The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions.
The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Commission, the Kangaroos are ranked first in the IRL Men's World Rankings. The team is the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having won the competition 12 times, and contested 15 of the 16 finals, only failing to reach the final in the 1954 inaugural tournament. Only five nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia has an overall win percentage of 69%.
Cuthwyn Ellery Hanley is an English former rugby league player and coach. Over a nineteen-year professional career (1978–1997), he played for Bradford Northern, Wigan, Balmain, Western Suburbs and Leeds. He won 36 caps for Great Britain, captaining the team from 1988 to 1992, and 2 for England. Nicknamed 'Mr Magic' and 'The Black Pearl', he played most often as a stand-off or loose forward after starting out as a centre or wing.
The Japan national rugby league team, nicknamed the Samurais, represents Japan in rugby league football. Japan have played some international competition since 1994. The Japanese National Cup, the JRL domestic club competition, was founded in 1998. In 2021 the season was restarted after a break for COVID with five teams in two divisions, three clubs in East Japan, the Abiko Ducks, Mitaka Spartans and South Ikebukuro Rabbitohs; and two clubs in West Japan, the Kamisenryu Sea Turtles and The Kansai Kaminari.
Michael Stephenson is an English rugby league commentator and former player.
Harold Wagstaff, also known by the nickname of "Waggy", was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. He played as a centre and was nicknamed the Prince of Centres. A captain of Great Britain, he also played representative rugby league for England, and Yorkshire. Wagstaff has been inducted into the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame, and the Huddersfield Giants Hall of Fame.
David Donald Valentine was a Scottish representative rugby union and World Cup winning rugby league footballer, a dual-code rugby international who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1960s.
Malcolm John Reilly OBE is an English former rugby league player and coach. He played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Castleford in England, and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Australia, as a loose forward,
Joseph Paul Lydon is an English former professional rugby league footballer and rugby union coach. He played during the 1980s and 1990s as a fullback, wing, centre, or stand-off for Widnes, Wigan and Eastern Suburbs. He also represented Lancashire, and won 30 caps for Great Britain.
David Furner is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who was the head coach of the Leeds Rhinos, and a former player. He is an assistant coach for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, and the former head coach of the Canberra Raiders with whom he spent his whole Australian playing career. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australia national representative goal-kicking second-row forward, he left the Raiders as the third greatest point-scoring forward in NRL history before enjoying a successful career in England with the Wigan Warriors and the Leeds Rhinos.
Martin Hodgson was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Lauded as one of the game's greatest ever second-rows, he represented Great Britain, England and Cumberland on many occasions. Hodgson played his entire club career with Swinton with whom he won two Championships. He toured Australasia in 1932 and 1936 with the Great Britain lions, and became the only British forward to appear in five Ashes-winning squads, between 1929 and 1937.
George Fairbairn is a Scottish former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached rugby league in the 1980s and 1990s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Borders, and at club level for Kelso RFC, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Wigan, winning the Man of Steel Award in 1980, and Hull Kingston Rovers, as a goal-kicking fullback, and coached at representative level rugby league for Scotland, and at club level Wigan, Hull Kingston Rovers, and Huddersfield.
Jack Wilkinson was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s. A Halifax and Wakefield Trinity Hall of Fame inductee, he was a Great Britain and England international forward. Wilkinson also represented Yorkshire, and ended his career as captain-coach of Bradford Northern.
Derek Turner, also known by the nickname of "Rocky", was an English World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England, Yorkshire and Great Britain & France, and at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers, Oldham and Wakefield Trinity (captain), with whom he won three Challenge Cup Finals, as a second-row, or more usually loose forward, and coached at club level for Castleford, Leeds and Wakefield Trinity.
Joseph Francis Thompson was an English-born dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Cross Keys RFC, as a number eight, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain, Wales and Other Nationalities, and at club level for Leeds, as a prop, second-row, or loose forward, he died in Leeds.
John William Whiteley MBE was an English professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played his entire club career with Hull FC making over 400 appearances between 1950 and 1965. He also represented Great Britain at international level, winning the Rugby League World Cup with the team in 1954 and 1960.
Australia vs England in rugby league is a rivalry between the Australia national rugby league team and the England national rugby league team in the sport of rugby league. The first test match between the two sides was in 1975, with a 10–10 draw being the result.
The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament currently played every four years. The first tournament was held in 1954, hosted by France who had pushed for such a tournament to be approved. Since the first edition, 14 others have been held at sporadic intervals.
