Rugby V Football Quotes

1907 also saw the formation of the NSW Rugby Football League, which broke away from Rugby Union over the issue of player payments. Traditionally, Union had enforced amateurism. That was fine for affluent players, but working-class men could not take time off to train and play without receiving compensation. Again, the working classes had a win, with professionalised Rugby League soon displacing Union in New South Wales and Queensland. Current and future Labor politicians were among League's early leaders. H.V Evatt, who would go on to lead the Labor Party nationally, served as one of the founders of Sydney University's Rugby League club. When he first ran for the electorate of Balmain, Evatt advertised in the official Rugby League journal that he was 'the Rugby League candidate'.