Some of you may not be aware, but last week a large chunk (some 85 000 films) of the archive shot by the British Pathe News organisation was uploaded to Youtube for viewing by the public thanks to lottery funding.
For those of you who are unaware of what newsreels are, back in the days before 24 hour rolling news or even mass television ownership, the only ways to find out what was going on was to ; a) Read it in a newspaper b) Listen to it on the wireless or c) Catch a newsreel at the local cinema, either on its own or as something shown before another feature film.
Obviously, for northern audiences, Pathe soon clicked on to the idea that the natives weren't going to stomach a diet of kick & clap from Twickers, not to mention the chance to sell the footage to other parts of the Empire, so their cameras starting covering Rugby League events.
A great deal of these have been digitised under the project and are now available for the first time in many years to be seen by the general public :
1927 Rugby League International between England & New Zealand at Headingley :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HkkRWNL3Z4
Check out the rare film footage of the original North Stand (it burnt down in the early 1930s to be replace with the current structure)
1922 International between England & Wales played at Herne Hill in London:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfnc0OlxI4U :
1930 scoreless test between England & Australia at Swinton :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6QTX548azI
There's loads of stuff on there, including internationals and even some games from Australia ... Well worth a look !
