Great Britain is one of the major national teams playing rugby league. The team is administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), and is commonly nicknamed the 'Lions' or 'Great Britain Lions'. Sometimes the team is known as 'Great Britain and Ireland'. There is some confusion as to whether the team represents Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), the United Kingdom (which includes Northern Ireland) or the British Isles (Great Britain and Ireland); see below for more on this. In 2004 the RFL dropped the 'and Ireland' but kept the Irish shamrock on the shirt. Players from Ireland that have already represented Great Britain will still be able to.

Competitions

Great Britain have traditionally been one of the strongest teams in rugby league, though usually playing second fiddle to Australia. They have won the Rugby League World Cup on three occasions: 1954, 1960 and 1972. Since 1995 the RFL have preferred to send the home nations as separate teams for world cup purposes.

Great Britain continue to complete as test playing nation both home and away (unlike the British and Irish Lions rugby union team, who are a touring only team playing sporadically). They compete against Australia for The Ashes, and New Zealand for the Baskerville Shield, as well as playing series and tours against other nations such as France and Papua New Guinea. Great Britain also play in the Tri-Nations.

Titles, selection and identity

As stated above, there is some confusion as to which “nation” the Lions represent. Although they are commonly called simply Great Britain by the RFL, the badge on the current shirt bears the name British Isles XIII, and players from the Republic of Ireland have been selected to play, one recent example being Cork-born Brian Carney. At matches, the team are represented by the Union Flag and the signing of God Save the Queen, both symbols of the United Kingdom. The practice of a UK-wide team being called Great Britain has a precedent with the Great British Olympic team.

The team was first called Great Britain for the 1948 Ashes Series. Previously they had been known as the Northern Union XIII (after the governing body of British Rugby League), or after 1922 simply The Lions.

See also

• Rugby League Ashes
• Baskerville Shield
• Rugby League World Cup
• Tri-Nations
• England national rugby league team
• Wales national rugby league team
• Scotland national rugby league team
• Ireland national rugby league team

External link

• The Rugby Football League’s Great Britain pages