To Jerusalem and Back

In 1995 the sport of rugby league took a bold step as it did when the game was established by the working men of the north of England. Their demands to be compensated for lost earnings caused a schism in rugby football that, for 100 years, was fed by bitterness, jealousy and resentment of both sides. It was an argument that resonated beyond the boundaries of sport; the differences between rugby league and rugbu union became a metaphor for the divisions between north and south, between the working classes and the upper classes, between professionals and amateurs. Rugby league, a symbol of the industrial north, and the mirror of its rise and decline, fiercely adhered to its roots, but at a meeting in a Huddersfield hotel in the spring of 1995, a decision was taken that would turn the game upside down and alter the sporting landscape. The media magnate Rupert Murdoch offered the 32 professional clubs a #77 million deal that, he promised, would enable rugby league to break free from its financial hardships and its northern redoubt and become a rich, worldwide game funded by satellite television. The Super League was born.
Many of Murdoch's radical proposals met with strong opposition; some, such as the advent of a summer season, were welcomed. One thing was certain: the game would never be the same again. Tracing the history of rugby league and relating the experiences of the players, administrators and spectators, this book presents a picture of the sport.