Rugby Reloaded

Whatever happened to the Lions, British rugby league's national team? The answer is more complicated than you might think, showing how changing conceptions of nationality are reflected in sport, and why history is about more than the simply what happened in the past. Take a ten minute tour through 114 years of international and changing team titles with this week's 'Rugby Reloaded' podcast. For mo...

In October 2017 Jason Taumalolo started a rugby revolution when he opted to play for Tonga, the country of his parents' birth, in the Rugby League World Cup. But how did rugby start in Tonga? Why does the national rugby union side struggle, while its league side has never been more popular? 'Rugby Reloaded' takes a ten-minute tour of Tongan history for some answers. For more on the history of rugb...

How did rugby come to Japan? Alone of all the Asian nations, Japan is the place where rugby is part of the national culture, despite it being a rival to (and a war-time enemy of) the English-speaking rugby-playing countries in the Pacific. Discover how rugby took the way of Bushido in our ten-minute time travel trip through 150 years of Japanese rugby. For more on the history of rugby and the othe...

The Scots have always felt they were as important as the English in the story of how rugby was born. This week's ten-minute trip back through time examines how Scotland kick-started international rugby and why their rivalry with the RFU went so deep and lasted so long. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Discover the origins of South African rugby and the hidden history of black and mixed race involvement in the game in our latest ten-minute tour of rugby history. This was a time when Afrikaners were a rare sight on the rugby field and the game was a symbol of the British Empire. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreload...

Did Walter Camp invent American football? Most of the history books say yes, but the reality is much more complicated. American football began as rugby but quickly started to change the rules to make a better spectacle - just like many other rugby-playing regions. Discover how and why it changed in your ten-minute intro to the orgins of the gridiron game. For more on the history of rugby and the o...

12-a-side, three downs and a Maple Leaf at its heart. This week we look at Canadian football, the unsung cousin of rugby and gridiron football. Take a ten-minute trip through Canadian history to discover how Canada came to have its own football code and how it paved the way for American football. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and a...

It's Black History Month, so this week's podcast looks at the history of black players in British rugby league. Take a ten minute tour of the hidden history of a century of black achievement - and the obstacles still to be conquered - as players, captains and coaches in rugby league. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyre...

We're continuing our look at how the different football codes started - this week it's Gaelic football. How did the distinctive Irish game emerge? Is it really an ancient game? We'll debunk the myths and deconstruct the history... all in just ten minutes. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Look around the world and in almost every football code, the game is the sport of the city. This week's bitesize glimpse into football history looks at the orginal world capital of football: Glasgow. No other city was dominated by football like Glasgow, and it provided the template for the great footballing cities of the world. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow...

This week we look at the origins of Aussie Rules football and ask just how unique are the origins of the game? For most of its fans, it's an original Australian code of football, and many others believe that it is derived from the games of Aboriginal Australians. But, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, the beginnings of the game are neither pure Australian nor anything like simple. For more on the history...

Welcome to the first episode of a bonus Rugby Reloaded plus - ahead of this year's Tom Brock Lecture in Sydney, we talk to Tom Brock Scholar and sports consultant Spencer Kassimir about the history of the relationship between rugby league and girdiron football, and the prospects for the sport in North America. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @col...

Women have always played football - but the modern football codes of the 19th Century tried to keep them out. This week's bitesize time tunnel looks at how women fought to be part of football in Victorian times, both on the terraces and on the pitch. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

It's well known that the Vichy government in France banned rugby league in 1941. But what happened to the game after that? This week's episode looks at rugby league players in World War 2 and the faboulous rebirth and calamitous fall of the French game in the post-war years. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.co...

On Wednesday 29 August it will be 123 years to the day since twenty-one of England's top rugby clubs met at the George Hotel to create the Northern Union. This week's ten-minute history tour takes a deep dive into the events of 1895 that led to that momentous meeting. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

It's Wembley Week for British rugby league - and to celebrate the game's annual day in the sun, this week's podcast takes ten minutes in the time tunnel to discover why and how rugby league's big day out ended up in London. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

As a preview for my new book 'How Football Began', I'm looking at the origin myths of football - and this week I'm investigating the claim that Sheffield is the true birthplace of modern soccer. Take a ten-minute tour of the early history of sport in the Steel City and discover Sheffield's intriguing football history - and how rugby played a vital role in its early years.

This week's ten-minute time tunnel looks at the career of John Sutcliffe - from Bradford and England rugby, to Manchester United and England soccer, to European football management. Sutcliffe's life tells the story of football's incredible development in the space of a single lifetime. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugby...

How did soccer became the global game - but not rugby? This week we take a ten minute world tour and compare the fate of soccer and rugby in Argentina and Brazil. Take a listen and discover how soccer defeated rugby to become the undisputed champion of the football world. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

How did soccer avoid a split over professionalism in 1885 but rugby tore itself apart over the same issue in 1895? In a special prview of my new book 'How Football Began' this week's ten-minute meander through sporting history explains why soccer stayed united but rugby split. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded....

This week's ten-minute time tunnel looks at rugby union's one hundred war against rugby league. From 1895 to 1995 rugby union excluded rugby league players from playing its game, developing a system that even rugby union's Danie Craven described as 'the strictest form of apartheid'. How and why could this happen? For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @...

Take ten minutes to discover how the Wallabies and Kangaroos battled it out for Australian rugby supremacy. This was a war that was fought on the playing fields of Britain as much as it was was on the paddocks of Sydney - and it left rugby league the winner. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

This week's half-time history talk looks at why league has a six tackle rule. Was limited tackle rugby brought in to stop St George's domination of Australia in the 1960s or does it have deeper links with American football's four downs system (and Canada's three downs)? It's a six-tackle history in just ten minutes. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitte...

What links Walter Camp, Lucius Banks and Harry Sunderland? As our latest ten-minute history tour explains, they've all played parts in rugby league's dream of establishing itself in the United States. Listen to the complete story of how league almost came to America in the 1930s. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreload...

This is the story of Wally McArthur, the first Aboriginal rugby league player to play for an English club. Born a son of Australia's Stolen Generation, Wally blazed a trail for Aboriginal players when he signed for Rochdale Hornets in 1953 and went on to prove that true greatness is about much more than what happens on the pitch. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follo...