memagine sending Toulouse, Wakefield, Salford and Hull KR to Australia to play a series of games against Penrith, Melbourne, South Sydney and Parramatta. It would be madness, wouldn’t it? Well, that’s what happened 25 years ago this week, which George Piggins’ s Southern icon described as “one of the greatest farces ever done on the Australian sporting community”. Harsh but probably true.
Bad idea, illogical and protracted, the World Club Championship was a car accident of a competition. But he is fondly remembered by many who were there to play, coach, report or watch. In his new book Two Tribes, Steve Mascord recalls the 1997 event without shame. He used to report on the ‘Super League War’ every day for the Sydney Morning Herald and he really enjoyed it. Now he’s gone back to talk to 100 of the people involved.
He did not hesitate to accept praise for success, or to acknowledge his failed ventures, the late Maurice Lindsay – chairman of the Super League at the time – admitted to Mascord: “We did something stupid”, but immediately told him that it was “the it was Nigel Wood’s fault. ”. Lindsay claimed he had arranged for the top three English clubs from the start of the Super League season – Wigan, St Helens and Bradford – to play the top three in Australia but “Wood got up and said ‘we all play , 12 clubs in all, or no one plays’. I said ‘Fucking hell – they’ll be ruined.’ ”Lindsay was right. They did. “To cut a long story short was a disaster.”
Yes, but what a ludicrous disaster. With Visa raising $ 1m for the winners and $ 500,000 for the runners-up, everyone was excited. The bookmakers, however, knew what was going to happen: the Australian teams were the four favorites; the five 1,000-1 from outside were from Europe. With only 10 teams in the Australian Super League break, they needed more games. As the competition was complex, most teams played six group matches in two home or away blocks – one in June, one in July – but six clubs played only four games.
Super League marketing manager Gary Pearse knew he was doomed before he started. “It was an absurd case,” the former Wallaby told Mascord. “We researched it and nobody wanted it at all. But the people of television wanted it as a subject rather than as a sport. ”
That was convenient because it was not sports in particular. The first night was a cataclysmic preview of what was to come, as the best sides the UK had to offer were eliminated. The London Broncos team won by jet-lagging Shaun Edwards, Martin Offiah and a dozen Australian Brisbane Broncos, their owners, at half-time but fell apart in the second half; the champions led St Helens at home; The Bradford league leaders were defeated. “Within one weekend the donkey fell out and we never came back,” referee manager Greg McCallum said.
The England and French teams lost nine of the first round of matches and 52 of the 60 international meetings. Five Australian teams have not lost in the group and only two have lost once. In contrast, Wigan were the only European side to win twice. Four European teams were to be in the quarter – finals, so Penrith was eliminated even though they had won all six games for their group, and Bradford lost all six finals that were still qualifying! the reward of the Bulls? A return trip to Auckland 10 weeks after a 64-14 win there in a group game. This time they only lost 62-14.
Knowing what was coming to the pitch in Australia, the visiting players made sure they had free time – which did not help. Some teams participated harder than they did. Current Scotland coach Nathan Graham, the Bulls’ emergency hooks in that quarterfinal humiliation, loved: “It was probably a crazy idea but it was a great experience to spend that time together.” Wayne Bennett told Mascord it was probably one of the best three weeks of his life. “It was a crazy idea,” Mascord now points out. “The gulf was of as high a standard then as it is today – and they should know that.”
Not surprisingly, the originality soon deteriorated. The crowds started large and shrivelled. Wigan drew in around 45,000 for their four home games and London drew more than 30,000 to the Stoop out of four of them – crowds that the club would never play again. There were 14,000 watching Oldham at Adelaide. Other links were less attractive. Less than 2,000 fans saw Hunter Mariners thrash the Sheffield Eagles, and only 959 blocked the Paris Saint-Germain time beat the Perth Reds. These fixtures were nirvana for the league’s rugby nerds, fantasy fixtures again.
The Club World Championship lasted for an exciting four months, but the format was dead long before Brisbane won the Mariners – playing in their final game – in the Auckland final in October 1997. It was three years before the original resurgence is a one – off annual clash between the champions of Australia and England.
While football and rugby have established international multiplayer at the top of their club games, league rugby has failed. One major drawback is the huge geographical distance between the finals – and the cost and time involved. But even in the part – time era, meetings between the best of the English and French tournaments were turbulent and half – hearted.
After a temporary expansion to a six-team event in 2015, the WCC returned to a one-time game in 2018 and has not played since 2020. And there is no guarantee that it will happen in 2023 either as neither of the two champions. under a contractual obligation to play it.
Twenty-five years later, only half of European clubs – and two of the states – remain in the Super League. The WCC Central Park, Knowsley Road, The Willows, Wilderspool and Thrum Hall stages have long been removed. NRL has a commercial balloon, which means that a prestigious friendship against English champions is not very attractive to many club CEOs. But, put in the hands of IMG’s new Super League partners, it could at least be an attention – grabbing, income – driven date in the sports calendar.
Most fans of the league would be preparing for the World Club Challenge to be like the Uefa Super Cup, a prestigious meeting at the start of the Champions League season and the winners of the Europa League made for television. It could be played during NRL Magic Weekend when, after the Dolphins become the 17th team next year, one club will lose out every year.
If the NRL champions are pitted against Super League winners that solves that problem but, as often happens, there would be another problem: the magic was in May of this year, between the semi – finals and the Challenge Cup final. Impossible time to send a European team. to Australia. And it’s definitely going to have to be played where Magic is, as the host city and the NRL will be looking for their Premiers in action that weekend.
Mascord wants to see it as a valuable, popular asset. “It should be a team competition between two and six sold to local authorities, hopefully in a neutral country, but locked up at the same weekend every year.” The venture would have to be jointly owned by both strands, sharing costs and revenue. Without that buy – in from the NRL, the World Club Challenge will remain another file in the league’s bulging nostalgia rugby league.
World Cup Watch: inaugural squads
The Pacific nations are likely to be a “lite” version of their World Cup front teams that will face later this month in mid – season internationals. As predicted, other nations limited 12 of this week’s New South Wales Origin squad: four from Fiji and Samoa, two Tongans, and one from Italy and Wales. The numbers are like Queensland. Australian coach Mal Meninga will not pick all in October, of course, but with James on the NSW team we can assume that the only Tedesco that could play for Italy this year is his brother Matt. However, we may see Mitchell Moses back with Lebanon when they finally play their first game under new coach Michael Cheika, against Malta on 22 June.
One more thing
Most of this month’s World Cup teams will surely return to action this month – many for the first time in two and a half years – to strengthen us, “said Jon Dutton, Chief Executive of the competition. “We are going to use that to draw attention. We need to seize the opportunity, be our evangelist and build the excitement. ”
Ticket sales for the opening and closing games are very successful – Dutton expects a combined 70,000 at the opening day in Newcastle and Leeds – as is the England v France final at Bolton, the quarter final. at Wigan and the semi – final. at Arsenal.
Dutton expects the traditional league towns to be a “late sale”. Not surprisingly, it’s even harder to fill seats at Coventry and Middlesbrough. His team is busy raising awareness in the host communities ahead of another major marketing campaign six weeks before launch.
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