The First Rugby World Cup
Kicking off in 1954, the Rugby League World Cup is the original Rugby World Cup. In 2008 the 12th Rugby League World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand with 9 time winners Australia favorites for the title.

Thoughts And Opinions
What an amazing competition.

The history of the Rugby League World Cup shows that while Australia has been dominant, the nations just below have also had their own stories to tell.

Imagine France almost winning the first World Cup. What would the landscape be like today if France had been able to celebrate themselves as the Rugby League World Champions in 1954?

As the World Cup changed and evolved, I think it left behind some great lessons that todays administrators should think of adopting.

For instance, while a three year long, world wide competition may not be everyone cup of tea, in todays world it might make a lot more sense as every League nation was forced to play everyone else at least twice, at home and away, and instead of the financial pressure of one competition over a month you could spread your time and money over two or three years.

Some see the current set up as a smash and grab that usually ends in an Australian win. I have to wonder whether a three year long quest would fulfill the publics thrust for real Rugby League World Title claims.

I'm really only old enough to have seen two Rugby League World Cups.

The 1995 and 2000 competitions were very different.

The 1995 World Cup was a credible competition that was well attended and had some great League action. The only downside of 1995 was that the ARL decided to only include ARL aligned players and left out players that had joined the rival Super League competition.

If anything this move evened the competition up and it saw Australia having to go to some incredible lengths to secure what many thought was an unlikely win.

The 2000 World Cup, well that was another story all together.

Despite guarantee's given by the RFL before the competition kicked off that "We are in profit before a ball has been kicked" the 2000 World Cup was nothing short of a financial disaster.

Attendances were terrible, the lack of promotion hurt, but so too did once in a lifetime flooding that hit a lot of the UK and rail problems...all of which didn't help the competitions cause.

The biggest blow however was landed by the fact that this competitions credibility was pretty much non existent.

A Lebanese team made up entirely of players from Sydney, a New Zealand Maori side. Home nations filled with Australian players who had never even visited the nation they played for. Player switching between countries to get an unlikely Test cap of just to fill out the competitions numbers.

The 2000 World Cup set International Rugby League back 50 years.

As the game looks to recover its International credibility heading into the 2008 World Cup, Rugby League can proudly look back on the history of a tournament that broke new ground and laid the foundations for the game to be played in many new countries.

With Australia hosting the 2008 World Cup, I know I'll be one of those in attendance celebrating 100 years of Australian Rugby League.

The Story Of The Lost Rugby League World Cup Trophy

The Original Rugby League World Cup trophy was stolen from a Bradford hotel whilst on open display in 1970. From there it took an amazing journey before it found its way back home to the RFL headquarters where it resides today.

The trophy was last held aloft by Australian Rugby League legend Johnny Raper after Australia's 20-2 win over France at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the 10th of June in 1968 to claim the forth World Cup title.

The trophy was then brought to England prior to the 1970 World Cup and took pride of place in the Midland Hotel in Bradford, the headquarters of the visiting Australian Rugby League team.

It was stolen on the night of Sunday, November 1st, 1970. It was a shock to the games administrators and an embarrassment to the Australian Rugby League who had been responsible for its safe keeping.

Oddly enough, it was not the trophy to be used for the Final the following Saturday at Headingley. With the commencement of sponsorship, administrators decided to play for a more meaningless sponsored trophy and keep the original safe and on display at the Midland Hotel.

Twenty years passed, the Original World Cup was forgotten and life went on....until one day fate would see the Original World Cup fall into the hands of a man that was determined to find its original owner.

In 1990 the Original Rugby League World Cup was found. It was discovered in a ditch used for illegal tipping only a few miles from where it disappeared.

For six week, Stephen Uttley who came across it with his wife Elizabeth and his brother in law Frank Nagyvardi were totally unaware of the significance of the find.

Uttley made many inquiries to local rugby clubs including Bradford Northern (Known today as the Bradford Bulls) but his quest to find its original owners proved unsuccessful. Yorkshire Television apparently deemed Uttley's pleas for help as un news worthy.

Eventually, after the trophy remained in the boot of his car for two weeks, he took the trophy to the local police who returned the trophy to him after a statutory 28 days in which no one claimed the trophy.

At this stage, Mr Uttley decided to donate it to close friend Terry Fawthrop who was the proprietor of the White Rose Health Club at Idle, Bradford.

In a lucky coincidence, this was the same club frequented by Warrington and Kiwi International Gary Mercer during his stay in Bradford. Apparently the trophy was on a course to be altered into a Body Building trophy that would then have been awarded to club members.

Luckily, this great piece of Rugby League history was saved by the determination of Mr Uttley who was determined to find the Cups original owners.

Following his story in the local "Telegraph and Argus" newspaper, where he took the trophy to have it photographed, it was subsequently identified by reporter Delaney as the Original Rugby League World Cup that had been stolen 20 years earlier.

He notified the police, the Telegraph and Argus reporter and a Rugby Football League official of this remarkable find.

Wednesday, 30th of May, 1990, the Rugby League World Cup Spends A Night In London.

The following morning Delaney was surprised to find that Mr Uttley was still in possession of this great piece of history and not one RFL official saw the trophy until it was actually handed over on the following Friday. By this time though the story was getting plenty of media attention from around the world.

Delaney visited Mr Uttley's home later on Wednesday and convinced of its authenticity he once again contacted the RFL to convey his feelings that the trophy was still at considerable risk. Mr Uttley was understandably very anxious about its security at his council home and his first words to Delaney were "Are you going to take it now?".

The trophy and its current owner were now under the spotlight and receiving many requests for interviews and photo opportunities. The chance that this great piece of League history could be damage, or go missing once again were very real.

Awakened in from their bed at 10:30pm that evening, Mr and Mrs Uttley, along with their now famous trophy, were whisked by Taxi down to Sky Televisions London studios for an early morning interview the next day. That night, Wednesday, 30th of May, 1990, the Rugby League World Cup was kept in a London Hotel.

Thankfully, Mr Uttley had more sense then the Australian Rugby League had 20 years earlier and he kept it safe in his hotel room.

On his return to Bradford a now harassed Mr Uttley continued negotiations with the RFL. Originally believing its rightful owners were the Australian Rugby League, Mr Uttley was finally convinced of the International Boards ownership of the trophy and he agree'd to hand it over the following day. Mr Uttley then went to the trouble of delivering the trophy to a Bradford solicitor for safe keeping over night.

On Friday, the 1st of June 1990, the trophy was handed over to Roger Millward outside the White Rose Health club at 10:30 in the morning.

The Original Rugby League World Cup now resides at the Rugby Football League headquarters.

Standing 2' 6" high and weighing an incredible 25 kilograms the magnificent trophy was donated by the French Rugby League under its President Paul Barriere for the first Rugby League World Cup competition run in 1954. Because of its absence it has only be played for four time, in 1954, 1957, 1960 and 1968.

Contributers And Credits
Sean Fagan - 1908.com
Helps me bring a new of the myths and legends about the World Cup into focus. Its good to correspond with someone that loves the history of the game as much as I do.

Tony Collins - Rugby Football League Archivist
He provided me with an article from "Code 13" magazine written by Trevor Delaney from 1990 which helped me put together the history of the Origin Rugby League World Cup.

Playtheball.com - Pictures
Some of the pictured used here are from playtheball.com. They have some good information about the individual World Cup competitions however its seems that the site is all but shut down these days.

Use Of Information
If you would like to use any information gathered on this web site, by all means do so. But if you could provide a credit to this web site it would be appreciated. I have worked really hard on this section of the web site and have really had to search for this information over a long period of time. So give me some credit damn it! :-)