Rugby Reloaded
The social history podcast which explores the history of rugby league, rugby union, and the other football codes around the world.
Episodes
September 11, 2023 • 10 mins
The Rugby Union World Cup has kicked off in France this week, so this episode of 'Rugby Reloaded' goes back in time to look at when France was expelled from the international game in 1931.
Not only was France kicked out of the Five Nations but its clubs were banned from playing British teams. We look at how and why this happened, and explore how deep-rooted British suspicions of the French led to rugby union's greatest crisis sinc...
Mark as Played
August 29, 2023 • 50 mins
Rugby Reloaded is back for a brand new series and we kick-off with a blockbuster interview with Anthony Broxton about his new book ‘Hope and Glory: Rugby League in Thatcher’s Britain’.
Anthony’s book explores the history of the sport during a pivotal decade for Britain. It was the era of Hanley and Offiah, when the pro game expanded as far as Kent, but it was also the decade of the miner’s great strike and social devastation acros...
Mark as Played
February 6, 2023 • 29 mins
The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Professor Matthew Brown about his new book 'Sports in South America. A History'. It's a panoramic view of the birth of modern sport on the continent from the mid-1800s to the first FIFA world cup in 1930.
The book covers the full range of sports but our interview focuses on some of the key themes of football history: why ideas about 'fathers of football' are mistaken, questioning the importanc...
Mark as Played
December 19, 2022 • 36 mins
Duncan Stone's new book 'Different Class: The Untold Story of English Cricket' is both a history of cricket from the grassroots and an analysis of the roots of the sport's attitudes to race and class. Duncan uncovers the reality of cricket behind the myth, and reveals the true story of working-class cricket in the south of England. For anyone wanting to understand English cricket's current crisis 'Different Class' is essential read...
Mark as Played
November 28, 2022 • 44 mins
This week's episode talks to Geoff Armstrong about his latest book, the second volume of 'Spirit of the Red V', his in-depth history of St George Dragons. St George are one of the most significant clubs in the history of Australian rugby league.
Famous for its unparalleled run of 11 straight premierships in the the 1950s and 1960s, the club's fortunes have risen and fallen as much with off-field trends as they have due to on-fiel...
Mark as Played
November 14, 2022 • 37 mins
On 5 November I was invited to give a talk about Huddersfield and its role in rugby's split of 1895 by the Huddersfield Local History Society (https://www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk).
In it, I look at the growth of rugby in the town, the rise of the rugby club, the role of its most infamous administrator Frank Marshall, and how the split played out in the town during the 1890s.
For more on the history of rugby and the other foo...
Mark as Played
October 24, 2022 • 35 mins
On Friday, the 21 October 2022, I gave a talk at the Museum of Wigan Life titled 'Roy Francis, George Bennett, race and rugby league' as one of the museum's Black History Month events. The talk looks at the lives of the two players, examines the impact of the 1919 racist riots on their lives and the sport, and for the first time reveals how George Bennett was excluded from the 1936 Lions tour to Australia because of racism.
For ...
Mark as Played
September 12, 2022 • 39 mins
The new Rugby Reloaded talks to Stewart McGill and Vince Raison about their fascinating new book, 'The Roaring Red Front: The World's Top Left-Wing Football Clubs' (Pitch Publishing).
They travelled around the world visiting soccer clubs which have a reputation for left-wing politics, sampling the match-day atmosphere, and exploring the histories of a diverse range of clubs, from Dulwich Hamlet to Detroit City, Boca Juniors In Ar...
Mark as Played
June 13, 2022 • 8 mins
Rugby History 101: the shape of the ball.
The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' investigates why the rugby ball is oval - and, as usual, the answer is not as obvious as you might think. It's a long story where technology, traditions and tournaments converged in an evolutionary process to create the oval world.
For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, take a look at www.rugbyreloaded.com (where you can find the links...
Mark as Played
May 23, 2022 • 10 mins
The new 'Rugby Reloaded' looks at the career of Maurice Lindsay, who died last week. From Wigan to the RFL to Super League, Maurice changed the face of rugby league as radically as he divided opinion about himself.
Part visionary, part inveterate self-publicist, Maurice created the greatest British rugby league team in generations, spearheaded the move to Super League, and became a household name in rugby league in two hemisphere...
