Reddit reviews The Forbidden Game

Class Warfare and World War One.

During world war one, Union games were suspended throughout Australia, while League games continued to be played. During this time the community had few common things to bond over that wasn't the war, and sport was a common release for many people. The only two major sports still being played throughout QLD and NSW were cricket and Rugby League.

After the war the gulf between the two was somewhat exacerbated again because of the perceived class gap between the two. The working class people from the trenches embraced the blue collar game of league and turned their nose up at the "upper class" game of Union which was seen to be played by the people who put them in the trenches in the first place.

I couldnt tell you which book I got this from, I have too many league books to remember them all, but the best and by far most interesting read is this one on on the history of the game in France.

Basically Pre WW2 League was hugely popular in France, perhaps more so than Union, but after Germany invaded, the pro-Rugby Union Vichy government banned Rugby League, confiscated all French Rugby League assets and handed them over to French Rugby Union. To this day Rugby League in France has not recovered.

Edit: I should also add that WW1 was catastrophic to Union in Australia. For example QLD RU didn't start up in full again till the thirties after it was dissolved for WW1.

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