Great Britain 2004
This year Great Britain are taking part in the Gillette Rugby League Tri-Nations series, along with New Zealand and Australia. This promises to be a fantastic event, showcasing international rugby league at the very highest standard. The fixtures and results are as follows:
16th
October, at Aukland, New
Zealand 16
Australia
16
A very
hard fought opening game with both sides showing that Great
Britain can expect at least four very tough games this autumn.
Even more so considering both these teams will have two games
under their belts by the time they take on Great Britain.
Attendance:
19,118
23rd
October, at London, Australia 32 New Zealand 12
The
Aussies blew away the cobwebs in the second half and showed what
a huge challenge GB face next weekend. GB have been training in
Spain but I feel that a warm up match against the French would
have been more than useful. And as for those people who said that
no one would turn up to watch this game in London, the venue was
practically sold out!
Attendance:
16,750
30th
October, at Manchester, Great Britain 8 Australia 12
How could
anybody contemplate getting rid of the GB team? Just ask any of
the 38,572 adoring GB fans who magnificently supported their
beloved team at the City of Manchester Stadium (and I was one of
them!) what they think! GB FOREVER! I travelled all the way up
from Dover to be at this game because I knew that I was going to
see the best that rugby league had to offer, and despite the
scoreline, I was not disappointed. I can tell you that when the
result of the European Nations Cup France v England was announced
(and congratulations to the England team on a fine victory)
nobody in the crowd was all that bothered - they were totally
focussed on their one true representative outfit - Great Britain!
And it is GB that we fans who turn up to the games and pay the
money want to see and support. What an atmosphere it was - all
the union flags, the singing of Rule Britannia, the countless
years of tradition surrounding this wonderful fixture - DO NOT
EVER TAKE THIS AWAY!!!
Attendance:
38,572
6th
November, at Huddersfield, Great
Britain 22 New
Zealand 12
A vital
win for GB - well done the lads! This is turning into a classic
tournament. Bring on the Aussies next week!
Attendance:
20,372
13th
November, at Wigan,
Great
Britain 24 Australia
12
Well done
team GB! What a win! Now we have a chance to try out a few new
things against New Zealand next week before we take on the
Aussies in the final.
Attendance:
25,004
20th
November, at Hull,
Great
Britain 26 New
Zealand 24
Phew, what
a close finish! But this win means that Great Britain have topped
the Tri-Nations group and have completed a 2 - 0 series victory
over New Zealand in the process. Now for the big one! It's
already a 39,000 sell out - what a great success story! And I'm
sure if Old Trafford had been chosen as the final venue then we'd
get a crowd of over 60,000 for this one. This whole tournament
has been a resounding success and has put international rugby
league absolutely back on the world sporting map!
Attendance:
23,377
27th
November, at Leeds, The Gillette Tri-Nations Final, Great Britain 4 Australia 44
Ok, so it
was a bitterly disappointing end to this tournament for GB, but
the scoreline underlines just why Australia are the world
champions. Progress has surely been made though by GB - we just
have to keep going forwards until we get there. Do we really have
to wait for nearly a whole year before we see GB in action again?
Can't we arrange a couple of tests against France during the
summer?
The Tri-Nations
has to be the future of international rugby league, its been such
a huge success financially, and the standard of the football has
been exceptional. Lets get this tournament set in stone. And lets
carry on making a GB team that is going to be able to win it!
Attendance:
39,120
Great Britain
tests showcase the sport at its very best, and are important in
winning over new fans to the game.
For many people, particularly those new to the sport,
international rugby league does not exist. Certainly when
compared to the rugby union scene. But you don't have to go too
far back to find a time when there was a very lively and booming
international rugby league set up. In the 1980's and 1990's the
GB v. Australia series was massive, played in front of record
crowds in the biggest stadia in England, and braodcast live on
the BBC.
The Ashes series has always been international rugby league's biggest event, even during the long period of Australian dominance. GB went from 1978 to 1988 without a single test victory over the Kangaroos, and still haven't won the series since 1970! Nevertheless, the victories at Wembley in 1990 and 1994 were all the more sweet, and the very narrow World Cup final defeat at Wembley in 1992 was played in front of a record 74,000 crowd.
It's time to recapture that success. Why was it allowed to dissolve away in the first place? Simple, the introduction of Super League choked the life out of the international game. You can add to that the failed experiment to split GB up into separate and, it has to be said, bogus home nations teams. I'm all for promoting the game in the UK, but the best way to do it is to take GB tests to places like Murrayfield and the Millennium Stadium, and forget about dodgy home nations teams because it's just not going to take off in rugby league. We haven't got the resources to spread ourselves so thinly. So let's stick to what we're strongest at - Great Britain!
World Cup 2008
It has been suggested that the Great Britain team be disbanded in favour of separate home nations teams in time for the 2008 World Cup. We are completely opposed to this of course. The Great Britain team is the jewel in the crown of the Rugby Football League and that's exactly how it should remain. The paying fans want to see our best national team, not watered down home nations sides peppered with 'granny gate' players. Maybe if things were very different and Great Britain was unbeatable then separating into home nations to even things up might be worth considering, but this is not the case is it? Australia are the dominant nation and have been for 30 years. We simply can't afford to jettison our national Great Britain team. We have to be at our strongest if we are to become the number one nation in rugby league, and win back the World Cup.
Now that automatic promotion and relegation has been reintroduced to Super League we have a much improved competition at both ends of the table. Add to that the new National League structure beneath Super League including more teams from the South and the Midlands, and we have the best rugby league set up the UK has seen for many years!
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