Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 679 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| RUGBY LEAGUE WARTIME MATCHES: ODSAL STADIUM, BRADFORD | 1940s | 1940-01-01 |
|
Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Black & White Sound: Silent Duration: 17 mins 45 secs Subject: Wartime Sport |
| Summary This is a series of films featuring four Rugby League and Union games: a fundraising match between Combined Services Rugby League and Rugby Union, 1941, a fundraising match between Yorkshire Services and Northern Command, early 1940s, England v Wales, 1939, and the Challenge Cup Final between Bradford Northern and Wigan, 1944. |
|
Description
This is a series of films featuring four Rugby League and Union games: a fundraising match between Combined Services Rugby League and Rugby Union, 1941, a fundraising match between Yorkshire Services and Northern Command, early 1940s, England v Wales, 1939, and the Challenge Cup Final between Bradford Northern and Wigan, 1944.
The film opens with several people outside Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Inside the stadium there are several teams going through exercise routines across the field...
This is a series of films featuring four Rugby League and Union games: a fundraising match between Combined Services Rugby League and Rugby Union, 1941, a fundraising match between Yorkshire Services and Northern Command, early 1940s, England v Wales, 1939, and the Challenge Cup Final between Bradford Northern and Wigan, 1944.
The film opens with several people outside Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Inside the stadium there are several teams going through exercise routines across the field before the stadium fills up. A woman, in what looks like a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force uniform, is collecting money outside. Back inside the stadium there is a parade. It is led by a Highland band which is followed by marching troops, a Boys Brigade band, possibly the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
On the pitch, the action begins for the rugby game between Combined Services Rugby League and Rugby Union. This is followed by a performance of Highland dancing at half time. More action from the second half of the game is followed by the teams leaving the pitch and the crowd leaving at the end of the game. Some of those attending the game, including officers and members of the Highland troops, are shown talking outside the stadium.
The next section of film begins with the souvenir programme of the game:
"Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Souvenir Programme.
Yorkshire Services XV versus Northern Command XV.
Saturday February 15th 1941: Kick-off: 3.15. Price 1d.
Challenge Match for Army Charities".
Officers and civilians arrive at the stadium and wave to the camera. Others pose outside the ground. More coaches arrive carrying army personnel. Higher-ranking officers and dignitaries are shown arriving by car. A woman in a fur coat shows a box of flowers to the camera. The crowd goes through the turnstiles and queue at the booking office. The teams – Yorkshire Services and Northern Command – make their way down onto the pitch from the stand. The teams line up to be presented to the mayor. Highlights of the first half are shown before one of the teams pose for the camera at half time. There is more from the second half of the game, and at the end, the teams leave the field.
The next film begins with the title: ‘England v Wales. December 23rd’ [1939].
Spectators arrive through the turnstiles, and the camera shows a poster:
"City of Bradford: Police Notice:
AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS
The gates of the ground will be opened immediately if an Air Raid Warning is sounded.
Every one should leave the Ground immediately but in an orderly manner.
Do not rush for the gates.
If you can reach your home in a few minutes go there.
If you cannot reach your home quickly, take shelter of any kind available or as directed by the Police or Wardens.
Do not stand in groups in the street.
ABOVE ALL KEEP A COOL HEAD..."
Then some people greet each other outside the grounds.
Title - ‘The Earl of Harewood Inspects his Guard of Honour, from the Bradford Air Corps’.
The Earl greets the Corps while other dignitaries arrive and make small talk. The Earl makes his way down the stand onto the pitch to greet the players, which include two black players in the Welsh line up. Some highlights of the match are shown as well as the large crowd gathered in the stands.
The next film is of the second leg of the Challenge Cup Final between Bradford Northern, in the white shirts, and Wigan, in the dark shirts, on 22nd April 1944. Wigan won the first leg at Central Park Wigan 3-0. Northern won this leg 8-0 in front of a 30,000 crowd. Highlights of the game are shown, including the players taking a half time break sitting next to the stands. At the end of the game, the Northern team goes up to collect the cup and celebrate.
Context
This film is one of several donated to the YFA by Bradford Bulls, all featuring rugby games at Bradford, including the first rugby league game of the test series between a Great Britain team and Australia, played at Headingley, Leeds, in 1948. The film comprises several games all taking place during the Second World War. They form an interesting selection, including an international and a game between rugby league and rugby union teams. The YFA has a number of other films featuring Rugby...
This film is one of several donated to the YFA by Bradford Bulls, all featuring rugby games at Bradford, including the first rugby league game of the test series between a Great Britain team and Australia, played at Headingley, Leeds, in 1948. The film comprises several games all taking place during the Second World War. They form an interesting selection, including an international and a game between rugby league and rugby union teams. The YFA has a number of other films featuring Rugby League games, including the Rugby League Jubilee Cup Final in 1935 between Castleford and Huddersfield. The Bradford Bulls are involved with the Rugby League Heritage Project which also includes a photographic archive (see their website in References for more details). See also Civil Defence Exercise etc which has film of the Cup Replay between Halifax and Warrington in1954.
