1996: Rugby League's Reset
As we await the start of the 2021 Super League season, let's take a look at one of the most drastic changes to the game in it's (at the time) 100 year history.
By 1995, the game of Rugby League in Britain was on it's knees. Harsh winters caused postponements across the board putting financial pressures on clubs while on the field, Wigan had blazed new trails and were almost invincible. After turning professional in the mid-1980s, the Central Park club had monopolised the Challenge Cup (winning the trophy eight times in a row between 1988 and 1995), taken a stranglehold on the league championship and even done the business on foreign fields by beating the mighty Brisbane Broncos in their own backyard to win the 1994 World Club Challenge.
Change was needed in order for the game to survive, both on and off the field.
While Wigan were dominating the game in Britain, a bitter civil war was being fought in the Southern Hemisphere over television rights. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation were instrumental in the founding of Super League, a rebel competition to the established ARL (the Australian game's governing body for many years) and astronomical sums of money began to be bandied about as both organisations tried to build a portfolio of star names. In an act intended to isolate the ARL (and thus the Australian national team), Murdoch and the British Rugby League's head honcho Maurice Lindsay struck a deal worth £85 million over five years to align the British game with the new Australian competition. In arguably the most radical change to any sport in British history, the sport of Rugby League changed it's calendar from a winter sport to be played through the summer.
The injection of Murdoch's cash plus the switch to summer promised bigger attendances however some changes were met with angry responses when Super League announced that several clubs were to merge as well as the fast-tracking of the London club to the top division in addition to the creation of a new club, Paris Saint Germain (a joint venture between the Parisian football club and Super League). While London and PSG did make the cut, the mergers didn't.
March 29th 1996 was zero hour for the new competition and the hype and razzmatazz appeared to be duly justified as just over 17,500 spectators witnessed a shock result on the opening night as PSG defeated Sheffield Eagles 30-24 at the Charlety Stadium in Paris. After fireworks and the booming sound of Queen's 'We Will Rock You' filled the Parisian night time sky, the two teams served up a tremendous contest which saw the video referee used for the first time in European Rugby League and French winger Arnaud Cervello notch an impressive length of the field try.
Despite the surprise win for the French side, that would really be as good as it got for PSG, they fell by the wayside as two old rivals took centre stage and locked horns in a battle for the title.
In the end it was St. Helens who took the maiden championship of the summer era, finishing just a point clear of arch-rivals Wigan (an 18-all draw with London in June ultimately proved costly). Centre Paul Newlove ended the season as top try-scorer, crossing 28 times while captain Bobbie Goulding topped the points scoring charts with 257. A win over Warrington Wolves at Knowsley Road was enough for Saints to secure their first title since 1975 to provide a fitting end to a season that had also seen them capture the Challenge Cup via a 40-32 win over Bradford at Wembley.
Rugby League's fortunes had been resuscitated in the early part of 1996 and it finally looked as if the game had a bright future as the new millennium dawned.
Thanks for taking a look at this piece, remember to follow me on Twitter @DanBarkerGray for more 1990s sporting nostalgia.
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