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The History of the Rugby League World Cup

The first Rugby League World Cup was played in 1954 in France, with Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand competing. Great Britain took the first title, but it would be Australia who would stamp their authority on the competition, having won every World Cup tournament since 1975. In fact, only Great Britain and Australia have won the title.

Here are some highlights from the history of the Rugby League World Cup:

1954: The first rugby league World Cup tournament was held in France between Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand. It was conducted in a league format with the team at the top of the table winning the title. Great Britain won the World Cup.

1957: Hosts Australia claimed their first rugby league World Cup title. As before the competition was run in a league format with the home side emerging the victors due to topping the table.

1965: France withdrew from the tournament and therefore the planned rugby league World Cup was cancelled.

1972: France hosted the cup once more with Australia touted as the favourites. This was a key year in the history of the rugby league World Cup, as although the league format of the competition was retained, a final was also introduced. However, only 4,500 people turned up to watch the first rugby union World Cup final in Lyon's Stade Gerland, due to the fact that the home side had not reached it.

Australia faced Great Britain in the final, which was a very closely fought affair. By the end of the match, both teams were drawing on ten points each, therefore a period of extra time was required. However by the end of extra time no one had scored, so the title was awarded to Great Britain due their better standing in the World Cup league table.

1975: The format was changed in 1975, and matches were played around the world, with teams playing each other both at home and away, as opposed to being held in one country. No final was held and Australia was declared the winner as they had topped the league table. This was also a significant year as although previously Great Britain had entered as a single team, England and Wales entered as separate teams.

1977: The previous year's format change was judged to have been unsuccessful, so this year the rugby league World Cup competition changed back to its old format. Great Britain also reverted to playing as a single team, rather than splitting into English and Welsh teams.

1985-88 & 1989-1992: Both competitions were held over a three year, multi-nation format across the world. Each match was a test match held within a test series, with the top two sides in the league taking part in the final to decide the winner. In both tournaments held under this format, Australia won the title.

1995: Celebrating a hundred years of rugby league, the 1995 World Cup was envisaged as a celebration of the sport. The number of competitors had doubled, with sides such as Tonga and South Africa taking part for the first time. Additionally an Emerging Nations Tournament was run alongside the main event for those sides who had failed to qualify and featured nations such as the USA, Scotland and the Cook Islands.

Despite initial doubts and pessimism, the competition was seen to be a great success. Although early matches tended to be a bit one-sided, the crowds were large and the curiosity value of watching the new nations proved to be popular with the public. A crowd of 66,540 people watched the final between Great Britain and Australia at Wembley Stadium, London. Australia took the title for the eighth time in the history of the Rugby League World Cup, winning 16-8 over England.

2000: If the 1995 World Cup was seen as a real success, the 2000 equivalent was viewed as quite the opposite, attendances were low and some of the teams were thought of as lacking credibility. The team from Lebanon consisted entirely of Australians of Lebanese descent, and there was a team representing New Zealand's Maori population. Torrential rain storms and the Hatfield rail crash in England aided considerably in keeping people away from the matches.

The tournament only made £2 million, putting the RFL into large amounts of debt, a situation that it only recovered from in 2004. In spite of all this however, the Australians continued to stamp their authority on the competition by beating New Zealand 40-12 at Old Trafford, Manchester.

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