@ King of the Gorgonites – do you mean WW1 or WW2? All codes & cricket etc in Australia continued through WW2, even when the nation was under direct threat of invasion (which was not the case in WW1). RU, cricket & Aust rules also played on during the Boer wars.
RU played on during WW1 – the NSWRU “suspended competition”, six months after the bulk of its first graders had enlisted in the AIF and gone to Egypt. Suspending the competition, did not mean the game was no longer played – it meant no competition table was kept, and no finals played.
SMH 7Aug1915: “To-days Fixtures. Rugby Union. Univeristy v Eastern Suburbs; Balmain v Manly; Glebe v North Sydney; Mosman v Newtown; St George v Randwick .”
SMH 30Aug1915 “Eight of the Rugby Union clubs closed season on Saturday with a knockout competition at the Sports Ground.”
The Pottinger article stated “When Balmain played Glebe in the 1915 grand final, young men were being sacrificed at Gallipoli.” The NSWRL in 1915 had no finals, using a first-past-the-post system.
The NSWRL & QRL, same as cricket and VFL, suspended all representative football – in the case of RL and cricket, this is where the money & crowds were, not club level.
The QRU played on as normal in Brisbane in 1915 (including a final) – BrisbaneCourier 9Sept1915: “The Rugby Union premiership final will be played on Saturday at Brisbane Cricket Ground when Valleys meet Christian Brothers”.
The QRU had so few players in Brisbane for 1916 onwards that was not played til the war ended. The QRL was nearly as badly affected, and for 1916 made attempts to join with the QRU to combine teams/competition.
The Brisbane RU comp was played again in 1919 and 1920, getting into financial difficulties in the latter year – the QRL held fundraising RL matches to cover the QRU’s debts, but after paying off its creditors with that money, the QRU disbanded.
Sports played thru WW1 include VFL, cricket, RU in NZ, USA baseball, gridiron, Canadian ice hockey, boxing. Soccer & RL in UK til war took toll.
If RL only toppled RU in Aust due to WW1 (Aug 1914), how come the first Wallabies-All Blacks Test Sydney July 1914 drew 10K fans, yet in 1907 this same match drew 50K? the 1914 Kangaroos v Lions 3-test series in Sydney drew total 130K fans.
The RU collapse was an outcome of the post 1908 rugby divide in Australia that left RU comprised primarily of players, officials and supporters who were of a mindset that embraced the amateur ideal and the Empire – that is what put RU into difficulty, not RL playing on.
The loss of players happened during the Boer War too, but RU was then a game across all of society, so not everyone shared the same views, and not everyone enlisted. The 1908 split not only gave us RL, but changed RU.
RU went pro 1995. Even if there was no RL or WW1, amateur RU would’ve lost NSW/QLD in 1920s to Aust rules or soccer.
