A Motor Car Compared To A Bullock Wagon
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
Aptly, the decision by the Northern Union (English Rugby League) in 1906 to introduce the 13-a-side and play-the-ball rules, was made at The George Hotel in Huddersfield - the same rooms where the code was formed in 1895.
Headline news in The Yorkshire Post
The meeting held the night before (June 12, 1906) saw the introduction of rules that forever distinguished Rugby League from Rugby Union. The first official competition matches were played on September 1. |
From their first days, the officials of the NU set about introducing on-field rule changes to improve upon those of the Rugby Football Union. The primary incentive for reform of the playing rules came from the need to compete for footballers and spectators with soccer. No doubt being free from the shackles of the intransient RFU also encouraged the bringing forward of new ideas at every opportunity.
By the end of the first decade of professional rugby under the NU, the major changes made were the abolition of the line-out, half-backs being required to retire behind the scrum, and reduced points for penalty/field goals.
Two significant areas of the game though remained unreformed, and they continued to be the centre of much angst and disagreement:
1. What was the best number of men per team; and
2. How to continue play after a completed tackle.
At a meeting held on June 12, 1906, the NU introduced two changes that resolved these issues, and that forever separated rugby league from rugby union. Ironically, it was the tour of the New Zealand rugby union team to Britain in 1905 that generated the final impetus to introduce the rule changes.
The first calls to reduce the number of players for each side were made under the RFU era, before the split of 1895. Support for the change was strongest amongst the Northern clubs, and the RFU decreed that anything less than 15-a-side amounted to professionalism - and therefore expulsion or suspension for any clubs and footballers involved.
Under the NU, trial matches saw various numerical combinations tried. County matches in the early 1900s were played with 12-a-side, as was the first ever International contest (England v Other Nationalities) in April 1904. At the same time, most "Work competitions" comprised clubs using 12-a-side teams.
Those arguing for reduced player numbers had more support after a deadly-dull Challenge Cup Final in 1903 between Halifax and Salford. Before a record crowd of over 32,000 at Headingley, only one try was scored in a 7-0 victory for Halifax.
Since the 1800s, the laws of both rugby codes had required a set scrum to be formed everytime a player was tackled to the ground or held (unable to pass the ball). Much of the game was consumed by scrummaging contests instead of open play.
By the 1905 season, the NU was arguably going into decline, and was losing its battle against soccer for support and players. Unlike in soccer and cricket, the spectators rarely saw the ball in rugby matches - under the NU or the RFU.
The visit of the All Blacks that winter finally provided the NU with the solution, and the motivation, to make dramatic changes.
The New Zealanders showcased across Britain an attacking style of rugby that had been developing in the colony, and to a lesser extent in NSW and Queensland - where players would refuse to fall with the football in hand, always looking for a support player, seeking to continue the movement and attack the opposition line.
Their objective was to avoid scrums and to keep the play continuous, and to wear down opponents with rapid passing movements and spectacular back play.
As a result, the All Blacks attracted supporters to their matches in their tens of thousands. Their financial success made a lasting impression upon the NU.
To bring about "All Blacks style rugby" on a weekly basis amongst their own club footballers, the NU reduced the number of players on each team from 15 to 13, to create more space for attacking rugby. They also introduced a second reform to mimic the All Blacks preference to avoid scrums - the NU introduced the play-the-ball (in effect a quickly formed and highly visible/open two-man scrum).
Had the decisions of June 12, 1906, not been made by the NU, rugby league may well have withered away.
The changes also proved to be well-timed, as the NU game was taken up in Australia and New Zealand in 1908. By far the greatest reason that rugby league gained such rapid acceptance and popularity in Sydney and Brisbane was the speed of the game in comparison to rugby union.
While the NSWRL was embroiled in internal ructions throughout 1909 that threatened to end its existence, the on-field action ensured the code survived. The Referee said ‘what has so far saved the League from itself is that the game it controls is spectacular, and therefore popular when played properly.'
The Sydney Morning Herald observed that ‘the difference between the new rugby and the old rugby is as a motor car compared to the bullock wagon.'
References:
RFU Laws (var)
The Mitchell & Kenyon Collection
The Referee
The Yorskhire Post |
