1954 Rugby League World Cup

1954 (1954) World Cup  ()
Number of teams4
Host country France
Winner Great Britain (1st title)

Matches played7
Attendance138,329 (19,761 per match)
Points scored231 (33 per match)
Top scorerUnited Kingdom Jimmy Ledgard (29)
Top try scorerUnited Kingdom Gordon Brown (6)
1957

The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league football's first World Cup and was held in France in October-November 1954.[1] Officially known as the "Rugby World Cup",[2] four nations competed in the tournament: Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand. A group stage was held first, with Great Britain topping the table as a result of points difference. They went on to defeat France (who finished second in the table, level on points) in the final, which was held at Paris' Parc des Princes before approximately 31,000 spectators.[3]

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

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. Teams from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States were invited to join the hosts, France, for the first World Cup in 1953.[6] However, the tournament was not held until 1954, with all teams except the United States participating. The French had suggested that the United States play but the other nations were concerned about a lack of competitiveness which was borne out by France beating the United States 31-0 on the 9th of January 1954.[7] It had been suggested that Wales be invited instead of the USA but they weren't approached.[8]

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).

Teams

Team Nickname Coach Captain
 Australia (1st appearance) The Kangaroos Vic Hey Clive Churchill
 New Zealand (1st appearance) The Kiwis Jim Amos Cyril Eastlake
 Great Britain (1st appearance) The Lions G. Shaw Dave Valentine
 France (1st appearance) Les Chanticleers Puig Aubert

Venues

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

Paris Marseille Toulouse
Parc des Princes Stade Vélodrome Stadium de Toulouse
Capacity: 48,712 Capacity: 49,000 Capacity: 37,000
1932 Le parc des princes v1.jpg Marseille Montpellier Septembre 2009.jpg Aerial Toulouse 01.JPG
Lyon Bordeaux Nantes
Stade de Gerland Stade Chaban Delmas Stade Marcel Saupin
Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 20,000
Stade de Gerland P1190154.jpg Stade Marcel Saupin CFA2 match.jpg

Matches

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
Advances to the Final
Team Played Won Drew Lost For Against Difference Points
 Great Britain 3 2 1 0 67 32 +35 5
 France 3 2 1 0 50 31 +19 5
 Australia 3 1 0 2 52 58 −6 2
 New Zealand 3 0 0 3 34 82 −48 0
30 October 1954 France  22 – 13  New Zealand Parc des Princes, Paris
31 October 1954 Australia  13 – 28  Great Britain Stade de Gerland, Lyon
7 November 1954 France  13 – 13  Great Britain Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
7 November 1954 Australia  34 – 15  New Zealand Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
11 November 1954 Great Britain  26 – 6  New Zealand Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux
11 November 1954 France  15 – 5  Australia Stade Marcel Saupin, Nantes

Final

13 November 1954
France  12 – 16  Great Britain
Try:
Raymond Contrastin
Vincent Cantoni

Goals:
Puig Aubert (3)
[9] Try:
Gerry Helme (2)
Gordon Brown (2)
David Rose
Goals:
Jimmy Ledgard (2)
Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 30,368
Referee: Charles Appleton United Kingdom
Man of the Match: Don Robinson Great Britain colours.svg
France
Great Britain
FB 1 Catalanscolours.svg Puig Aubert (c)
RW 2 France colours.svg Vincent Cantoni
RC 3 France colours.svg Claude Teissiere
LC 4 Faxcolours.svg Jacques Merquey
LW 5 France colours.svg Raymond Contrastin
SO 6 France colours.svg Antoine Jiminez
SH 7 France colours.svg Joseph Crespo
PR 8 France colours.svg Joseph Krawzyck
HK 9 France colours.svg Jean Audobert
PR 10 France colours.svg François Rinaldi
SR 11 France colours.svg Armand Save
SR 12 France colours.svg Jean Pambrun
LF 13 France colours.svg Gilbert Verdier
Coaches:
France Jean Duhau and Rene Duffort
FB 1 Leigh colours.svg Jimmy Ledgard
RW 2 Rhinoscolours.svg David Rose
RC 3 Barrowcolours.svg Phil Jackson
LC 4 Wolvescolours.svg Ally Naughton
LW 5 Giantscolours.svg Mick Sullivan
SO 6 Rhinoscolours.svg Gordon Brown
SH 7 Wolvescolours.svg Gerry Helme
PR 8 Faxcolours.svg John Thorley
HK 9 Hunsletcolours.svg Sam Smith
PR 10 Hullcolours.svg Bob Coverdale
SR 11 Balmain colours.svg Basil Watts
SR 12 Wcatscolours.svg Don Robinson
LF 13 Giantscolours.svg Dave Valentine (c)
Coach:
England G. Shaw

References

In-line

  1. ^ 1954 World Cup Archived 13 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at rugbyleagueplanet.com
  2. ^ SPARC, 2009: 28
  3. ^ 1954 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.org
  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. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  9. ^ Report

General


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