Rugby Reloaded

Rugby History 101: the shape of the ball. The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' investigates why the rugby ball is oval - and, as usual, the answer is not as obvious as you might think. It's a long story where technology, traditions and tournaments converged in an evolutionary process to create the oval world. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, take a look at www.rugbyreloaded.co...

The new 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the career of Maurice Lindsay, who died last week. From Wigan to the RFL to Super League, Maurice changed the face of rugby league as radically as he divided opinion about himself. Part visionary, part inveterate self-publicist, Maurice created the greatest British rugby league team in generations, spearheaded the move to Super League, and became a household name...

The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' talks with Jonty Winch about his new book 'World Champions: The Story of South African Rugby'. For the first time, Jonty tells the complete story of South African rugby union from its beginnings to the present day by including all sections of society, black, white, 'coloured', and women. It's a major publication for the history of rugby, and Jonty takes us through some...

In the second episode of our two-part special on the history of rugby union and concussion, we take a look how attitudes changed with the coming of professionalism in the 1990s. For a sport that came into the world with deep links to the medical profession, the 21st century saw it abandon its past in favour of new relationships with sports scientists - and it would be the players who lost out. For...

This week's episode is the first of a two-part special looking at the history of rugby union's changing attitude towards head injuries. The sight of Wales' Tomas Francis staggering around Twickenham during February's England-Wales match after a head clash has reignited the debate about rugby's treatment of concussion. I also have to declare a personal interest as I've done historical research on c...

The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to former 'Sydney Morning Herald' rugby league journalist Steve Mascord about his new book 'Two Tribes'. It chronicles the rollercoaster year of 1997, when rugby league down under split into two competitions, Super League and the Australian Rugby League. Featuring over 100 interviewees with the key protagonists, Steve's book is an oral history of a tumultuous time wh...

Rochdale Hornets may not have been the most successful rugby league team but they are an exemplar of the sport's struggles and culture. The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Jim Stringer and Mark Wynn, the authors of a brand new history of the club - 'Triumph and Disaster : 150 Years of Rochdale Hornets' about the club's origins in Victorian England, how its fate was tied to the fortunes of the cotton...

'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Hugh Godwin about his fascinating new biography of the England winger of the 1930s, Prince Alexander Obolensky. 'The Flying Prince' is a meticulously researched book which examines how a Russian noble came to be the hero of English rugby union by scoring two devastating tries in England's first ever win over the All Blacks in 1936. Along the way, it paints a detailed pict...

It's 75 years since the British Rugby League Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. And to talk about their new book about the 'Indomitables', as the tourists were nicknamed, 'Rugby Reloaded' is joined by Martin Whitcombe, grandson of tourist Frank Whitcombe, and acclaimed historian Huw Richards. We discuss the political origins of the tour, the backdrop of World War 2, the reception in Australi...

'Rugby Reloaded' this week talks to Professor Gavin Kitching, author of 'A Fateful Love; Essays on Football in the North-East of England 1880-1930' about what history can tell us about the recent takeover of Newcastle United by a Saudi Arabian investment fund. Is the hyper-commercialisation of football today a consequence of the commercialism which led to the creation of the Football League in the...

The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Professor Derek Catsam about his new book on the strange, sanction-busting Springbok of the USA in 1981, 'Flashpoint: How a Little-Known Sporting Event Fueled America's Anti-Apartheid Movement'. This is story of the interlocking of rugby union politics, apartheid, the Cold War and some inconsequential rugby matches. Coming straight after the the hugely controversi...

This month's 'Rugby Reloaded' chats with Huw Richards about the past, present and future of rugby league in London following the London Broncos' decision to revert to part-time pro status. We look at the history of the club and the problems facing rugby league expansion in London, as well as its achievements over the past 40 years, before gazing into the oval crystal ball. For more on the history...

This month's 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Dr Hendrik Snyders about the attempts to start rugby league in South Africa in the 1950s and the influx of black, 'coloured' and white South Africans into British rugby league in the 1960s. It's a story of politics, race, RFL accommodation to apartheid, and British rugby league providing a home for non-white rugby stars. For more on the history of rugby and t...

