Seems RL and AR have had similar histories when it came to establishing each code (RL in France and AR in NSW). I'm interested to know, who denied the NSWFL access to grounds in Sydney? Rugby League or Rugby Union or both? Anyone know the answer to that? Were the RL administrators as evil as the RU officials they accuse of killing the game of RL in France?
From its beginning, French rugby has been known for a strange blend of exquisite skill and occasional thuggery. In the 1930s, the France national team was kicked out of the (then amateur) Five Nations competition for violent play and for allegedly making secret payments to players.
As that decade came to an end, le rugby union, or le rugby à quinze, sank further into dire straits thanks to the emergence of a more exciting, semi-professional form of the game. Rugby league or rugby à treize (13-a-side rugby), a sport born in industrial Lancashire and Yorkshire, was sweeping through the game's heartland in the rural South-west.
French rugby union was only saved by the German army's invasion of France in May 1940. Some of the sport's senior administrators took advantage of their close relationship with the pro-Nazi, collaborationist Vichy regime headed by Marshal Pétain to have the rival code outlawed as a "corrupter" of French youth.
Rugby league's funds, players, stadiums and even kit were handed over to rugby union. Rugby-a-treize never fully recovered. Compensation was never paid. It took until 2002 for the French government to recognise officially that league had been the victim, not so much of a loathsome political ideology, as of jealousy and prejudice and a massive dirty trick.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugb ... 01557.html
The first recorded game of Australian rules football in Sydney was between the Waratah rugby club and the Carlton Football Club in 1877, two days after a rugby game between the two clubs and 14 years after rugby was first played in the state.
Waratah and some others claimed that the Australian rules resulted in a more exciting game, but the rugby authorities repeatedly rejected suggestions to switch codes or even play intercolonial matches under alternating rules against Victoria. In response, the proponents of the Australian game formed the NSW Football Association in 1880 and in 1881 the first Australian rules game between NSW and Victoria was played in Sydney. The NSWFA was small, with only a few clubs, including Waratah who switched code in 1882, and competition did not begin in earnest until 1889, when clubs competed for the Flanagan Cup. Having trouble gaining access to enclosed grounds, and therefore gate receipts, the association also had trouble with antagonism between its clubs, and it collapsed in 1893.
The NSW Football League was born on 12 February 1903 at a meeting held in the YMCA Hall in George St. The NSWFL promoted the game in schools and the Victorian Football League (VFL) held premiership matches in Sydney in an effort to establish the code. In 1908, largely through the switch of codes by the talented Dally Messenger, rugby league established itself into the culture of Sydney, and although Australian football remained popular, the NSWFL was again denied access to enclosed grounds and the new professional code further drew players from the NSWFL. By 1911, Australian rules had achieved more support than rugby union, according to The Referee, but only because the main rival was now rugby league.
The Australian National Football carnival of 1933 was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Several matches drew large crowds, particularly those involving New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and West Australia.
Following the successful interstate football carnival, in 1933 a proposal by the New South Wales Rugby League to amalgamate Australian football and rugby league was investigated and a report, with a set of proposed rules, known as Universal football, was prepared by the secretary of the NSWRL, Harold R. Miller and sent to the Australian National Football Council. A trial game was held in secret, but the plans were never instituted.
Three of the original NSWFL clubs are still in existence and currently play in the Sydney AFL — North Shore, East Sydney (now UNSW-ES) and Balmain, but the league never grew to a substantial size or obtained significant support.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian ... outh_Wales
