The End of an Era

The tour down under in 1950 proved to be a momentous one. There were many reasons for this but the major one was that it destroyed the aura of English invincibility with regard to the international game of Rugby League. The Ashes were lost for the first time in three decades, the two Tests in New Zealand were also lost. For the first time the England team lost four consecutive Test matches.On the tour one of the managers was guilty of being less judicious in his remarks particularly after the loss of the second Test in Brisbane. That game was dominated by controversial referring decisions not least being the sending from the field of two English players within two minutes of each other. The loss of that second Test match affected the players for the rest of the tour.The deciding Test match won by Australia in truth should never have been played due to the state of the Sydney Cricket Ground. Rumours circulated of there being a Test team and a mid week team also that the two managers were not seeing eye to eye.In spite of all the problems the tour saw a record profit and the players a record bonus. However the Rugby League Council was forced to defend the managers from a number of allegations associated with their actions whilst on the tour. With the ending of the tour gone forever was the English domination of the international game world wide.