Jonathan Doidge takes a look back at the long and colourful history of the Rugby League World Cup.
The Rugby League World Cup can rightly claim to have been the first of its kind in either code of rugby, with the first competition being held in France in
1954, when Great Britain defeated the host nation in the final, staged in Paris.
The competition moved to Australia in
1957, where the hosts won a league competition also involving Great Britain, New Zealand and France, to lift the title for the first of nine occasions.
Great Britain staged the tournament for the first time in
1960 and regained the title with a 10-3 victory over the holders in front of 32, 773 at Bradford's Odsal Stadium. Wigan's Eric Ashton, the 'Prince of centres' had the honour of leading a star-studded line-up that included some of the all-time greats such as Alex Murphy, Billy Boston and Mick Sullivan.
After France had struggled on a tour of Australia, they withdrew from staging the scheduled
1965 World Cup, meaning there was an eight-year gap by the time the next competition was organised for
1968.
For the first time the tournament was held in two countries, with Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland staging the seven matches that it took to decide the winner. Over 62,000 were crammed into the Sydney Cricket Ground to see the Aussies defeat Great Britain 25-10 in the opener, and the co-hosts, led by the legendary Johnny Raper, enjoyed a similarly comfortable 20-2 success against France at the same venue in the final.
Sporadic
By now, the sporadic tournament was being held every two years, so after Great Britain had returned triumphant from their
1970 Ashes Tour of Australia, they were naturally the favourites to regain the World Cup on home soil.
Nothing that happened in the group stages of the tournament changed any of that. Great Britain swept aside the Aussies, France and New Zealand in clinical fashion. Australia, meanwhile, lost two of their three pool matches and only reached the Headingley final on points difference.
On the day they got it right though and despite a John Atkinson try on his home ground, Australia won a very tough battle 12-7 to regain some pride and the title.
By
1972 the World Cup returned to France for the first time since 1954, but the host nation could not prevent Great Britain and Australia making the final once more. Despite a memorable length-of-the-field try by GB winger Clive Sullivan and another by current
Sky Sports pundit Mike 'Stevo' Stephenson, the finalists could not be separated in the 80 minutes played out in the Lyon decider, drawing 10-10.
Rather than extra time or a replay, the tournament rules said that the outcome of the pool game between the teams would decide the World Cup winner, so Great Britain, courtesy of their earlier 27-21 success against the Aussies, lifted the title.
The dip in popularity of the international game in the 1970s was never better exemplified than by the attendance at that final, for even though the host nation was not involved, a miserly 4,500 spectators turned up to see the decider.
Although Great Britain had always been the team to represent what was of course largely an English team in Test matches and World Cups, by
1975 the Rugby Football League took the decision to split the GB side into England and Wales, so making it into a five-team tournament.
Format changed
As a result, and for by no means the last time, the format of the competition was changed. The nations competed against each other home
