Stade Pershing
Stade Pershing was a multi-purpose stadium in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, France. It was used for football matches and hosted the final of the Coupe de France on four occasions, it hosted the Inter-Allied Games in 1919 and the first Women's World Games in 1922. It hosted some of the football matches during the 1924 Summer Olympics; the stadium was able to hold 29,000 spectators at its height. Its area hosts baseball games. Construction of the stadium was contracted to a French firm. However, labour disputes stopped all work. At this time, the engineers of the United States Army completed construction, it hosted the Inter-Allied Games, was presented as a gift from the USA to France after the games concluded. An exhibition match at Stade Pershing between the England and Australian national rugby league football teams in December 1933 as part of the Australian teams 1933–34 Kangaroo Tour, inspired the beginnings of rugby league in France. 1924 Summer Olympics official report. P. 322. Stadium information
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition between the teams of England, Ireland, Italy and Wales. The current champions are Wales; the Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship, played between teams from England, Ireland and Wales, the first international rugby union tournament. With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship, which in turn became the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy. Wales hold the overall record, with 39 victories to England's 38, while England hold the record for outright wins with 28. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title, although Scotland were the last winners of the Five Nations; the tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the four Home Nations — England, Ireland and Wales. However England was excluded from the 1888 and 1889 tournaments due to their refusal to join the International Rugby Football Board.
The tournament became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 with the addition of France. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to become the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy. Following the relative success of the Tier 2 nations in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there were calls by Octavian Morariu, the president of Rugby Europe, to let Georgia and Romania join the Six Nations due to their consistent success in the European Nations Cup and ability to compete in the Rugby World Cup. Played annually, the format of the Championship is simple: each team plays every other team once, with home ground advantage alternating from one year to the next. Prior to the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for one for a draw and none for a loss. Unlike many other rugby union competitions the bonus point system had not been used. On 30 November 2016, the Six Nations Committee announced that a bonus point system would be trialled in the 2017 Championship; the system is similar to the one used in most rugby championships, with the only difference being that a Grand Slam winner will be given 3 extra points to ensure they finish top of the table.
Prior to 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since ties have been broken by considering the points difference of the teams; the rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both match points and points difference, the team that scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the tying teams would share the championship. To date, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship; the team that finishes at the bottom of the league table is said to have "won" the Wooden Spoon, although no actual trophy is given to the team. A team that has lost all five matches is said to have been whitewashed. Since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided the Wooden Spoon award. Italy are the holders of the most Wooden Spoon awards in the Six Nations era with 13, have been whitewashed eight times. However, each of the other five nations has accumulated more than that through competing in previous eras.
The winners of the Six Nations are presented with the Championship Trophy. This was conceived by the Earl of Westmorland, was first presented to the winners of the 1993 championship, France, it is a sterling silver trophy, designed by James Brent-Ward and made by a team of eight silversmiths from the London firm William Comyns. It has 15 side panels representing the 15 members of the team and with three handles to represent the three officials; the cup has a capacity of 3.75 litres – sufficient for five bottles of champagne. Within the mahogany base is a concealed drawer which contains six alternative finials, each a silver replica of one of the team emblems, which can be screwed on the detachable lid. A new trophy was introduced for the 2015 Championship; the new trophy was designed and crafted by Thomas Lyte silversmiths and replaces the 1993 edition, being retired as it represented the nations that took part in the Five Nations Championship. Ireland were the last team to win the old trophy, coincidentally, the first team to win the new one.
A team that wins all its games wins the'Grand Slam'. The Triple Crown may only be won by one of the Home Nations of England, Scotland or Wales, when one nation wins all three of their matches against the others; the Triple Crown dates back to the original Home Nations Championship, but the physical Triple Crown Trophy has been awarded only since 2006, when the Royal Bank of Scotland commissioned Hamilton & Inches to design and create a dedicated Triple Crown Trophy. It has since been won three times by Wales and twice by England. Several individual competitions take place under the umbrella of the tournament; the oldest such regular competition is for the Calcutta Cup, contested annually between England and Scotland since 1879. It is named the Calcutta Cup as it is made from melted-down Indian Rupees donated by the Calcutta Club. Since 1988, the Millennium Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the game between England and Ireland, since 1989 the Centenary Quaich has been awarded to the winner of the game between Ireland and Scotland.