In the last of the current weekly series of 'Rugby Reloaded' I catch up with journalist and fellow Hull-born leaguie Trevor Gibbons to talk about growing up league in Hull, the psycho-geography of the city's sport, the eternal battle between the red and the black, and what it all means to the city of Hull. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, take a look at www.rugbyreloa...

On 4 July 1914 the greatest rugby league test match of all time took place - the third and decisive game of the 1914 Ashes series. Led by Harold Wagstaff, a nine-man British Lions team overcame Australia 14-6 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It set the template for international rugby league and became the benchmark for what was expected of players. But why did it become known as the 'Rorke's Drift'...

It's Game 4 of the Stanley Cup tonight and so this week's episode of 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Bruce Berglund about the history of ice hockey and his new book 'The Fastest Game in the World: Hockey and the Globalization of Sport'. We talk about hockey's origins at the same time as the emergence of the football codes, how it reflected Muscular Christianity, how it spread around the world, the role...

'Rugby League is dying' has been a refrain that has dogged the sport throughout its history. But rugby league hasn't died, and in fact has survived numerous attempts to kill it off. So why does this 'meme' continue? The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at its history, asks why it has re-emerged recently, and argues that the sport is no closer to death today than it was at any other time when its mort...

Joseph Platt was the man who organised the historic meeting at the George Hotel in August 1895, and he remained secretary of the Northern Union for 25 years. He steered the NU through the split, rule changes, international expansion, and World War One - yet his attempts to expand the game were hamstrung by the self-interest of the founder clubs. This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at his life and c...

Psychotherapist and former Huddersfield Giant Jon Bell joins us on the podcast this week to talk about his work on vulnerability, mental health and rugby league. Over the past decade, mental health has become an increasingly important issue in the game, and is linked to issues such as masculinity, de-industrialisation and the changing nature of professional rugby league - and is part of a general...

The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Professor Gavin Kitching about Sunderland, Sunderland Albion, and how soccer overtook rugby in the North East of England in the 1870s and 1880s. Gavin's new book 'A Fateful Love: Essays on Football in the North-East of England 1880-1930' is a detailed investigation of the myths and realities of football's rise, and also deeply thoughtful exploration about the natu...

This week 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the literature and poetry of rugby union, and explores how its patriotic message helped the game expand dramatically after World War One. 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' helped launch rugby union in the mid-19th century and its themes became part of the sport's culture. But World War One gave rugby union its most important moral mission, and its success in promoting it...

This week's episode of 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at how Leicester Tigers saved rugby union in the early 1900s. The history of folk football in Leicestershire extends back into the middle ages, and rugby was the first football code to take root there in the 1870s. Just as in the north of England, rugby became a mass spectator sport run on professional lines. But after 1895, the Tigers made themselves...

This week's 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the origins of rugby in Hull and its strange twist of geographical fate. The city was and remains a heartland of rugby dating back to the 1860s. Like the rest of the north of England, the game in Hull was begun by former public schoolboys, but it quickly captured the imagination of dockers, shipbuilders and factory workers across the city. And East Hull was th...

It's the FA Cup Final on Saturday - so 'Rugby Reloaded' investigates whether the FA Cup was directly inspired by Sheffield's Youdan Cup. The Youdan Cup kicked off in Sheffield in 1867 and was won by Hallam FC by two rouges to nil. Many Sheffield fans believe the cup was the model that FA secretary Charles Alcock used for the FA Cup when it kicked off in 1871. But as usual in football history, the...

In 1913 the French modern artist Robert Delaunay exhibited his ground-breaking painting 'The Cardiff Team'. It was an important painting in 20th century French art which used rugby as a metaphor for the newly industrialising nation which France was becoming. Rugby was part of the 'shock of the new' heralded by avant-garde artists like Delaunay. But why was the painting named after Cardiff FC? What...