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1954 Rugby League World Cup

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1954 Rugby League World Cup
Tournament details
Host nation France
Dates30 October – 13 November
No. of nations4 (reduced from 5)
Final positions
Champions  Great Britain (1st title)
Runner-up  France
Third place  Australia
Tournament statistics
Matches played7
Attendance138,329 (19,761 per match)
Top scorer(s) Jimmy Ledgard (29)
Most tries Gordon Brown (6)
1957

The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league's first World Cup and was held between 30 October and 13 November and hosted by France[1] and was won by Great Britain who beat France in the final at the Parc des Princes in Paris.[2] As it was the first official World Cup of either rugby code it was officially known as the Rugby World Cup.[3]

Five nations were invited to compete: Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand and USA (However the USA would withdraw before the tournament began).

The prime instigators behind the idea of holding a rugby league world cup were the French, who were short of money following the seizing of their assets by French rugby union in the Second World War.

The first Rugby League World Cup was an unqualified success. It was played in a uniformly good spirit, provided an excellent standard of play and was a fitting celebration of France's 20th anniversary as a rugby league-playing nation. The trophy, which was donated by the French, was worth eight million francs.[4]

Background

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Shirts of the teams in 1954.

The World Cup was a French initiative. Led by Paul Barrière, who donated the Rugby League World Cup trophy himself,[5] they had been campaigning for such a tournament since before the Second World War.

The uncertainty of the ultimate outcome was of particular interest. In the early 1950s all four competing nations were quite capable of beating each other – no test series in the period was a foregone conclusion.

If there were a favourite it was Australia who had just won back the Ashes. However, in 1953 they had lost series to both the French and the Kiwis, while Great Britain had defeated New Zealand on the second half of their 1954 Australasian tour.

The form book merely provided a conundrum which was made more confusing when the British were forced, through injuries and players making themselves unavailable, to select a raw and largely untried squad which was given little credibility by the cynics.

The captains for this historic event were Puig-Aubert (France), Cyril Eastlake (New Zealand), Clive Churchill (Australia) and Dave Valentine (Britain). The referees were Warrington's Charlie Appleton and Rene Guidicelli (Perpignan).

Participants

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Five teams were invited to participate in the first World Cup; Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States along with hosts, France.[6] There were concerns around the United States participation. The American All Stars who had toured Australia and New Zealand and drawn big crowds in 1953 but were heavily beaten in all their games as well as being beaten 31–0 by France in 1954.[7] This led to doubts around whether an American team would be competitive enough to compete with the United States withdrawing from the tournament. It had been suggested that Wales could replace the United States but were not invited as Great Britain were already participating.[8]

Venues

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The games were played at various venues in France with the Final played at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

Marseille Paris Toulouse Lyon
Stade Vélodrome Parc des Princes Stadium de Toulouse Stade de Gerland
Capacity: 49,000 Capacity: 38,000 Capacity: 37,000 Capacity: 30,000
1954 Rugby League World Cup (France)
Bordeaux
Stade Chaban-Delmas
Capacity: 30,000
Nantes
Stade Marcel-Saupin
Capacity: 20,000

Group stage

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Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Great Britain 3 2 1 0 67 32 +35 5 Advance to the Final
2 France 3 2 1 0 50 31 +19 5
3 Australia 3 1 0 2 52 58 −6 2
4 New Zealand 3 0 0 3 34 82 −48 0
Updated to match(es) played on 11 November 1954. Source: RugbyLeagueProject
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) point difference; 3) number of points scored
30 October France  22–13  New Zealand Parc des Princes, Paris
31 October Australia  13–28  Great Britain Stade de Gerland, Lyon
7 November Australia  34–15  New Zealand Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
7 November France  13–13  Great Britain Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
11 November France  15–5  Australia Stade Marcel Saupin, Nantes
11 November Great Britain  26–6  New Zealand Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux

Final

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The 1954 Rugby League World Cup final was the conclusive game of the 1954 Rugby League World Cup tournament and was played between France and Great Britain on November 13, 1954, at Parc des Princes, Paris, France.

13 November
France  12–16  Great Britain
Tries: Raymond Contrastin
Vincent Cantoni
Goals: Puig Aubert (3)
Report
Tries: Gerry Helme
Gordon Brown (2)
David Rose
Goals: Jimmy Ledgard (2)
Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 30,368
Referee: Charles Appleton (England)
Player of the Match: Don Robinson (Great Britain)

Try scorers

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6
5
4
3
2
1

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ 1954 World Cup Archived 13 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at rugbyleagueplanet.com
  2. ^ 1954 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.org
  3. ^ SPARC, 2009: 28
  4. ^ RLIF. "Past Winners: 1954". Rugby League International Federation. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  5. ^ "1954 World Cup". 188 Rugby League. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. at 188-rugby-league.co.uk
  6. ^ AAP (19 January 1953). "World Cup Suggestion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia. p. 7. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  7. ^ "France vs. United States of America". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. ^ Ferguson, Andrew. "The French Barriere That Wouldn't Break" (PDF). MenofLeague. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.

General

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