2nd Edition

Rugby's Great Split Class, Culture and the Origins of Rugby League Football

By Tony Collins Copyright 2007
    288 Pages 28 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    288 Pages 28 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Since it’s first publication, Rugby’s Great Split has established itself as a classic in the field of sport history. Drawing on an unprecedented range of sources, this deeply researched and highly readable book traces the social, cultural and economic divisions that led, in 1895, to schism in the game of rugby and the creation of rugby league, the sport of England’s northern working class.

    Tony Collins’ analysis challenges many of the conventional assumptions about this key event in rugby history – about class conflict, amateurism in sport, the North-South divide, violence on the pitch, the development of mass spectator sport and the rise of football. This new edition is expanded to cover parallel events in Australia and New Zealand, and to address the key question of rugby league’s failure to establish itself in Wales.

    Rugby’s Great Split is a benchmark text in the history of rugby, and an absorbing case study of wider issues – issues of class, gender, regional and national identity, and the impact of the commercialization and recent professionalization of rugby league. This insightful text is for anyone interested in Britain’s social history or in the emergence of modern sport, it is vital reading.

    List of Illustrations. Series Editor's Foreword. Preface to the Second Edition. Introduction 1. From Folk Football to Civic Pride: Origins to 1879 2. The Coming of the Working Class: 1879-1886 3. 'King Football': 1886-1893 4. Schism: 1893-1895 5. The Rise and Decline of the Northern Union: 1895-1905 6. A Revolution in Rugby: 1905-1910 Conclusion: The Northern Union and Working Class Culture. Appendices. Bibliography. Index

    Biography

    Tony Collins

    Praise for the previous edition:

    'The outstanding historical work … definitive on the 1895 schism between the two rugby codes.'- Financial Times

    'This book is a landmark in the history and historiography of rugby league and of rugby in general.' - Rugby League Express