The French had been pushing for an international competition pre-World War Two, but following the game's persecution at the hands of the Nazi and Vichy regimes in war-time France, the imperative became the survival of rugby league in that country.

Following the foundation of the Rugby League International Federation in 1948, the World Cup followed five years later as the brainchild of Paul Barriere, with the first tournament taking place in France, and it was won Great Britain who defeated the hosts in Paris.

The format at this stage was a four-team competition - France, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia playing in a league format, with the top two meeting in the final.

By 1975 it had been decided that no nation should host the tournament and it should be decided by a series of home and away legs for the competing teams.

From 1985 the competition repeated this format, but strung the matches out over a number of years, with the champions being decided in 1988 and then 1992.

Interest in the rugby league World Cup was finally resparked by the 1995 event, which proved a resounding success with the splitting of the Great Britain side into England and Wales.
Despite the success, it took another five years to hold the tournament again, but an expanded 16-team version was too big a leap and the event proved to be a critical and commercial disaster for the Rugby Football League.

Unsurprisingly, it took another eight years – until 2008 - before the event was considered again and this time reaction was mixed, with good crowds but a bewildering format which downgraded the chances of the lesser teams.

A pulsating final ended up being overshadowed by a row surrounding Australian coach Ricky Stuart's vocal criticism of referee Ashley Klein.