I am doing an MA in Sports History and the last essay of this year (due June) has some RL topics, namely:

1. Why does Wales play rugby union instead of rugby league, despite sharing the same
social and industrial environment as the north of England?

2. Discuss the history of the Anglo-Australian relationship in rugby league. Account for the
reversal of that relationship since 1970

With reference to the first question, geography would be the obvious answer today but the famous 1905 Wales v All Blacks game was a decade away at the time of the great split. Why did Wales not turn to RL?

For the second question many an old player has said we are no nearer to beating the Aussies today than thirty years ago but at least till the late 70s we were ahead.

Any thoughts from anyone out there? The course leader is Prof Tony Collins who is familiar from writing academic works on both RU and RL - very fair with no northern axe to grind.

Victorians and sport by Mike Huggins was one of the books I used for an essay on sport and class last year. It's good for some general background reading and as far as I remember had a bit to say on the 1895 split.

I'd say a significant change for Australia were the gambling laws and leagues clubs. A lot of money was put into the game at that time which changed their capabilities compared to other sports.

Tony....can we all submit essays?

Check out " The Gould affair". Arthur Gould was a brilliant Welsh back, so brilliant that the Welsh RFU took up a public collection for him to reward his services to the game and also, I think, bought him a house. The RFU jumped in and said he was a professional for that and the Welsh RFU were so p333ed that they withdrew from the IRB. They did not play international rugby for at least one year, year was 189 something. The NU had started in England and so Wales were ripe for wholesale conversion. The RFU then saw the writing on the wall and, in true Corinthian fashion, backed down and re instated Wales. Gould was allowed back in the game but not as a player. Wales were satisfied and so remained in RU, and the RFU looked the other way on boot money etc. I think the RFU had been so damaged by the Northern rebellion that they could not allow the same thing to happen in Wales, amateur principles or no amateur principles. This is not the whole story but I think was a significant event in swaying Wales to remain with RU. Do some research to get the whole facts as this is just my take on it.

Ah, someone with a misplaced, unsubstantiated, superiority complex! There's always one!


MAs not only use articles, but also books to substantiate an academic argument. My advice to the original poster would be to get the reading list from TC and start there. Use journal serch engines (available through the univeristy library catalogue) to find articles relevant to the issues you decide to focus on.

Float bobs down, strike, reel in.