1954 Rugby League World Cup

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The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league's first World Cup and was held between 30 October and 13 November and hosted by France^[1] and was won by Great Britain who beat France in the final at the Parc des Princes in Paris.^[2] As it was the first official World Cup of either rugby code, it was officially known as the Rugby World Cup.^[3]

Five nations were invited to compete: Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States, however the United States withdrew before the group stage draw.

The prime instigators behind the idea of holding a rugby league world cup were the French, who were short of money following the seizure of their assets by French rugby union during the Second World War.

The first Rugby League World Cup was an unqualified success. It was played in a uniformly good spirit, provided an excellent standard of play and was a fitting celebration of France's 20th anniversary as a rugby league-playing nation. The trophy, which was donated by the French, was worth eight million francs.^[4]

Background

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File:Maillots de la Coupe du monde de rugby à XIII 1954.jpg

Shirts of the teams in 1954.

The World Cup was a French initiative. Led by Paul Barrière, who donated the Rugby League World Cup trophy himself,^[5] 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

Script error: No such module "labelled list hatnote". Five teams were invited to participate in the first World Cup; Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States along with hosts, France.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8]

North America (0)

~~File:Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg United States~~ (withdrew)

Europe (2)

File:Flag of France.svg France (hosts)
Template:Country data GB

Oceania (2)

Venues

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

Marseille	Paris	Toulouse	Lyon
Stade Vélodrome	Parc des Princes	Stadium de Toulouse	Stade de Gerland
Capacity: 49,000	Capacity: 38,000	Capacity: 37,000	Capacity: 30,000
File:Le Stade vélodrome de Marseille, le 13 juin 1937.jpg	File:1932 Le parc des princes v1.jpg	File:Le Stade municipal de Toulouse (dit parc municipal des sports) en 1939 (maquette d'époque).jpg	File:15PH1 657 - Stade de Gerland 1920s cropped.jpg
Script error: No such module "Location map/multi".		Bordeaux
		Stade Chaban-Delmas
		Capacity: 30,000
		File:Stade Chaban-Delmas Rugby.jpg
		Nantes
		Stade Marcel-Saupin
		Capacity: 20,000
		File:Stade Marcel-Saupin, Nantes.JPG

Group stage

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30 October	France File:Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg	22–13	File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand	Parc des Princes, Paris


31 October	Australia File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg	13–28	File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain	Stade de Gerland, Lyon


7 November	Australia File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg	34–15	File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille


7 November	France File:Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg	13–13	File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse


11 November	France File:Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg	15–5	File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia	Stade Marcel Saupin, Nantes


11 November	Great Britain File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg	26–6	File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand	Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux

Final

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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.

13 November

France File:Flag of France.svg	12–16	File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain
Tries: Raymond Contrastin Vincent Cantoni Goals: Puig Aubert (3)	Report	Tries: Gerry Helme Gordon Brown (2) David Rose Goals: Jimmy Ledgard (2)

Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 30,368
Referee: Charles Appleton (England)
Player of the Match: Don Robinson (Great Britain)