The Australian Aboriginal Tour 1996
Rugby League
In 1996 the first Aboriginal rugby league tour of England took place.
In 1996 the first Aboriginal rugby league tour of England took place.
In the days before the internet, websites and social media, rugby league fans had to rely on newspapers and magazines for rugby league stories, match reports and gossip about the game.
In the 1920s there was some interest in rugby league in the south of the county.
I had watched David Watkins on television playing rugby union for Wales and the British Lions and when he changed codes in October 1967 I thought, as I am sure many other people did, that his signing was a massive coup for Salford and rugby league. I was intrigued to see how he would settle into his new sport and whether he would make the same impact in league as he had in union.
The Rugby League Challenge Cup started life as the Northern Union Challenge Cup in 1897. The competition was re-named the Rugby League Challenge Cup in 1922 when the Northern Union became Rugby Football League. Over the years the format of the competition has changed a number of times, but apart the 1993 and 1994 competitions, there have always been junior/amateur clubs included in the first or preliminary round draw.
St John Fisher played Hunslet Parkside in the Yorkshire Youth Under 19 Cup Final on the 18th of December 1982.
The New Zealand Universities team was the first student representative side to tour the UK.
Over recent years International rugby league has been played in a number of towns and cities that wouldn't be considered to be in the 'heartlands' of the game.