Rugby League in the 1980s

Alan Whiticker, Ian Collis

• Publisher: Gelding Street Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9781923009448
• Year: 2024

The power and the passion

The 1980s saw rugby league transform from brutal battlefield to entertainment spectacle. It changed almost beyond recognition.
Rugby League in the 1980s was a time of unforgettable moments, major controversies and big personalities. Major on-field rules changes clamped down on violence and unleashed the spectacle. Meantime, progressive officials, in tune with social changes, re-shaped the game off-field too creating a series of pop culture moments.
Rugby League in the 1980s: the Power and the Passion captures the characters that made the 1980s so great as well the great games, the premiership deciders and internationals. An absolute must for any rugby league fan of the era.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Chapter 01: ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’
• Chapter 02: The Origin story
• Chapter 03: ‘Let’s Get Physical’
• Chapter 04: Hello Illawarra and Canberra, goodbye Newtown (but not Wests)
• Chapter 05: ‘What About Me?’
• Chapter 06: Unbeatable: the story of the 1982 and 1986 Kangaroo tours
• Chapter 07: ‘Reckless (Don’t Be So)’
• Chapter 08: Mastering the media
• Chapter 09: ‘Original Sin’
• Chapter 10: Keeping the Ashes at home
• Chapter 11: ‘Out of Mind, Out of Sight’
• Chapter 12: Hardmen and cult favourites of the 1980s
• Chapter 13: ‘Funkytown’
• Chapter 14: Trans-Tasman rivalry and the 1988 World Cup final
• Chapter 15: ‘Too Much Ain’t Enough Love’
• Chapter 16: The NSWRL expands interstate
• Chapter 17: ‘Age of Reason’
• Chapter 18: The end of the midweek Cup
• Chapter 19: ‘What You Get Is What You See’
• Chapter 20: The Top Tens of the 1980s
• Statistics
• Acknowledgements
• About the Authors
• Copyright