Yorkshire has a special place in the history of rugby – probably the single most important county in rugby history – and especially Bradford, with Manningham, just down the road, being the first team to win the National Union Championship. It might seem surprising that these games took place during the war, but, apart from 1940, the Rugby League Championship and the Challenge Cup both continued to be played during the war, with the final switching to Bradford from Wembley for 1941 and 1942, with the next two years aggregating the home and away matches. It was felt that the continuation of sport was good for morale, although rugby league was affected with clubs closing down and a Wartime Emergency League set up in 1941. In November 1939 the RFU passed a resolution, with restrictions, allowing for players to play for teams from across the rugby divide. Rugby union was much more affected however, and football was re-organised into regions. This difference in the affect of the war might reflect the geographical and occupational difference: with many in Yorkshire and Lancashire still having to work down the mines and in factories. The history of rugby league is an intriguing one. Football of some kind has a long and convoluted history: if the object of football is to kick a leather ball between two posts than it goes back to the Shang Dynasty of China in the 5th century BC. The modern games of football and rugby gradually emerged out of each other during the middle of the nineteenth century. Famously, it is claimed that rugby started at Rugby School in 1823 when a pupil, William Webb Ellis picked up the ball, but this has been exposed as a myth. In fact handling the ball wasn’t new, and was known in Yorkshire in places like Hull and Huddersfield as well as in the public schools. The rules of modern football date from 1863 when the Football Association was founded. The following year the first rugby clubs were formed in Leeds and Huddersfield, followed by Hull in 1865 and York in 1868. Bradford too was formed in 1868, an offshoot of the cricket club. Usually these clubs played a game that was a mixture of football and rugby. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) originated in 1871, and was very much a southern body with all 21 clubs from the south of England, most in London. The division between rugby league and union began in 1886 when the RFU, unhappy about the dominance of the largely working-class northern clubs, introduced strict amateur rules. The huge crowds attending games, and the need of players to be compensated for loss of wages - miners and factory workers were not permitted to leave work on Saturdays until 1pm – led to Yorkshire clubs in 1893 allowing players to be paid six shillings ‘broken-time’ payments. The Rugby Football Union opposed this, wanting to retain their gentleman status, leading to suspensions and eventual split, with the Northern Rugby Football Union (NU - later to become known as rugby league) being established in 1895. Two years later the NU abolished the line-out and reduced the value of all goals to two points, and making tries worth three points. The rules have changed in other respects since that time, when rugby was a rather dangerous game: 71 deaths were recorded in English rugby from 1890 to 1893 alone. Although rugby league became professional in 1995, there has never been any enthusiasm for the two rugby codes to combine. It was hoped at the time that these war time games might bring the two sides together, but this never materialised: the tribal divisions seemed to be far too set for that! (see Rugby's Berlin Wall in References). Each of the games shown in the film has interesting aspects, but perhaps the more fascinating games are those involving league and union players: the Combined Services Rugby League team and the Combined Services Rugby Union team, on 29th April 1944, and the Yorkshire Services XV versus Northern Command XV in February 1941. Similar games combining the two sets of players were held during the First World War. In fact it was only ever a war that brought the two codes together, and inter-service games flourished. This game was one of many events of that time to raise funds for various war related causes. Two games were held in March 1941 and March 1942 at Central Park, Wigan, raising money for the Red Cross. The YFA has many films featuring other fund raising events during the war, such as ‘Wings for Victory’ and ‘Salute the Soldiers’ weeks. The 1944 game was won by the Rugby League Combined Services team by 15-10, with Trevor Foster, Ernest Ward and Willie Davies (Captain) playing for the rugby league side. On the Union side were two future secretaries of the Rugby Football Union: Robin Prescott and Bob Weighall (the full line up and match report can be found in Rugby's Berlin Wall). The previous year, 1943, a Northern Command army rugby league side defeated a Northern Command union side 18-11 at Headingley. Although both matches were won by the league teams, they were played to rugby union rules, even though the league players had no experience of playing 15 a side. It is noticeable that the film focuses on scrums and a line-out, both aspects of the union code. This was the last time that teams from across the rugby divide would play each other until 1996. These matches also show another aspect of wartime: the desire to promote a sense of national unity. A sense of class injustice did not entirely disappear during the war, and to bridge the divide within rugby would be one way to ameliorate this. The Rugby League Oral History Project notes the contrast in the social background of the two sets of players: the Rugby Union sides which took part in the 1943 and 1944 matches contained nine and ten officers respectfully, whilst neither of the Rugby League sides included a single officer (see References). Odsal Stadium itself has changed much over the years. As can be seen in the film, it was a large ground: just before these matches, in April 1939, it hosted a record breaking 66,308 (this is also put as 64,453) for the Challenge Cup Semi-final between Halifax and Leeds - see also Civil Defence Exercise Etc (1953-1970) and Semi Final Seven Aside (1939). One notable feature is just how few crush barriers there are in the terraces: evidence perhaps that crowds can stand at games without that necessarily leading to crushing. References Tony Collins, Rugby's Great Split: Class, Culture and the Origins of Rugby League Football, Frank Cass Publishers, London, 1998. Graham Williams, Peter Lush and David Hinchcliffe, Rugby's Berlin Wall: League and Union from 1895 to today, London League Publications Ltd, 2005. Rugby League Heritage Project The Rugby League Oral History Project |
