Rugby League World Cup
| File:RL World Cup Trophy.jpg The World Cup Trophy, which has been awarded to the world champions since 1954. | |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1954 |
| No. of teams | 10 (Finals) |
| Continent | International (Rugby League International Federation) |
| Most recent champion(s) |  Australia |
The Rugby League World Cup is an international competition contested by the men's national rugby league teams of the member nations of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF), the sport's global governing body.
The first tournament was held in France in 1954, the first World Cup of either rugby code. The championship has been awarded at various intervals since and is used to determine the best playing nation in the world. The next tournament will be contested in Australia in 2008.
In the twelve tournaments held to date, only two nations have ever won the competition. Australia is by far the most successful World Cup team, having won the tournament nine times, displaying their continual dominance of rugby league internationally. Great Britain are the other nation to have claimed the cup, claiming it on three separate occasions but are unlikely to win the competition again after being split up into the various home nations since 1995.
The most recent World Cup Finals were held between October 28 and November 29, 2000 in Great Britain, where Australia were crowned champions after beating New Zealand in the final at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Since 2000, the RLIF has also organized the Women's Rugby League World Cup held on two occasions to date.
History
The Rugby League World Cup was an initiative of the French, who had been campaigning for a Rugby League World Cup since 1935. The idea was further pursued in 1951 in post-war France, with the pioneer of the concept being Paul Barriere, the President of the French Rugby League. In January 1952 the idea gained momentum as Rugby Football League secretary Bill Fallowfield persuaded the Rugby League Council to support the concept. At a meeting held in Blackpool, England, November 1953, the International Board accepted Paul Barrie’s proposal that France should be the nation to host the first World Cup, the inaugural "Rugby World Cup" of either rugby code. The first World Cup was held the following year, with Great Britain defeating France in Paris on November 13 to claim the title.
The World Cup was initially contested by the four Test nations: Australia, Great Britain, France and New Zealand. The teams played each other in a league format. After a final was played between the top two teams in 1954, it was decided that the team that finished first in the league standings would be declared the winner for the second World Cup in Australia in 1957. Australia proved victorious on their home ground.
After the successful 1960 competition, in which Great Britain won the title for the second time, there would be no further World Cup for 8 years. The competition had be scheduled to be held in France in 1965, but after an unsuccessful tour of Australia, the French withdrew. The tournament was next held in 1968, and followed a 2 year cycle until the mid-1970s. The 1972 World Cup final ended in a 10-all draw, and the title was awarded to Great Britain by virtue of their superior record in the qualifiers.
In 1975 the competition underwent its most radical overhaul to date. It was decided to play matches on a home and away basis around the world, instead of in any one host nation. Furthermore, the Great Britain team was split into England and Wales. Australia won that tournament, and in 1977 it was decided that Great Britain should once more compete as a single entity. Although the final between Australia and Great Britain was a closely fought affair, public interest in the tournament waned due to the continuing tinkering with the format, and it would not be held again until the mid-1980s.
From 1985 to 1988, each nation played each other a number of times on a home and away basis. At the end of that period Australia met New Zealand at Eden Park. The match was a physical encounter, and Australian captain Wally Lewis played part of the match with a broken arm. The Kangaroos won the competition 25-12. This format was repeated from 1989-1992, and Australia defeated Great Britain 10-6 at Wembley Stadium in front of 72,000 people. This crowd remains a rugby league World Cup record.
In 1995 the competition was once again restructured, and the largest number of teams to date (10) entered. New teams competing included Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and South Africa. The tournament, which was also held to celebrate the centenary of the sport in England, was highly successful with over 250,000 people attending the group stages and over 66,000 people attending the final to see Australia defeat England 16-8 in the final.
The 2000 world cup expanded the field further, with 16 teams entering. Blown out score lines meant that this tournament was not as successful as the previous one. In the same year, the first women's rugby league world cup was held.
Ten teams are to compete in the next World Cup in Australia in 2008. It has also been announced that the following tournament will be held in Great Britain in 2013[1]
Trophy
The original Rugby League World Cup trophy was produced and then donated to the Rugby League International Federation by the French Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII president Paul Barriere in 1954 to be used for the inaugural competition. This trophy would be used and presented to the winning nation for the next four tournaments until the RLIF decided it would debut a new trophy at the 1970 Cup that was considerably smaller than the original cup and was gold instead of silver like its predecessor.
The new cup remained as the tournament's prize until 2000 and while they wanted to re-introduce the original cup, as the competition prize, they were unable to do so as it had been stolen during the 1970 competition[2].
The original World Cup trophy reappeared during the 2000 Rugby League World Cup after it was found and presented to the victorious Australian team. The same trophy will likely be used for both the 2008 and 2013 competitions.
Format
The Rugby League World Cup has followed a varied range of formats throughout its history.
Since 1995, groups of teams have been placed in a qualifying pool followed by a finals system. The top teams in each pool qualify into the next round. In 1995, there were 10 teams split into one group of four, and two groups of three. The top two teams progressed in the group of four and the top team progressed from each of the groups of three into the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals progressed to the final.
In 2000, sixteen teams were split into four groups of four. The top two teams from each group progressed to the knockout quarter finals. The winners of the quarter finals played in the semi-final and the winners of the semi-finals progressed to the final.
The 2008 tournament will follow a similar format with the 1995 competition. The 10 teams will be split into one group of four, and two groups of three. However, three teams will progress into the semi-finals in the group of four and the winners of the two groups of three will playoff for a position in the semi-final. The winners of the semi-finals progressed to the final.