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Rugby League European Federation
The Rugby League European Federation is the umbrella body for nations playing the sport of rugby league football across Europe and the Northern Hemisphere. It supports the Rugby League International Federation; the RLEF "oversees and co-ordinates the development of the sport in all its member countries and those neighbouring organisations that choose to link to the RLEF". The RLEF operates several competitions, most notably the European Cup; the federation was founded January 2003 following an initiative between Richard Lewis, Executive Chairman of Britain's Rugby Football League and his French counterpart Jean Paul Ferre. The RLEF's first constitution was approved in January 2004 and the federation's first Board of Directors was elected; this first Board of Directors consisted of Jean Paul Ferre as President/Chairman and Richard Lewis as Deputy Chairman with Nigel Wood and Nicolas Larrat being the other Board members. Representatives for Morocco, Serbia, Lebanon, Ireland and Wales attended. Russia became a full member of the RLEF, joining Britain and France, the RLIF soon after.
At the time of its foundation, the RLEF placed a "particular emphasis on generating development funding within each country". Much of the development work conducted in Europe had been funded by the RFL. Following the profitable 2008 World Cup, the RFL and RLEF prepared to bid for funds to enhance their activities. In December 2009, Kevin Rudd, a former Scotland rugby league international, stepped down as Executive Officer of the RLEF after more than five years in the post. RLEF Chairman Richard Lewis stated that Rudd "has done an outstanding job and created a platform and competitions framework that can take us into the future". Rudd was succeeded by Danny Kazandjian. Kazandjian had been a key figure in the establishment of rugby league in Lebanon and had led the RLEF's development drive in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions as Director of Development for the Euro-Med region. Eleven nations are full members of the federation. Full members are entitled to a greater proportion of voting rights and to become members of the Rugby League International Federation.
In order to become an associate member, a nation must meet the following criteria: Implementation of a constitution and rules that commit the governing body to acting in the best interest of rugby league, throughout the whole of their country. Production of an annual financial report. Running a league competition with at least four teams. Implementation of a junior development programme; the production of a Business Development Plan outlining an organisation's future aims, including aims to find part funding for staff positions. A communications strategy. An administrators, match officials and coach education strategy; the RLEF stipulates that continued associate and full membership of the federation is subject to a check every two years to ensure that the minimum criteria are still being met. Belgium Rugby League Association Bosnia and Herzegovina Rugby League Association Bulgarian Rugby League Federation Burundi Rugby League Cameroon Rugby League 13 Dansk Rugby League Ethiopia Rugby League Ghana Rugby League Hungarian Rugby League Federation Morocco Rugby League Nigeria Rugby League Palestinian Rugby League Polska Rugby XIII Sierra Leone Rugby League Sweden Rugby League Turkish Rugby League Association South African Rugby League Rugby League Association of Catalonia Saudi Arabian Rugby League Association Federația Româna de Rugby XIII Trinidad & Tobago Rugby League Association Emirates Rugby League Rugby League International Federation Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation Official website Rugby League European Federation on Facebook
Rugby football
Rugby refers to the team sports rugby league and rugby union. Legend claims that rugby football was started about 1845 in Rugby School, Warwickshire, although forms of football in which the ball was carried and tossed date to medieval times. Rugby split into two sports in 1895 when twenty-one clubs split from the original Rugby Football Union, to form the Northern Union in the George Hotel, Northern England over the issue of payment to players, thus making rugby league the first code to turn professional and pay its players, rugby union turned professional in 1995. Both sports are run by their respective world governing bodies World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation. Rugby football was one of many versions of football played at English public schools in the 19th century. Although rugby league used rugby union rules, they are now wholly separate sports. In addition to these two codes, both American and Canadian football evolved from rugby football. Following the 1895 split in rugby football, the two forms rugby league and rugby union differed in administration only.
Soon the rules of rugby league were modified. After 100 years, in 1995 rugby union joined rugby league and most other forms of football as an professional sport; the Olympic form of rugby is known as Rugby 7s. In this form of the game, each team has 7 players on the field at one time playing 7 minute halves; the rules and pitch size are the same as rugby union. The Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet; the Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a Greek team game known as "ἐπίσκυρος" or "φαινίνδα", mentioned by a Greek playwright and referred to by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria. These games appear to have resembled rugby football; the Roman politician Cicero describes the case of a man, killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber's shop. Roman ball games knew the air-filled ball, the follis. Episkyros is recognised as an early form of football by FIFA. In 1871, English clubs met to form the Rugby Football Union.
