Graham Lowe: Brits have lost the spirit of the pits

It's a great irony about British league that at the time their teak-tough reservoir of players came up from the mines, their game was headed for the pits.

In the 1950s, 60s and 70s the professional rugby players (those in rugby league) were known in Britain as the hard men from the North.

They came out of the coal pits, put their footy gear on over the grime and showed the world how to play a tough game of league.

But that was before the 80s and before the coal mining industry went to the dogs.

These characters gained much of their strength crawling along seams of coal hundreds of feet below the ground for eight hours a day.

Compare that with the players going round in Super League now who climb out of their BMWs aftershaved to the hilt to visit the local building society to check on their investments. None of their current squad could hold a candle to these great players of the past.

League was the working class game, and it was played by men who did not have things easy compared with their white-collar, public school, rugby cousins.

They were also good players and showed other league-playing nations what ball distribution was all about.

Names such as Flash Flanagan, Tommy Bishop, Alex Murphy, Cliff Watson, Frank Myler, Billy Boston, Doug Laughton, Malcolm Reilly and the mighty "Wild Bull of the Pampas" Vince Karalius were just a few.

I know not many of these names are on the lips of people today, but believe me, they helped shape the destiny of our game and also the looks of a few Kiwi and Australian test players.
In fact I couldn't help but think at the ex-Kiwi reunion a couple of weeks ago that many of these old blokes could attend Halloween parties without masks.

Although we enjoyed watching them on their tours to New Zealand, we rated them as dirty players and they couldn't understand why. They genuinely didn't know what was wrong with standing on someone's head if it was in the way.

It could be argued that giant Welsh prop Jim Mills actually went out of his way to find the head of Kiwi prop John Greengrass with his boot.

The hardened Pommie forwards had a mindset that everything was legitimate, often even their own heads, with which they frequently delivered the fearsome Liverpool Kiss. Believe me, it lacked the affection suggested by its name.

Those were the wild west days of league when often all that stood between a game of test football and absolute mayhem was legendary New Zealand test referee John Percival and his whistle.

Such was their standing internationally, Great Britain test players from those days also set the on-field dress standards and defined how many of us wore our footy gear in this part of the world.

I always thought there was something wrong with the way their shorts were made.

In a strange twist of football fashion, British forwards in particular rolled their shorts up at the waist band, which made them half the length. Sure enough, the next season after a tour here all the blokes running around Carlaw Park did the same. And they always tied their socks up with old football laces that were miles too long, and we copied that.

Another key feature displayed by those old Pommie players was their lack of front teeth.

At a very early stage in their careers their front teeth usually got knocked out.

To tell the truth, in many cases their faces in general looked as if they had already been used by someone else.

But with all that taken into account, they were the team to beat.

Much is made nowadays about the structured left and right defence and attack patterns of modern teams. The Poms invented that, along with many other innovations in the game.

Through the 70s and into the early 80s many things changed in league in Britain.

The mines closed.

Then the Kangaroos under coach Frank Stanton went through them like a dose of salts in three test matches and all the club games that were played on the 1982 tour.

The British fitness and skill levels had been allowed to fall dramatically, and they were no match for the Aussies who fielded players such as Wally Lewis, Gene Miles, Mal Meninga, Steve Ella and Max Krilich.

That Kangaroo touring side took the game to another level.

Even to this day, I don't think the Poms have got over it. Put it this way, I certainly don't think they learned from it.

To improve things they just imported players and coaches from New Zealand and Australia and, as a result, in many ways have ignored their proud history.

The current Great Britain side is reasonable but does not pose the same threat to Australia or New Zealand as their teams of old did.

Unlike the old days, I doubt they could even win the fight if they adopted the tactics of old.

They should be no match for the Aussies this weekend and look certain to miss out on the final of the Tri-Series.

When this happens, the game in Britain will once again look overseas for remedies, when the cure is staring them in the face.

League in Britain is now run by bean-counters with no understanding of the history or tradition of their own game.

And until that is recognised, they will continue to struggle.

On the other hand the Kiwis are in the box seat, largely because Sel Pearson and his board had the foresight to appoint a traditional type of coach in Brian McClennan.

He has done more for the game in this country in a few media interviews, and most importantly through the performances of his test team, than Great Britain has achieved in 20 years.

The biggest challenge facing the NZRL now is how to offer McClennan a satisfying position here for the next five to 10 years.

I'm very confident the Kiwis will win this series.

But even if they don't, the young coach leading the way for the Kiwis has proved to me he is the best man for the game in this country.