Great Britain is one of the major national teams playing rugby league. The team is administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), and is commonly nicknamed the 'Lions' or 'Great Britain Lions'. The team has also been known as 'Great Britain and Ireland'. The RFL has announced that after the 2006 Tri-nations tournament the Great Britain team will be retired, and that players will be able to represent England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland at the Test level. It is planned that the Great Britain team will come together only for occasional tours, such as the one planned for the Southern Hemisphere in 2010. [1]
Great Britain have traditionally been one of the strongest teams in rugby league, though usually playing second fiddle to Australia. They have won the Rugby League World Cup on three occasions: 1954, 1960 and 1972. Since 1995 the RFL have preferred to send the home nations as separate teams for world cup purposes.
Great Britain continue to compete as test playing nation both home and away (unlike the British and Irish Lions rugby union team, who are a touring only team playing sporadically). They compete against Australia for The Ashes, and New Zealand for the Baskerville Shield, as well as playing series and tours against other nations such as France and Papua New Guinea. Great Britain also play in the Tri-Nations.
As stated above, there is some confusion as to which “nation” the Lions represent.
The team was originally known as the Northern Union XIII in reference to the name of the sport's governing body. After 1922 the name "The Lions" was first used. In 1948 the team became known as Great Britain for the Ashes Series. During the 1990s the Rugby Football League expanded this to Great Britain and Ireland, and the jersey bore the name British Isles XIII. In 2004 the "...and Ireland" was dropped from the title, and Great Britain was used on the jersey, however, the Irish shamrock continues to form part of the RFL's crest. Players from the Republic of Ireland have been selected to play for Great Britain, one recent example being Cork-born Brian Carney.
At matches, the team is represented by the Union Flag and the singing of God Save the Queen, both symbols of the United Kingdom. The practice of a UK-wide team being called Great Britain has a precedent with the Great British Olympic team. The formal name of the Olympic team includes "and Northern Ireland", however.
In Australia, the Great Britain team is often erroneously referred to as England, most notably by television commentator Phil Gould.
After the 2006 Tri-nations tournament, the Great Britain team will be reserved for Lions tours of the Southern Hemisphere. According to Richard Lewis, chairman of the Rugby Football League:
Great Britain have won the World Cup three times; on each occasion the largely English team enlisted significant help from Scots or Welshmen.
On the 18th January 1908, the first ever Great Britain test match took place at Headingley, versus New Zealand. At the time, Great Britain were refered to as the 'Northern Union' - they won the game 14-6 before a crowd of 8000. The second test went to New Zealand by 18-6, before 14,000 in London. The third test was played at Cheltenham, and 4000 watched New Zealand win 8-5.
The first Kangaroos arrived in England on the 27th September 1908, and played their first ever test against the Northern Union in December in London. It finished 22-22 in front of a crowd of 2,000. The second test in Newcastle in January 1909 attracted a crowd of 22,000, and the Northern Union won 15-5. The third test was played at Aston Villa, the Northern Union winning again 6-5 before a crowd of 9,000. The Australians suggested that the series should be named 'The Ashes' after the cricket series of the same name.
The first British tour of the Southern Hemisphere began on 4th June 1910, when the Northern Union played New South Wales in front of 33,000 spectators in Sydney, losing 28-14. But they won the first test in Sydney against Australia 27-20 in front of 42,000. They then won the second test in Brisbane 22-17. In Aukland, on 30th July, they defeated New Zealand 52-20.
In January 1922, an 'England' side defeated Australia 6-0 at Salford, to win back the Ashes that had been lost in 1920. They would not be lost again until 1950.
The England team adopted a white shirt with a blue and red 'V' for their 1928 tour of Australasia. They won both series in Australia and New Zealand by two tests to one. They were presented with the Ashes Trophy by the Australians, which the two countries have competed for ever since.
Australia made their 7th tour to the UK in 1948, and this time play the Ashes series against a side officially called Great Britain
The first Rugby League World Cup took place in France in October and November 1954. The final, played at the Parc des Princes packed with 30,000 fans, took place on 13th November, where Great Britain beat France 16-12.