In 1892, after charges of professionalism were made against some clubs for paying players for missing work, the Northern Rugby Football Union called the Northern Union, was formed. The existing rugby union authorities responded by issuing sanctions against the clubs and officials involved in the new organization. After the schism, the separate clubs were named "rugby league" and "rugby union". Rugby union is both a professional and amateur game, is dominated by the first tier unions: New Zealand, Wales, South Africa, Argentina, Scotland and France. Second and third tier unions include Belgium, Canada, Fiji, Germany, Hong Kong, Kenya, the Netherlands, Romania, Samoa, Tonga, the United States and Uruguay. Rugby Union is administered by World Rugby, whose headquarters are located in Ireland, it is the national sport in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Madagascar, is the most popular form of rugby globally. The Olympic Games have admitted the seven-a-side version of the game, known as Rugby sevens, into the programme from Rio de Janeiro in 2016 onwards.
There was a possibility sevens would be a demonstration sport at the 2012 London Olympics but many sports including sevens were dropped. In Canada and the United States, rugby union evolved into gridiron football. During the late 1800s, the two forms of the game were similar, but numerous rule changes have differentiated the gridiron-based game from its rugby counterpart, introduced by Walter Camp in the United States and John Thrift Meldrum Burnside in Canada. Among unique features of the North American game are the separation of play into downs instead of releasing the ball upon tackling, the requirement that the team with the ball set into a set formation for at least one second before resuming play after a tackle, the allowance for one forward pass from behind the site of the last tackle on each down, the evolution of hard plastic equipment, a smaller and pointier ball, favorable to being passed but makes drop kicks impractical, a smaller and narrower field measured in customary units instead of metric, a distinctive field with lines marked in five-yard intervals.
Rugby league is both a professional and amateur game, administered on a global level by the Rugby League International Federation. In addition to amateur and semi-professional competitions in the United States, Lebanon, Serbia and Australasia, there are two major professional competitions—the Australasian National Rugby League and the Super League. International Rugby League is dominated by Australia and New Zealand. In Papua New Guinea it is the national sport. Other nations from the South Pacific and Europe play in the Pacific Cup and European Cup respectively. Distinctive features common to both rugby codes include the oval ball and throwing the ball forward is not allowed so that players can gain ground only
Paris
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an area of 105 square kilometres and an official estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, commerce, fashion and the arts; the City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2019 population of 12,213,364, or about 18 percent of the population of France. The Paris Region had a GDP of €681 billion in 2016, accounting for 31 percent of the GDP of France, was the 5th largest region by GDP in the world. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second most expensive city in the world, after Singapore, ahead of Zurich, Hong Kong and Geneva. Another source ranked Paris as most expensive, on a par with Singapore and Hong-Kong, in 2018; the city is a major rail and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly.
Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily, is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th busiest railway station in the world, the first located outside Japan, with 262 million passengers in 2015. Paris is known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre was the most visited art museum in the world in 2018, with 10.2 million visitors. The Musée d'Orsay and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art, the Pompidou Centre Musée National d'Art Moderne has the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe; the historical district along the Seine in the city centre is classified as a UNESCO Heritage Site. Popular landmarks in the centre of the city include the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the Gothic royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, both on the Île de la Cité. Paris received 23 million visitors in 2017, measured by hotel stays, with the largest numbers of foreign visitors coming from the United States, the UK, Germany and China.
It was ranked as the third most visited travel destination in the world in 2017, after Bangkok and London. The football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris; the 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics; the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the 1960, 1984, 2016 UEFA European Championships were held in the city and, every July, the Tour de France bicycle race finishes there. The name "Paris" is derived from the Celtic Parisii tribe; the city's name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. Paris is referred to as the City of Light, both because of its leading role during the Age of Enlightenment and more because Paris was one of the first large European cities to use gas street lighting on a grand scale on its boulevards and monuments.
Gas lights were installed on the Place du Carousel, Rue de Rivoli and Place Vendome in 1829. By 1857, the Grand boulevards were lit. By the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps. Since the late 19th century, Paris has been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in French as Parisiens, they are pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité; the Parisii minted their own coins for that purpose. The Romans began their settlement on Paris' Left Bank; the Roman town was called Lutetia. It became a prosperous city with a forum, temples, an amphitheatre. By the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town was known as Parisius, a Latin name that would become Paris in French. Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city.
Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. Fortification of the Île-de-la-Citie failed to avert sacking by Vikings in 845, but Paris' strategic importance—with its bridges prevent
Rugby League World Cup
The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament, contested by national teams of the Rugby League International Federation, first held in France in 1954, the first World Cup in either rugby code. The idea of a rugby league world cup tournament was first mooted in the 1930s with the French proposal to hold a tournament in 1931, again in 1951; the fifteen tournaments held to date have been at intervals ranging from two to eight years, have featured a number of formats. So far three nations have won the competition. Australia and New Zealand are the only teams to have played in all tournaments. Since 2000, the RLIF has organised World Cups for women and other categories; the 2017 Rugby League World Cup was held in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, won by Australia. The Rugby League World Cup was an initiative of the French, campaigning for a competition since 1935; the idea was raised in 1951 by the President of the French Rugby League. In 1952, Rugby Football League secretary Bill Fallowfield persuaded the Rugby League Council to support the concept.
At a meeting in Blackpool, England in 1953, the International Board accepted Paul Barrière’s proposal that France should be the nation to host the first tournament to be known as the "Rugby World Cup". In addition to the hosts, the tournament featured teams from Britain and New Zealand; the 1954 Rugby League World Cup was won by Great Britain who defeated France in Paris on 13 November to claim the title. The World Cup was contested by the four Test nations: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand; the teams played each other in a league format. A final match was played between the top two teams in 1954, it was decided that the team that finished first in the league would be declared the winner at the second World Cup in 1957, when Australia proved victorious on their home ground. After the successful 1960 competition, in which Great Britain won the title for the second time, there would be no further World Cup for eight years; the competition had been scheduled to be held in France in 1965, this time with the inclusion of the South African team.
However, after an unsuccessful tour of Australia, the French withdrew. The tournament was next held in 1968, followed a two-year cycle until the mid-1970s; the 1972 World Cup final ended in 10-all, the title was awarded to Great Britain by virtue of their superior record in the qualifiers. Great Britain were captained by Welshman, Clive Sullivan, the first black player to captain any British national sports team. In 1975, the competition underwent a radical overhaul, it was decided to play matches on a home and away basis around the world instead of one host nation and the Great Britain team was split into England and Wales meaning that the tournament would be increased from the 4 teams of previous tournaments to 5, this number taking part in the two future internationally held tournaments. There was not a final held to decide the champions of the 1975 tournament and so Australia won by virtue of topping the group standings; as Australia had not beaten England in that tournament a'final challenge match' was hastily arranged which Australia would win 25-0.
In 1977 it was decided. Although the final between Australia and Great Britain was a fought affair, public interest in the tournament waned due to the continuing tinkering with the format and it was not held again until the mid-1980s. From 1985 to 1988, each nation played each other a number of times on a home and away basis with a number of these games being considered part of various international tours that took place during the years in which these world cups were being played. At the end of that period, Australia met New Zealand at Eden Park; the match was a physical encounter, Australian captain Wally Lewis played part of the match with a broken arm. The Kangaroos won the competition 25-12; this format was repeated from 1989–1992 and Australia won again, defeating Great Britain 10-6 at Wembley Stadium in front of 73,361 people. This crowd remained a Rugby League World Cup record until beaten by the 74,468 crowd which attended the 2013 World Cup Final at Old Trafford; the fifth nation to compete in these two tournaments was Papua New Guinea.
In 1995, the competition was once again restructured, returning to the traditional'host' format with ten teams entering. Unlike previous tournaments where the top two teams in the table playing in the final, a knockout stage was added with a quarter and semi final. New teams competing included Fiji, Tonga and South Africa. Due to the Super League war, players aligned with the rebel competition were not selected by the ARL to represent the Kangaroos; this meant the absence of many star players from the Australian team's line-up. The tournament, held to celebrate the centenary of the sport in England, was successful with over 250,000 people attending the group stages and over 66,000 people attending the final to see Australia defeat England 16-8. Following the Super League war, the subsequent re-structuring of rugby league's international governing bodies meant that the proposed 1998 World Cup was postponed; the 2000 World Cup expanded the field further, with sixteen teams entering. This tournament included a New Zealand Maori representative team, the only time this team has t
England national rugby league team
The England national rugby league team represents England in international rugby league. The team formed from the Great Britain team which represented Wales and Ireland, is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League, it participates in the Rugby League World Cup, Four Nations and Test matches. The team dates to 1904, when they played against a mixture of Scottish players in Wigan; until the 1950s, they toured Australia and New Zealand and played both home and away matches against neighbours Wales and France, but when it was decided that Great Britain would tour the Southern Hemisphere instead of England and Wales became the only regular opponents. Their first appearance in the Rugby League World Cup was in 1975, they finished runners-up in 1975, 1995 and 2017. England competed in the European Nations Cup and in 2006, an England'A' team competed for the Federation Shield. England's main rivals were Wales and France, with the rivalries stretching back to 1908 and 1934 respectively. England's main rivals now are New Zealand.
