1954 Rugby League World Cup

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]

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 scorer Jimmy Ledgard (29)
Top try scorer Gordon Brown (6)
1957 > 

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 9 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

Shirts of the competing team.
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
Lyon Bordeaux Nantes
Stade de Gerland Stade Chaban Delmas Stade Marcel Saupin
Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 20,000

Results

Group stage

TeamPldWDLPFPADiffPtsQualification
 Great Britain32106732+355Advances to the Final
 France32105031+195
 Australia31025258−62
 New Zealand30033482−480
30 October 1954France 22 – 13 New ZealandParc des Princes, Paris
31 October 1954Australia 13 – 28 Great BritainStade de Gerland, Lyon
7 November 1954France 13 – 13 Great BritainStadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
7 November 1954Australia 34 – 15 New ZealandStade Vélodrome, Marseille
11 November 1954Great Britain 26 – 6 New ZealandStade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux
11 November 1954France 15 – 5 AustraliaStade 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
Man of the Match: Don Robinson
France
Great Britain
FB1 Puig Aubert (c)
RW2 Vincent Cantoni
RC3 Claude Teisseire
LC4 Jacques Merquey
LW5 Raymond Contrastin
SO6 Antoine Jimenez
SH7 Joseph Crespo
PR8 Joseph Krawzyck
HK9 Jean Audoubert
PR10 François Rinaldi
SR11 Armand Save
SR12 Jean Pambrun
LF13 Gilbert Verdié
Coaches:
Jean Duhau and Rene Duffort
FB1 Jimmy Ledgard
RW2 David Rose
RC3 Phil Jackson
LC4 Ally Naughton
LW5 Mick Sullivan
SO6 Gordon Brown
SH7 Gerry Helme
PR8 John Thorley
HK9 Sam Smith
PR10 Bob Coverdale
SR11 Basil Watts
SR12 Don Robinson
LF13 Dave Valentine (c)
Coach:
G. Shaw

Try scorers

6
5
4
3
2
1

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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