2020 Annual 1 What’s Inside Welcome. Welcome 2 Andrew Ferguson Rugby League & the ‘Spanish Flu’ 3 Nick Tedeschi Making the Trains Run on Time 4 Hello and welcome to the first ever Rugby League Suzie Ferguson Being a rugby league fan in lockdown 5 Project Annual. Yearbooks of the past have always Will Evans Let’s Gone Warriors 6-7 been a physical book detailing every minutiae of the RL Eye Test How the game changed statisically 8-10 particular season, packed full of great memories, Jason Oliver & Oscar Pannifex statistics and history. Take the Repeat Set: NRL Grand Final 11-13 Ben Darwin Governance vs Performance 14-15 This yearbook is a twist on the usual yearbook as it 2020 NRL Season & Grand Final 16-18 not only looks at the Rugby League season of 2020, 2020 State of Origin series 19-21 but most importantly, it celebrates the immensely NRL Club Reviews Brisbane 22-23 brilliant, far-reaching and diverse community of Canberra 24-25 Canterbury-Bankstown 26-27 independent Rugby League content creators, from Cronulla-Sutherland 28-29 Australia, New Zealand, England and even Canada! Gold Coast 30-31 Manly-Warringah 32-33 This is not about one individual website, writer Melbourne 34-35 or creator. This is about a community of fans who Newcastle 36-37 are uniquely skilled and talented and who all add North Queensland 38-39 to the match day experience for supporters of Parramatta 40-41 Rugby League around the world, in ways that the Penrith 42-43 mainstream media simply cannot. St George Illawarra 44-45 South Sydney 46-47 They are bold, intelligent, witty, passionate and Sydney 48-49 absolutely brilliant. Warriors 50-51 Wests Tigers 52-53 My hope is that you as fans can support all of these NRLW History 2018-2020 54-55 independent minds, be it via sharing their work, NRLW Player Stats & Records 56-57 following them on social media, supporting them Pythago NRL Super League at super crossroads 58 Richard Shaw-Wright Super League vs 2020 59 financially if they have merchandise or crowd Sandy Domingos-Shipley How Toronto Came to Be (My View) 60-61 funding options and by promoting them. 2020 Challenge Cup 62 I’d also like to thank Tim Costello for his splendid 2020 Super League Season 63-65 Super League Club Reviews Castleford 66-67 work putting this together. His work is that of yet Catalans 68-69 another great person involved in Rugby League and Huddersfield 70-71 was displayed magnificently all year through his work Hull FC 72-73 for the LeagueUnlimited website and was the man Hull KR 74-75 who designed and compiled their match programs Leeds 76-77 ‘The Front Row’, which came to life in 2020. Salford 78-79 St Helens 80-81 These are the real voices of Rugby League. Wakefield 82-83 Warrington 84-85 This is a yearbook by the fans, for the fans. Wigan 86-87 2020 Championship & League 1 88 I hope you enjoy it and we all thank you for your Rugby league podcasts 89 support. Michael Carbone 2020 news from places you did not even realise played the great game 90-91 Andrew Ferguson & Shawn Dollin International Head-to-Head 1904-2020 92 Rugby League Project International Records 1904-2020 93 Editors - 2020 Annual International Results 1904-2020 94-107 2021 Rugby League World Cup Schedule 107 Social icon Circle Only use blue and/or white. For more details check out our Biggest Tiger Footy bringing the smiles 108 Brand Guidelines. NRLCEO Fantasy Footy 108 @rugbyleagueproj Michael Adams Super League war: 25 years on 109 2021 NRL Draw 110-111 2 did the same for Newtown despite having retired 4 years earlier. Paddy McCue also made a return to first grade for the first time since 1916 Rugby League when he lined up for Wests. The NSWRL season remained at 14 rounds and was still played in front of and the crowds, with only a moderate drop in crowd figures - yet there were still some games played in front of large crowds, such as: • Souths v Wests in Round 1 drew 20,000 • Souths v Glebe in Round 3 drew 17,000 ‘Spanish Flu’ • Balmain v Souths in Round 4 drew 25,000 • Balmain v Easts in Round 8 drew 17,000 - and their return match in Andrew Ferguson @AndrewRLP Round 14 drew 20,000. Origins The New Zealand touring side arrived in Melbourne at the start of June The ‘Spanish Flu’ began approximately in January 1918 and lasted until and were immediately quarantined. After almost a week they were finally December 1920, infecting over half a billion people globally (which at released and began their tour in Sydney on June 7. They travelled to the time was around 25% of the global population). Some estimates Tamworth, Newcastle, Ipswich, Brisbane, Rockhampton