Welsh rugby league has a remarkable past – and a promising future

The BBC’s documentary about Welsh rugby players swapping union for league was fantastic. But the country’s relationship with the 13-man game is far from overBy Gavin Willacy for No Helmets RequiredIt is not often a documentary about rugby league gets major coverage in our national newspapers and a primetime slot on BBC One on a Sunday evening. The Rugby Codebreakers deserved to be watched by a national audience. It was up there with ESPN’s feted 30 for 30 series. This was brilliant television, about rugby league.The treatment of working-class Welsh rugby players who opted to be paid to play league rather than remaining union players in poverty was outrageous but explicable. Their departures caused grievous damage to the Wales rugby union team for decades. The treatment of the black Welsh rugby players, after being snubbed by their national team due to their ethnicity, was scandalous – and illegal – and rightly described as “rugby apartheid”. Related: Cora Staunton, the Gaelic footballer who switched continents and sports to go pro in AFLW Related: Meet the USA Rugby League World Cup captain . and organic food entrepreneur Related: Walk Like a Panther review – Brit wrestling comedy that forgets to be funny Continue readingread full article

Source: TheGuardian

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