Traditionally a predominantly white kit is worn including white socks. However the jersey features some form of red, like red stripes, crosses or chevrons; these colours are similar to other English sporting teams and are the colours used on the national flag. In 2008, a new kit was introduced featuring a red cross on the front and red strips down the sides of the jersey and socks were white too with red strips. In 2008, the Rugby Football League chose to abandon the traditional English lion on the badge in favour of a much simpler shield and cross design; the team is ranked third in the world, behind Australia and New Zealand. Wayne Bennett is the head coach, Sean O'Loughlin the captain. In 1895, twenty-one clubs split with the Rugby Football Union, citing that they wanted to play professionally, formed the Northern Rugby Football Union; the twenty-one clubs were all from Northern England and the players were working class. However it was not just English players who made the switch and Welsh players switched allegiance to the new code, wanting payments for playing.
Switching heightened in the early 20th century with more Scottish and Welsh players leaving the RFU than before. The England national rugby union team had been playing international matches since 1871, but it was not until 1904, nine years after the formation of the new code, that an international rugby league match was played. At the start of 1903 season the Northern Union thought about international matches and scheduled a match for England on New Year's Day 1904 in Oldham. On that day though, the ground was frosty and the match was cancelled and it was rescheduled for April. On 5 April 1904 England competed against a team called "Other Nationalities", who were made up of ten Welshman and two Scotsman, including George Frater, who captained the side, it was a period of experimentation for the Northern Union and each team had twelve players, not thirteen. At Central Park, Wigan the ground was muddy and in poor condition, however the match went ahead. England steamed into a 3–0 lead, from a try by Warrington's Jackie Fish.
This is despite Salford's James Lomas arriving late and causing England to start the match with eleven players. Fish missed the conversion and so the Other Nationalities were able to level the scores a little Welshman Thomas crashing over for a try; the conversion was missed and going into half-time the score was tied 3–3. In the second half Thomas went over for another try before Wigan's Harris sealed a 9–3 win for the Other Nationalities in the final minutes of the match. A total of 6,000 spectators turned up for the match, considered a poor showing despite a Broughton Rangers v Bradford cup clash being scheduled on the same day. In 1905 a match between the two sides was played at Bradford; this time England won 26–11 though they were losing 11–0 at half-time. Wigan's Jim Leytham scored four tries in a record that still stand today; the match was played with fifteen players on each side and so was the 1906 match. Played in Wigan again, the match finished a 3–3 draw; the concept was abandoned after the 1906 match.
By 1908 the game had expanded much more into Australia, New Zealand and Wales and England began playing those teams. Harold Wagstaff made his debut for England in 1908 against the touring Kangaroos team at 17 years and 228 days; the Other Nationalities side did return in 1921. An England side beat the Australasian team of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain 4–5 at Highbury. England played only one international between 10 May 1956 and 7 November 1968 an 18–6 victory at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds. England played at the World Cup in 1975 coached by Alex Murphy, played over several months in both hemispheres on a league basis. Great Britain would represent England in the World Cup, but the RLIF wanted to capitalise on the large amount of Welsh players in the game at the time, so England and Wales fielded separate teams. England won a 20 -- 2 victory over France in Leeds in March. In June the Lions suffered their first defeat in just their second match of the tournament, losing 12–7 against a strong Wales side in Brisbane.
A little England managed to hold on for a draw against Australia in Sydney, the final score being 10–10. And they picked up a point in Auckland, drawing 17–17 against New Zealand. At the end of October, after the domestic season had finished, England beat the Welsh 22–16 in Warrington and crossed the English Channel to thrash a French side 48–2 in Bordeaux. Bradford played host the England versus New Zealand match, in which England won comfortably 27–12. At the start of November, England sque
Catalans Dragons
