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.
Pre–1954: Establishment
Since 1935, the French had been campaigning this initiative of an international tournament like the World Cup. Previously, nations had done tours of other test playing nations, however there wasn't one particular unifying tournament between rugby league's best nations. Eventually, in 1951, Paul Barrière, the president of French Rugby League at the time, raised the idea of the World Cup. A year later, Rugby Football League secretary Bill Fallowfield persuaded the Rugby League Council to back the idea. The following year, at a meeting in Blackpool, the International Board accepted Barrière's proposal of the World Cup.
1954–1960: Early tournaments
In 1954, the first tournament was conducted in Barrière's home nation, with Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, Francs rounding out the four team tournament. In the final, Great Britain downed France 16–12 at the Parc des Princes in Paris in front of 30,368 fans on 13 November. France then donated the trophy (now known as the Paul Barrière Trophy) to the International Board. The cup, at the time, was worth eight million francs and is still in use today.
In the next tournament three years later, it was decided that the four nations from the first tournament would play each other again in a round-robin format, however with no final,the team which finished on top would be the victors. Australia went on to win the 1957 tournament on home soil. The tournament returned again three years later, with Great Britain taking the tournament out at home. That tournament was widely regarded as a great success.
1960–1977: Sporadic competitions
It was not until eight years later when the tournament would return. There were plans, announced at a 1962 International Board meeting by Bill Fallowfield, for a 1965 tournament which would return to France and feature South Africa for the first time. These plans were later scrapped after a poor tour of Australia by the planned hosts France. In 1968, the competition returned with Australia beating France in the first final since the inaugural competition 20–2 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of 54,290 people. That tournament also featured Australia's highest crowd for a World Cup match, with 62,256 people in attendance at the SCG for their pool match against Great Britain. The hosts won that match 25–10. The tournament was then held every two years, with Australia becoming the first nation to retain their title, doing so over in England in 1970 and Great Britain winning their third and last competition in France in 1972. They won this tournament, despite tying with Australia 10–all in the final, because of their superior group stage record.
In 1975, was hosted across two federations. Great Britain split into England and Wales for the 1975 tournament as Wales wanted to showcase the high level of talent they had (no Scottish or Irish players made the original squad), this created a five team tournament for the first time. A final was not planned for that tournament, with the winner meant to have come from the team who finished top. However, despite finishing first, Australia hadn't defeated England yet so they played a challenge match against the English at Headingley. This didn't prove to be an issue for the Australians however, as they won that match 25–0 in front of 7,680 people.
In 1977, Great Britain returned as a single, combined entity and the World Cup saw Australia and New Zealand hosting. The final was closely fought, with Australia coming out on top against Great Britain 13–12 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. However, due to the constant tinkering with the format of the tournament, the public was starting to lose interest, and it would be eight years until the tournament returned.