Kangaroos v Wallabies - why not?

[slomo]

australia day? what about the triple J hottest 100 party......

[beige]

For those interested in a bit of history...

"Wallabies v Kangaroos" matches save RL - 1909/10

The initial signing in 1907 of Dally Messenger undoubtedly was the one critical event in the creation of the professional rugby league competition in Australia. However, even his presence alone could not support the longevity of the game in Australia. Many other quality rugby players joined the League in 1907 and during 1908, however many of the games finest players did not return from England with the Kangaroos in 1909 while others chose to retire. Even if the League had maintained its player pool, it would still have a had a major rival for support, players and sponsors - rugby union. The NSWRL did not have the resources in 1909 to do anything like carry out another raid on rugby union and it looked a long and very hard road ahead for the permanent establishment of the code in Sydney, let alone the rest of the nation. The League had unsuccessfully been trying to sign Wallaby players during their tour of England in 1908/9. However, in mid 1909 senior League officials sought and gained the assistance of Sydney entrepreneur James Joyton Smith to guarantee the cost of staging three matches between the recently returned from England Kangaroo and Wallaby teams. The primary cost was the payments to the Wallaby players to participate - the Kangaroo players by comparison were to receive a pittance. Armed with their new funding the League held negotiations with the cream of the Wallaby players, mostly at Shearer's Hotel in Bay Street, Glebe. The League's attack proved very successful and the majority of rugby's best Australian players agreed to turn out in the games against the Kangaroos including Charles Russell, William Farnsworth, Viv Farnsworth, Arthur McCabe, Chris McKivat, Patrick McCue, Peter Burge, Albert Burge, Robert Craig and John Barnett. The Bulletin noted: "Few of the footballers earn more than two pounds per week, so they were guaranteed practically a year's salary each for a series of three matches." It is believed that the brilliant halfback, McKivat, received the highest payment of between 150 to 200 pounds. The three matches were played (under rugby league rules) all within the space of seven days late in the 1909 season. The Kangaroos (much depleted from their party to England) won the first game 23-20 before 18000 people at the Sydney Showground. The Wallabies were better for the experience though winning the next two games 34-21 and 15-6. Unfortunately the second game was held on a Wednesday and drew only 3000 people meaning that the League had failed to recover J.J. Smith's outlay. It was then hastily decided that a fourth match would need to be played and to add to the card's attractiveness the domestic Final was also included. The League misjudged the support of the fans and only 4000 people turned up. However, it was enough for the League to clear any debt with Smith. The League suffered much criticism from the press and rugby union for the whole venture as it delivered no financial profit to the code. However, the critics failed to recognise that the true return from the Wallaby raid would be the involvement of those players in the seasons that followed. Almost immediately from the commencement of the 1910 season the club competition was much more vibrant and players and supporters left rugby union in droves. This was quickly built upon during the season by the first visit of the England Rugby League team. League representative games began outdrawing rugby union internationals by massive amounts and the code had clearly achieved the status of the state's number one football game - a remarkable recovery from the year before. The loss of the Wallaby players struck a sickening blow to the amateur game which only with the dawning of its own "open professionalism" in the mid-1990's has seen Australian rugby regain some lost ground.

Source

[jono]

australia day? what about the triple J hottest 100 party......

hmm, that would make it tricky...

[Em-Forcer]

More history:
- during WW2, two Armed Forces matches were played by union team v league team, under union rules; league team won both.

- more recently (from wikipedia as I had a hard time finding it in search engine...):
"In May 1996, Bath Rugby and Wigan RLFC, who were then England's top union and league sides respectively, made history by playing against each other at both codes of rugby. The first match was at Maine Road, Manchester and was played under league rules. Wigan beat Bath 82-6; then two weeks later the return match was held at Twickenham Stadium under union rules. The result this time: Bath 44, Wigan 19.
Since then many games have been played between union and league teams using the laws of one of the codes.
Games have even been played under union laws during one half and league laws during the second."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...nd_rugby_union

[Swee_82]

australia day? what about the triple J hottest 100 party......

Big Day Out is usually on Australia Day in Sydney, and the cricket's on in Adelaide. Lote's forgotten to engage the brain again... though I'll give him marks for the charity suggestion.

[TOCC]

as if Adelaide would give a shit anyway, the date was thrown out there, look at the broader picture

[Swee_82]

as if Adelaide would give a shit anyway, the date was thrown out there, look at the broader picture

Bigger picture? If I want to watch League, I'll tune into NRL. If I wanna watch rugby, I'll watch rugby.
In January (or indeed any time in the summer, as he's mooted for this mutant game) I want to watch cricket, so nup, not interested.

[jargan83]

Bigger picture? If I want to watch League, I'll tune into NRL. If I wanna watch rugby, I'll watch rugby.
In January (or indeed any time in the summer, as he's mooted for this mutant game) I want to watch cricket, so nup, not interested.

here here swee, Cricket rules in summer. I'm not interested for those same reasons. Both codes do their bit for charity anyway. In my opinion no room for cheesy gimmicks like this anymore.

Probably better off getting all the foriegn based aussies playing in Europe back and playing them against the wallabies. Wallabies vs Aussie foreign legion
Posted via Mobile Device

[force4eva]

as if Adelaide would give a shit anyway, the date was thrown out there, look at the broader picture

hey we do give a shit over here