and Toowoomba suggested that the death toll was around 100 million. That's a mortality on an 11 game tour, but did not play any Tests. rate of around 1 death per 5 infected people, or 20%. The toll rises The virus arrived in Australia in January 1919 and remained until On June 15, Glebe had 9 of their usual 13 first grade players missing as September of that year. In those 9 months it killed 6,387 people in NSW they were all struck down by the flu. Their opponents in that game were alone - 3,902 of those in Sydney, where nearly 300,000 were infected. Balmain, who were without 3 players themselves. The flu came to Australia mostly through infected returning servicemen, On June 16, Mick Frawley, a pioneer player for the Roosters, succumbed but it was on October 25, 1918 when a ship arrived in Sydney from New to the virus and died. Zealand that the illness likely first reached the country. June 18 saw three of the touring Kiwi players bedridden with the flu - But the virus didn't spread like wildfire until one single event on January Henry Tancred, Wally Somers and Billy Wilson, alongside tour managers 22, 1919, when a soldier, travelling from Melbourne to Sydney via ship, Oakley and Levien. This caused the game at Orange scheduled for June shared a compartment with a civilian who was "very ill with aches and 19 to be postphoned, before ultimately getting cancelled. pains and a high temperature". Two days later the soldier was ill with the same symptoms, as were the three nurses who treated him. Seven other June also saw the North Sydney club travel to Tamworth for a game. soldiers who made the same journey also fell ill. On January 27, it was Upon returning home it was found that 6 of their players had come down confirmed they were suffering from the ‘Spanish Flu’. with the flu. The NSW State Government leapt into action quickly. The very next day June 21 saw several stars for NSW struck down by the flu and stood down they shut down all libraries, schools, churches, theatres, public halls and for their game against the touring Kiwi side: Lyall Wall, Ray Norman, places of indoor resort for public entertainment. Frank Burge, Reg Latta, Albert Johnston, John Kerwick and Dick Townsend. By January 30, further measures were issued: people were required to Dally Messenger and his wife Annie both contracted the disease and wear masks covering their mouth and nose; the assembly of people in were frightfully ill. Dally survived but sadly his wife didn't. public areas was banned; and there was a travel ban across the Victorian- New South Wales border. In August, Australia travelled to New Zealand playing in 9 games where they savaged their opposition, with the only exception being the second It was suggested that fresh air was the best natural resistance to the flu, test which was their only loss. By then though, the worst of the flu had with a medical council encouraging outdoor activity provided that it was passed and normality to life was resuming. away from crowds. In February further restrictions saw the closure of all hotels and racecourses and the banning of public meetings. The aftermath By the time the flu had run its The flu hits rugby league course in Australia, Balmain On April 14, the NSWRL held their meeting where it was revealed that had been declared premiers for Harold Horder and Les Cubitt "are still wearing their brains out how they the fourth time in five years, are going to dodge the flu restrictions." It was also reported that Charles the post-season City Cup Fraser was quite sick with the flu. This however was the only mention of saw Wests beat Glebe in front the virus during the meeting. of 12,000 fans, 4 interstate games had been played and Two weeks after the meeting, the Rugby League season went ahead as all won by NSW - with the first normal, even discussing tours to other nations and having other teams game attracting a bumper crowd of 30,000 in mid-July and New Zealand visit Australia. had drawn some massive crowds in their 11 game tour - notably 46,157, 38,884 and a pair of 20,000 crowds for their 4 games against NSW. Many notable stars came out of retirement to help a number of clubs who were short of players during 1919 due to the flu: Arthur Butler and Bob The ‘Spanish Flu’ was aggressively fast and unbelievably deadly, yet Craig, both aged 37, continued on for one last season with Annandale despite this, Rugby League did not flinch - it carried on regardless even and Balmain respectively, Bob Graves who retired in 1913, played 7 when players were getting infected and a past player was killed by it.