Rugby League "Four Nations"

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

From the beginning of international rugby league in 1908, “The Big Three” – England (aka Great Britain), New Zealand and Australia – have dominated the game.

The Courtney Goodwill Trophy became a sort of unofficial World Cup, being heralded in press cables as the "RUGBY CUP" and a "NEW INTERNATIONAL SERIES" in 1936. The competing nations were Australia, England, France and New Zealand (Image from: The Canberra Times of 13/5/1936).

The French were welcomed in the mid-1930s, giving rise to "Courtney Goodwill Trophy" - a cup won or lost when two of the four nations met each other.

An extremely large piece (it proved to be too cumbersome to move about once air travel became the norm in the late 1950s), the Trophy depicts the embossed-relief images of Harold Wagstaff (England/Great Britain), Dally Messenger (Australia), Albert Baskerville (New Zealand) and Jean Galia (France).

The four nations competed against each other in the one tournament for the first time in France in 1954 - the inaugural Rugby League World Cup.

The first six World Cup competitions were played as tournaments between the four nations (1954-72), as was the eighth (in 1977). Of these seven Cups the England/British Lions won three (1954, 1960 and 1972), and the Kangaroos the other four (1957, 1968, 1970 and 1977).

Heading into the 1970 Cup Final at Leeds, both Australia and England had won two tournaments each, and of the five times the teams had met since 1954, the Kangaroos had lost three of those games.

The Lions had claimed the Ashes crown in Australia just a few months earlier, and reached the 1970 Cup final unbeaten. Meanwhile the Kangaroos limped into the Final courtesy of a better points differential than the Kiwis and French.

Australia’s unexpected 12-7 victory to take the Cup caused frustration to boil-over in the home team, and late in the match the contest deteriorated into fist fights, off-the-ball muggings, and then ended at full-time with an all-in-brawl.

In the 1972 Cup, the Lions beat the Aussies 27-21 in Perpignan, and then in the Final in Lyon held the Kangaroos to a 10-all draw to claim the trophy on a count-back. While Australia could probably point to hard luck in that Final (with a Graeme Langlands “try” disallowed), the “Poms” will argue vehemently that the Kangaroos were fortunate to win the 1977 (13-12) Cup Final which had its own moments of controversy and post-match debate.

The Kiwis had few successes in World Cup pool matches when it was a four-nation contest. The French record is better, progressing to the Cup Final in 1954 and 1968.

In October 2009 the Four Nations tournament in England will be the first four-way contest between the top-tier rugby league nations since the 1977 World Cup in Australia.