On the 11th December 1955 the first official test match took place between Great Britain and France, at Parc des Princes, the French winning 17-5.
In 1956 Great Britain defeated Australia 19-0 at Station Rd, Swinton, to take the Ashes series 2-1. This was the last Ashes won on home soil to date.
In 1960 Great Britain won the World Cup for the second time. The tournament was held in England.
The last time that GB won the Ashes was in 1970. They won the series 2-1 in Australia, out of 24 games played Great Britain won 22, drew one and lost one - making them the most successful British tourists so far. In November though, Great Britain were beaten in the World Cup final by Australia, 12-7, at Headingley.
In 1972 was the last time that Great Britain won the World Cup, their 3rd, held in France. Having drawn the final 10-10 after extra time with Australia, Great Britain won the cup by virtue of having a better qualifying record.
Great Britain did not compete in the 1975 World Cup as the UK was represented by teams from England and Wales for the first time in a World Cup.
On 6th July 1975, at Boroko, Papua New Guinea played their first ever international. They were beaten 40-12 by Great Britain.
There was a reappearence for the Great Britain team at the 1977 World Cup in Australia, but they lose the final 13-12 to the hosts. This was to be the last Rugby League World Cup final for 11 years.
In 1978 Great Britain beat Australia in the second test 18-14, at Bradford, before a crowd of 26,447. It was to be 10 years, and 15 consecutive test defeats before Britain beat the Kangaroos again.
Rugby league was taken into a new dimension by the 1982 Kangaroos side. The Australian tourists beaome the first team to win every game of the tour (15 games) including the first test by 40-4 at Hull in front of 26,771 spectators.
In 1986 a then record northern hemisphere crowd of 50,383 attends the first test of the Ashes series at Old Trafford. The Australians won 38-16.
On the 9th July 1988, Great Britain beat Australia 26-12 in Sydney to win the 3rd test, though the series had already been lost.
In 1989 Great Britain won their first home series since 1965, beating New Zealand by two tests to one.
In 1990 Britain first tied a series in Papua New Guinea 1-1, then won a series 2-1in New Zealand.
Great Britain defeated Australia 19-12 in the first test at Wembley in 1990 in front of a new record home crowd of 54,567. However, the next two tests were narrowly lost, 14-10 and 14-0.
In 1992 Great Britain lost the 1st test 22-6 in Sydney, won the 2nd Ashes test 33-10 in Melbourne, but lost the 3rd test 16-10 in Brisbane. The 1992 World Cup final at Wembley set a record attendence for a rugby league international that still stands today: 73,631 saw Australia edge Great Britain 10-6.
Great Britain won the 1993 home series against New Zealand by three tests to nil, including a 17-0 victory at Wembley in the first test.
The 1995 Centenary World Cup was held in the UK, but Great Britain was split up in separate England and Wales teams for the second time.
In 1996 Great Britain embarked on a disastrous tour down under. They did not play Australia because of the Super League War, but played and won their first and so far only test against Fiji, before losing a series 3-0 to New Zealand. Several British players had to be sent home early because the tour ran out of money.
Great Britain play a home series against the Australian Super League in 1997 and lost 2-1. Despite the series being given official test status, these games are not widely regarded as a genuine Ashes series because so many Australian stars were again missing.
With the Super League War finally over in 1999, Great Britain travelled to the Southern Hemisphere for the first Tri-Nations tournament with Australia and New Zealand. After two heavy defeats, it is obvious that a huge gap has opened up once again between the northern and southern hemispheres.
The 2000 World Cup is held in Britain, Ireland and France but for the second time in succession there is no Great Britain team as the players were split between the four home nations.
In 2001 the Australians arrived in Britain for the first Ashes series since 1994. Great Britain surprised everyone by winning the first test, but lost the next two.
In July 2002 Great Britain suffered a record test defeat 64-10 to Australia in Sydney.
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