Rugby Reloaded

Was Hull-born Ebenezer Cobb Morley the 'father of football'? Not unless his child was switched at birth. Morley's rules bore little resemblance to modern soccer and his leadership of the TA was a failure. But why do we need stories about 'fathers of football codes'? Take a ten-minute tour of the origins of soccer in the latest 'Rugby Reloaded' podcast.

The Rugby League Challenge Cup is the sport's oldest continuous tournament. But in recent years, the thrill of the cup has been declining - and now the RFL are asking overseas clubs for six-figure bonds to take part. Are knock-out cup tournaments like the Challenge Cup and the FA Cup doomed to fade away? Find out what history tells us about the future of one of British sport's most prestigious tournaments on your latest ten-minute trek through the past. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

At Christmas 1914, British and German troops on the Western Front left their positions, crossed into No Man's Land, and fraternised with each other. In some places, football matches were played. This special Christmas edition of 'Rugby Reloaded' explores the myths and reality of the Christmas football matches, and discusses their importance to soccer's global image.

Rugby in Ireland can perhaps boast of having the world's oldest rugby club, and for a generation rugby had no rivals in Ireland. Yet within a decade it had been overtaken by soccer and Gaelic football. This week's podcast explores the birth of Irish rugby and its complicated history. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

World War One gave birth to women's football football as a mass participation sport. For the first time ever, thousands of women could play the game they loved. But why did it take a war to give women the opportunity to play the game and why did it disappear so quickly? This week's ten-minute time tunnel podcast takes a deep dive to explore the link between war, football and women's struggle to play the game. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Whatever happened to the Lions, British rugby league's national team?The answer is more complicated than you might think, showing how changing conceptions of nationality are reflected in sport, and why history is about more than the simply what happened in the past. Take a ten minute tour through 114 years of international and changing team titles with this week's 'Rugby Reloaded' podcast. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

In October 2017 Jason Taumalolo started a rugby revolution when he opted to play for Tonga, the country of his parents' birth, in the Rugby League World Cup. But how did rugby start in Tonga? Why does the national rugby union side struggle, while its league side has never been more popular? 'Rugby Reloaded' takes a ten-minute tour of Tongan history for some answers. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

How did rugby come to Japan? Alone of all the Asian nations, Japan is the place where rugby is part of the national culture, despite it being a rival to (and a war-time enemy of) the English-speaking rugby-playing countries in the Pacific. Discover how rugby took the way of Bushido in our ten-minute time travel trip through 150 years of Japanese rugby. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

The Scots have always felt they were as important as the English in the story of how rugby was born. This week's ten-minute trip back through time examines how Scotland kick-started international rugby and why their rivalry with the RFU went so deep and lasted so long. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Discover the origins of South African rugby and the hidden history of black and mixed race involvement in the game in our latest ten-minute tour of rugby history. This was a time when Afrikaners were a rare sight on the rugby field and the game was a symbol of the British Empire. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Did Walter Camp invent American football? Most of the history books say yes, but the reality is much more complicated. American football began as rugby but quickly started to change the rules to make a better spectacle - just like many other rugby-playing regions. Discover how and why it changed in your ten-minute intro to the orgins of the gridiron game. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

12-a-side, three downs and a Maple Leaf at its heart. This week we look at Canadian football, the unsung cousin of rugby and gridiron football. Take a ten-minute trip through Canadian history to discover how Canada came to have its own football code and how it paved the way for American football. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

It's Black History Month, so this week's podcast looks at the history of black players in British rugby league. Take a ten minute tour of the hidden history of a century of black achievement - and the obstacles still to be conquered - as players, captains and coaches in rugby league. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

We're continuing our look at how the different football codes started - this week it's Gaelic football. How did the distinctive Irish game emerge? Is it really an ancient game? We'll debunk the myths and deconstruct the history... all in just ten minutes. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Look around the world and in almost every football code, the game is the sport of the city. This week's bitesize glimpse into football history looks at the orginal world capital of football: Glasgow. No other city was dominated by football like Glasgow, and it provided the template for the great footballing cities of the world. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

This week we look at the origins of Aussie Rules football and ask just how unique are the origins of the game? For most of its fans, it's an original Australian code of football, and many others believe that it is derived from the games of Aboriginal Australians. But, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, the beginnings of the game are neither pure Australian nor anything like simple. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Welcome to the first episode of a bonus Rugby Reloaded plus - ahead of this year's Tom Brock Lecture in Sydney, we talk to Tom Brock Scholar and sports consultant Spencer Kassimir about the history of the relationship between rugby league and girdiron football, and the prospects for the sport in North America. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Women have always played football - but the modern football codes of the 19th Century tried to keep them out. This week's bitesize time tunnel looks at how women fought to be part of football in Victorian times, both on the terraces and on the pitch. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

It's well known that the Vichy government in France banned rugby league in 1941. But what happened to the game after that? This week's episode looks at rugby league players in World War 2 and the faboulous rebirth and calamitous fall of the French game in the post-war years. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

On Wednesday 29 August it will be 123 years to the day since twenty-one of England's top rugby clubs met at the George Hotel to create the Northern Union. This week's ten-minute history tour takes a deep dive into the events of 1895 that led to that momentous meeting. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com