Mark as Played
April 25, 2022 • 41 mins
The latest 'Rugby Reloaded' talks with Jonty Winch about his new book 'World Champions: The Story of South African Rugby'.
For the first time, Jonty tells the complete story of South African rugby union from its beginnings to the present day by including all sections of society, black, white, 'coloured', and women. It's a major publication for the history of rugby, and Jonty takes us through some of the key issues in that story. ...
Mark as Played
March 21, 2022 • 10 mins
In the second episode of our two-part special on the history of rugby union and concussion, we take a look how attitudes changed with the coming of professionalism in the 1990s.
For a sport that came into the world with deep links to the medical profession, the 21st century saw it abandon its past in favour of new relationships with sports scientists - and it would be the players who lost out.
For more on the history of rugby an...
Mark as Played
March 14, 2022 • 10 mins
This week's episode is the first of a two-part special looking at the history of rugby union's changing attitude towards head injuries. The sight of Wales' Tomas Francis staggering around Twickenham during February's England-Wales match after a head clash has reignited the debate about rugby's treatment of concussion.
I also have to declare a personal interest as I've done historical research on concussion and rugby for Ryland's ...
Mark as Played
January 31, 2022 • 34 mins
The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to former 'Sydney Morning Herald' rugby league journalist Steve Mascord about his new book 'Two Tribes'.
It chronicles the rollercoaster year of 1997, when rugby league down under split into two competitions, Super League and the Australian Rugby League. Featuring over 100 interviewees with the key protagonists, Steve's book is an oral history of a tumultuous time which gets under the skin of rugby ...
Mark as Played
January 10, 2022 • 42 mins
Rochdale Hornets may not have been the most successful rugby league team but they are an exemplar of the sport's struggles and culture.
The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Jim Stringer and Mark Wynn, the authors of a brand new history of the club - 'Triumph and Disaster : 150 Years of Rochdale Hornets' about the club's origins in Victorian England, how its fate was tied to the fortunes of the cotton industry, why the town became a ...
Mark as Played
December 20, 2021 • 34 mins
'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Hugh Godwin about his fascinating new biography of the England winger of the 1930s, Prince Alexander Obolensky. 'The Flying Prince' is a meticulously researched book which examines how a Russian noble came to be the hero of English rugby union by scoring two devastating tries in England's first ever win over the All Blacks in 1936. Along the way, it paints a detailed picture of the sport in the interwar ye...
Mark as Played
December 6, 2021 • 32 mins
It's 75 years since the British Rugby League Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. And to talk about their new book about the 'Indomitables', as the tourists were nicknamed, 'Rugby Reloaded' is joined by Martin Whitcombe, grandson of tourist Frank Whitcombe, and acclaimed historian Huw Richards. We discuss the political origins of the tour, the backdrop of World War 2, the reception in Australia, the tour's controversial end, an...
Mark as Played
November 22, 2021 • 29 mins
'Rugby Reloaded' this week talks to Professor Gavin Kitching, author of 'A Fateful Love; Essays on Football in the North-East of England 1880-1930' about what history can tell us about the recent takeover of Newcastle United by a Saudi Arabian investment fund.
Is the hyper-commercialisation of football today a consequence of the commercialism which led to the creation of the Football League in the 1880s - or does it represent som...
Mark as Played
November 8, 2021 • 41 mins
The new 'Rugby Reloaded' talks to Professor Derek Catsam about his new book on the strange, sanction-busting Springbok of the USA in 1981, 'Flashpoint: How a Little-Known Sporting Event Fueled America's Anti-Apartheid Movement'.
This is story of the interlocking of rugby union politics, apartheid, the Cold War and some inconsequential rugby matches. Coming straight after the the hugely controversial 1981 test series between the A...
Mark as Played
September 27, 2021 • 31 mins
This month's 'Rugby Reloaded' chats with Huw Richards about the past, present and future of rugby league in London following the London Broncos' decision to revert to part-time pro status. We look at the history of the club and the problems facing rugby league expansion in London, as well as its achievements over the past 40 years, before gazing into the oval crystal ball.
For more on the history of rugby and the other football c...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.