The history of all hitherto existing Rugby codes is the history of class struggle. Here we talk with the best historian in the field about how Rugby League arose from the class politics of Britain in the late 19th century, and how its history has continued to reflect the vicissitudes of that struggle.
We were privileged to be joined by Professor Tony Collins, historian, author, emeritus professor of history at De Montfort University, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Sports Humanities and also a visiting professor at Beijing Sports University.
His books have won the Aberdare Prize for Sports History four times since 1999 and he has been a consultant to numerous TV and radio programmes including the excellent Codebreakers about Welsh Rugby union players who went north to play for League clubs.
In March 2018 he began the weekly Rugby Reloaded podcast on the history of rugby and the other football codes, which is highly recommended.
His latest book is the excellent Rugby League: A People’s History it was published in July 2020. He is a prolific author but a special mention here for the People’s History , Rugby’s Great Split, about the context of the breakaway of some northern clubs to form what would evolve into the Rugby League code, the greatest game of all. And the magnificent Sport in Capitalist Society, which is basically the subtext of this whole Red Caste series on sport and politics, this book forms the topic of our next episode.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rugby-reloaded/id1358627156
Tony's excellent podcast series
http://www.tcollins.org
Some of Tony's books