Alternate formats
From 1954 until 1972 the World Cup competition had only featured four teams in Australia, Britain, France and New Zealand; because of this a current style format of World Cup would have been impractical and instead the RLIF adopted a league style format where each team would play each other and whichever two teams sat atop of the table after the designated matches would play off in a final and be declared champion. This style was again re-introduced for the 1977 tournament.
For the 1975 tournament a new format was introduced where no single country would hold the world cup but rather each country playing in the tournament would hold all home fixtures in their own country and play away in the country of their opposition. This style of tournament saw a further three countries enter the cup under the league format in England, Papua New Guinea and Wales. With the exception of the 1977 tournament this format was used all the way up until the 1995 competition.
Qualification
Since the 1995 tournament the majority of teams have had to qualify for the World Cup tournament. Teams from Europe have qualified through the European qualifying groups, Oceania and Pacific Island teams attempt to qualify for the tournament via Pacific qualifying groups and teams from the Atlantic region qualify through the Atlantic qualifying group. The remaining teams attempt to gain entry via the repêchage rounds of the World Cup qualifiers.
For the 2008 tournament five teams have been granted automatic entry into the cup and will therefore not have to gain admission through the qualifying stages. These five teams are the original five that entered the World Cup between 1954 and 1992 in Australia, England, France, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
Results
World Cup summaries
Successful national teams
Australia, France and New Zealand are the only nations who have appeared at every Rugby League World Cup from 1954 to 2000. England and Wales also have been at all, but participated under the banner of Great Britain from the majority of the earlier tournaments.
To date only Australia and Great Britain have been crowned World Cup champions with Australia easily the most successful winning nine of the twelve tournaments but many other nations have performed well in the tournament since its inception over fifty years ago. France have been runners-up on two occasions including the inaugural cup where they were captained by Puig Aubert, New Zealand and England have also finished runners-up on two occasions.
Other nations to make it past the qualifying pool stages include Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Wales in 2000.
The following list, are all the teams that have competed in a World Cup tournament since its inception; the number of times they have appeared; their most recent appearance; consecutive appearances and their highest result:
| Nation | Number of appearances | First appearance | Most recent appearance | Most consecutive cups | Best result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia
|
12 | 1954 | 2000 | 12 | Champion, 1957; 1968; 1970; 1975; 1977; 1988; 1992; 1995; 2000 |
 France
|
12 | 1954 | 2000 | 12 | Runner-up, 1954; 1968 |
 New Zealand
|
12 | 1954 | 2000 | 12 | Runner-up, 1988; 2000 |
 Great Britain
|
9 | 1954 | 1992 | 6 | Champion, 1954; 1960; 1972 |
 Papua New Guinea
|
4 | 1988 | 2000 | 4 | Quarter-finalist, 2000 |
 England
|
3 | 1975 | 2000 | 2 | Runner-up, 1975; 1995 |
 Wales
|
3 | 1975 | 2000 | 2 | Semi-finalist, 1995; 2000 |
 Fiji
|
2 | 1995 | 2000 | 2 | One win, 1995; 2000 |
 Samoa
|
2 | 1995 | 2000 | 2 | Quarter-finalist, 2000 |
 South Africa
|
2 | 1995 | 2000 | 2 | No games won |
 Tonga
|
2 | 1995 | 2000 | 2 | One win, 2000 |
 Cook Islands
|
1 | 2000 | 2000 | 1 | No games won |
 Ireland
|
1 | 2000 | 2000 | 1 | Quarter-finalist, 2000 |
 Lebanon
|
1 | 2000 | 2000 | 1 | No games won |
 Māori
|
1 | 2000 | 2000 | 1 | One win, 2000 |
 Russia
|
1 | 2000 | 2000 | 1 | No games won |
 Scotland
|
1 | 2000 | 2000 | 1 | No games won |
Awards
The top point scorer for each tournament is recognised with an official award by the Rugby League International Federation. In the début tournament the highest point scorer was the France national rugby league team's Puig Aubert.
Records and statistics
Overall top pointscorers
| Points | Scorers |
|---|---|
| 112 | Mick Cronin
|
| 108 | Michael O'Connor
|
| 94 | / George Fairbairn
|
Most appearances
| Appearances | Individual |
|---|---|
| 25 | Kurt Sorenson
|
| 17 | / John Atkinson; Bob Fulton
|
| 15 | Mal Meninga; Michael O'Connor
|
World Cup winning captains and coaches
| Year | Captain | Coach | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Dave Valentine |
| |
| 1957 | Dick Poole | Dick Poole |
|
| 1960 | Eric Ashton |
| |
| 1968 | Johnny Raper | Harry Bath |
|
| 1970 | Ron Coote | Harry Bath |
|
| 1972 | Clive Sullivan | Jim Challinor |
|
| 1975 | Arthur Beetson | Graeme Langlands |
|
| 1977 | Arthur Beetson | Terry Fearnley |
|
| 1988 | Wally Lewis | Don Furner |
|
| 1992 | Mal Meninga | Bob Fulton |
|
| 1995 | Brad Fittler | Bob Fulton |
|
| 2000 | Brad Fittler | Chris Anderson |
|
Footnotes
See also
- Rugby League International Federation
- RLIF World Rankings
- List of International Rugby League Teams
- Emerging Nations Tournament
- European Cup
- Mediterranean Cup
- Pacific Cup
- Tri-Nations
- Tertiary Student Rugby League World Cup
External links
- Official Rugby League World Cup Website
- BBC website, History (1954-2000) retrieved 2 May, 2006
- "RLIF Meeting", 2008 World Cup European Rugby League Federation, retrieved May 8, 2006
- "Kiwi hangover after the hype", 2013 World Cup retrieved 8 May, 2006