The 1975 Rugby League World Cup (officially known as the 1975 Rugby League World Championship) was the seventh World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams and ran from 2 March to 12 November. Australia were the winners for a fourth time after topping the group table.Paddy McAteer (22 December 2010) "Whole World in their Hands" North West Evening Mail
Unlike previous World Cups, there was no one host country, with the five participating nations hosting matches over eight months. Each team had to play the others on a 'home and away' basis. For the first time Great Britain did not compete and instead England and Wales entered to participate for the first time, taking advantage of a glut of Welsh talent in the British game at the time.
Teams
Venues 14 venues across the five competing countries hosted games of the 1975 Rugby League World Cup. Wales used their own home venue at Swansea, but also played home games in England in both Salford and Warrington. England also played a 'home' game against Wales at Lang Park in Brisbane, Australia. Sydney Marseille Brisbane Bradford Wigan Sydney Cricket Ground Stade Vélodrome Lang Park Odsal Stadium Central Park Capacity: 70,000 Capacity: 49,000 Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 40,000 Toulouse Leeds Bordeaux Auckland Salford Stadium Municipal Headingley Stade du Parc Lescure Carlaw Park The Willows Capacity: 35,000 Capacity: 32,000 Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 17,000 Swansea Christchurch Warrington Perpignan St Helen's Rugby Ground Addington Showgrounds Wilderspool Stadium Stade Gilbert Brutus Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 13,000
Warm-up games The teams arranged a number of warm-up games against local opposition during the World Championship, detailed below.
England Date Opponents Score Venue Attendance 1 June Western Australia style="text-align: center;" Perth 6,000 7 June Toowoomba style="text-align: center;" Toowoomba 3,000 15 June Southern Division (NSW) style="text-align: center;" Gosforth 3,000 18 June North Island (NZ) style="text-align: center;" Huntly 2,490 29 June Illawarra style="text-align: center;" Wollongong 4,000 2 July Brisbane style="text-align: center;" Brisbane 9,000 6 July Papua New Guinea style="text-align: center;" Port Moresby 12,000
Wales Date Opponents Score Venue Attendance 5 June Ipswich style="text-align: center;" Ipswich 4,000 18 June Wellington style="text-align: center;" Wellington 2,000 22 June West Coast (NZ) style="text-align: center;" Greymouth 2,000 24 June Canterbury style="text-align: center;" Christchurch 2,500 1 July Auckland style="text-align: center;" Auckland 12,000 3 July New Zealand Māori style="text-align: center;" Rotorua 2,500
France Date Opponents Score Venue Attendance 12 June Auckland style="text-align: center;" Auckland 10,000 22 June Wide Bay style="text-align: center;" Bundaberg 4,000 25 June Lithgow-Oberon style="text-align: center;" Lithgow 1,360 27 June NSW Group 6 style="text-align: center;" Campbelltown 2,600 29 June Monaro style="text-align: center;" Queanbeyan 5,700
Australia Date Opponents Score Venue Attendance 30 September Auckland style="text-align: center;" Auckland 7,251 10 October Salford style="text-align: center;" Salford 5,357 12 October St Helens style="text-align: center;" St Helens 10,170 23 October Rouergue XIII style="text-align: center;" Albi 2,000 4 November Oldham style="text-align: center;" Oldham 3,575 9 November York style="text-align: center;" York 4,082
New Zealand Date Opponents Score Venue Attendance 15 May North Queensland Firsts style="text-align: center;" Townsville 18 May Central Queensland style="text-align: center;" Rockhampton 21 May Northern Division style="text-align: center;" Tamworth 24 May NSW Country Firsts style="text-align: center;" Newcastle 6,000 27 May North Coast style="text-align: center;" Tweed Heads 1 November South West France style="text-align: center;" 4 November Barrow style="text-align: center;" Barrow-in-Furness 9 November Keighley style="text-align: center;" Keighley
Results
In this match Mick Cronin kicked nine goals.
England winger Keith Fielding created a new record by scoring four tries against a hapless French team at Bordeaux.
Kangaroo wing prodigy Ian Schubert also scored a hat-trick tries.
English stand-off Ken Gill ran in three tries.
In this match Jim Mills, the Wales prop, was banned for the rest of the season after an altercation. The ban was eventually lifted on 2 January 1976.
Final standings
Final challenge match As Australia had not beaten England to win the World Cup (a draw and a loss), a one off challenge match was arranged, although this was not officially classed as a Final as Australia had already been crowned Champions after topping the group.
The Kangaroos showed they were worthy World Champions with a comprehensive 25–0 win at Headingley in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,680 which was over 11,000 less than had attended the 1970 World Cup final, between Great Britain and Australia, at the same venue. England had shown little interest in playing the game.
Try scorers 7
Ian Schubert Keith Fielding
5
Mick Cronin
4
Bob Fulton Ken Gill John Holmes Bill Francis
3
Mark Harris Graeme Langlands John Peard Terry Randall Ged Dunn Eric Hughes Bob Jarvis Phillip Orchard
2
Ray Higgs John Lang Lew Platz Tommy Raudonikis Steve Rogers Patrick Chauvet George Fairbairn Tony Gordon Ken Stirling Dennis Williams Peter Banner John Bevan David Willicombe
1
Ray Branighan Graham Eadie Tim Pickup John Quayle Johnny Rhodes John Atkinson Colin Forsyth Jeff Grayshon Brian Hogan Thomas Martyn Roger Millward Mick Morgan Steve Norton Stuart Wright Bernard Curt René Terrats Tony Coll Tom Conroy Murray Eade John Greengrass Lyndsay Proctor John Smith John Whittaker Kel Coslett Tony Fisher Brian Gregory John Mantle Jim Mills Clive Sullivan David Treasure Frank Wilson
References
External links 1975 World Cup at rlhalloffame.org.uk 1975 World Cup at rlwc2008.com 1975 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.com 1975 World Cup data at hunterlink.net.au