The people of England are fond of sports be it Cricket, Football or any other form of sports like Rugby.
A lot of youngsters have started to play this game and it is becoming immensely popular in this part of the world. The Ashes is the name of the trophy given to the winner of a Rugby League test series between the two great nations Great Britain and Australia. The arrangement used is generally that three matches are played, with the winning team being decided on the base of the maximum matches won. The team representing Great Britain were originally known as the Northern Union which is named after the sport’s leading body and the team representing Australia were and still are known as the Kangaroos as it is their main animal. These people are very passionate about this game and they play with a great level of competitiveness, zeal and enthusiasm.
If we go to the history of the first Ashes match played between these two supergiant countries then it took place on December 12 1908 when the Northern Union and Australia played and drew 22-22 in London. It was the English who dominated the maximum portion of the match early on and led by 14-5 at half-time. They appeared like they were guaranteed of victory when leading 17-5 early in the second half but Australia fought back with tries from Devereaux and O’Malley to take the score to 17-15 to the Northern Union. The local side scored another try to lead 20-15 with time fast running out but with five minutes to go the great Dally Messenger intercepted near his own try line. He avoided the chasing defenders to within sight of the try line where he passed to Devereaux who stopped over under the posts. Messenger kicked the goal and for the first time the Kangaroos took the lead for the first time at the score 22-20.
Interesting Match played
The match was going on very well for the Aussies but unfortunately the Northern Union were given a last minute penalty for obstacle and when they kicked the goal the match was being declared as a draw and that was a kind of heartbreaking experience for them. Australia won their first Ashes tournament for the first time on 1st January 1912 when they beat the Northern Union 33-8 in Kingswinford, Birmingham. On that tour in 1911-12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the second ever Kangaroo tour and was in fact a visit by an Australasian team as it included more than four Newzealand players rather than depending only on Australian team alone.
The Champions of the game
They had the pleasure of becoming the first tourists to win the esteemed Ashes tournament and the last to do so on British soil for more than half a century. After the year 1922 the British Rugby league teams were renamed as Lions who were way fiercer, competitive than their early players. The same year the Lions beat the Aussies with a convincing 6-0 at Salford and eventually they won the Ashes. After this they never lost the Ashes until the year 1950.