1954 Rugby League World Cup

Background

The World Cup was a French initiative. Led by Paul Barrière, who donated the Rugby League World Cup trophy himself, they had been campaigning for such a tournament since before the Second World War.

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).

Participants

Five teams were invited to participate in the first World Cup; Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States along with hosts, France.{{cite news | access-date = 25 December 2009}} There were concerns around the United States participation. The American All Stars who had toured Australia and New Zealand and drawn big crowds in 1953 but were heavily beaten in all their games as well as being beaten 31–0 by France in 1954. This led to doubts around whether an American team would be competitive enough to compete with the United States withdrawing from the tournament. It had been suggested that Wales could replace the United States but were not invited as Great Britain were already participating.

North America (0)

• (withdrew) Europe (2)
• (hosts)

Oceania (2)

Venues

The games were played at various venues in France with the Final played at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

Group stage

Main article: 1954 Rugby League World Cup group stage

Final

Main article: 1954 Rugby League World Cup final

The 1954 Rugby League World Cup final was the conclusive game of the 1954 Rugby League World Cup tournament and was played between France and Great Britain on November 13, 1954, at Parc des Princes, Paris, France. Vincent Cantoni Gordon Brown (2) David Rose

Try scorers

;6

• GBR Gordon Brown ;5
• FRA Raymond Contrastin ;4
• GBR David Rose ;3
• AUS Alex Watson
• GBR Gerry Helme
• GBR Phil Jackson
• GBR Frank Kitchen ;2
• AUS Ken Kearney
• AUS Kel O'Shea
• AUS Harry Wells
• FRA Vincent Cantoni ;1
• AUS Roy Bull
• AUS Peter Diversi
• AUS Greg Hawick
• FRA Jean Audoubert
• FRA Joseph Crespo
• FRA Guy Delaye
• FRA Joseph Krawzyck
• FRA Jacques Merquey
• GBR Jimmy Ledgard
• NZL Cyril Eastlake
• NZL Jimmy Edwards
• NZL Lenny Eriksen
• NZL Ron McKay

References

General

References

1. [http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/RLP/Worldcup/1954worldcup.htm 1954 World Cup] {{Webarchive. link. (13 July 2009 at ''rugbyleagueplanet.com'')
2. [http://rugbyleagueproject.org/competitions/World_Cup_1954.html 1954 World Cup] at ''rugbyleagueproject.org''
3. [[#SPARC-2009. SPARC, 2009]]: 28
4. RLIF. "Past Winners: 1954". Rugby League International Federation.
5. "1954 World Cup". 188 Rugby League.
6. "France vs. United States of America".
7. "The French Barriere That Wouldn't Break".