After all, few could have predicted that my valuation of Dai Young as a rugby league front rower would have elicited the self-pitying whine of "Ah now I see your just a Wales-knocker rather than a Union knocker. Two a penny." After all. rugby league scrums were a "cuddly joke" well before Dai Young ever had to engage with them. The article, referring to an amazing and moving documentary about how Welsh union converts to league were treated - both after having moved and, in the cases of black Welshmen, before even having moved - is one about which you have absolutely nothing to say. And yet it amplifies your rather bland explanation as to how "The social background in Yorkshire and Lancashire was also quite similar to South Wales, so that made it a good fit." This is, of course, true - but tells only part of the story. Why you seem keen to bury this part of the story is perhaps because of just those prejudices the documentary explores? I realise, though, it's easier to sing to the choir here on the Roar. We too await with bated - not, I think, "baited" - breath...
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
More interesting by far is why you chose to flag up the article in a quite straightforward discussion about League and Union dual code players... and after a series of negative opening comments about a handful of Welsh cross-coders. It's up to you to explain yourself. We're waiting with baited breath... :laughing:
nerval
Guest
I love both rugby un ion and Welsh rugby union. However, I didn't make the documentary - BBC Wales did. Are the documentary makers themselves both Union-knockers and Wales-knockers? Do you dispute the players' own stories of racism in Welsh rugby union circles? Or, rather, hasn't this little exchange revealed something of your own prejudices?
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Ah now I see your just a Wales-knocker rather than a Union knocker. Two a penny.
nerval
Guest
Ray Mordt and - especially - Rob Louw, both Springbok representatives, couldn't hold down a regular first team spot with Wigan. These were not "great" rugby league careers! They were flops.
Mitcher
Guest
You seem to be sooking.
nerval
Guest
No doubt, Nick, you saw and commented upon this eye-opening BBC documentary about these Welsh rugby "codebreakers" - of whom many were victims of racism in Welsh rugby union - especially, when it came to selection for the Wales national side? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43307033
nerval
Guest
Yes, "mate" rugby league scrums are indeed a "cuddly joke" - but they're not "mine" as I've never played a single minute of rugby league. We weren't allowed! But, I was being too kind about good old Dai Young. He was pretty useless at rugby league. He was just totally unsuited to it. Nice guy, though, by all accounts...
Armchair Halfback
Roar Rookie
Thanks Nick, appreciate your insights.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
They probably lost even more players than the WBs AH. Wiki gives 48 dual code internationals in Australia as against 99 Welshmen. Back in the days before professionalism, it was the only real way a talented Welsh player could make money out of rugby. The social background in Yorkshire and Lancashire was also quite similar to South Wales, so that made it a good fit. It took some great players before they had fulfilled their potential in Union - for example backs like Maurice Richards, Lewis Jones, Keith Jarrett and John Bevan; forwards like Dai Young, Stuart Evans and Scott Quinnell. The only one who moved the other way (to the best of my knowledge) is Iestyn Harris.
Cockroachinqld
Guest
And don't forget a wrestling commentator too :)
CockroachinQld
Guest
I saw him playing for NSW rugby under 18's I think ? Was a fantastic talent in both codes and a joy to watch but not too play against I'm guessing.