The Paul Barrière Trophy serves as the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was t ...

, being awarded to the victorious team of each tournament's final. It is named after

Paul Barrière Paul Barrière was born on 8 June 1920 in Espéraza and died on 29 May 2008 in Biarritz, aged 88. He was president of the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII from 1947 to 1955. Barrière played rugby union for Espéraza in 1936 and Carcasson ...

, president of the

Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII The French Rugby League Federation (french: Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII (FFR)) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in France. The Federation was formed during 1934 and since then has organised and governed th ...

from 1947 to 1955.

History

Original trophy

The World Cup trophy was commissioned by French

president

at a cost of eight million francs, and then donated to the

International Rugby League Board The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

to be used for the inaugural competition in 1954. This trophy was used and presented to the winning nation for the first four tournaments, before being stolen in 1970.

Replacement trophies

While no trophy could be presented in 1970 due to the original's disappearance a few days before the final, several other trophies were used from 1972 until 1995. For the 1995 tournament, a £10,000 cup was made by Tiffanys to celebrate the centenary of the game.

Theft and recovery of original trophy

While competing in the 1970 tournament, reigning champions Australia put the trophy on display at the Midland Hotel,

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. The trophy was stolen from the hotel on the night of Sunday, 1 November 1970, six days before the final, and remained unseen for the next twenty years. Before the theft, the trophy was last held aloft by

Johnny Raper John William Raper (12 April 1939 – 9 February 2022) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Nicknamed "Chook", he was a lock-forward who earned a then-record of 33 Test caps in the Australia national team between ...

after Australia's 20-2 win over France at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and association f ...

on 10 June 1968 to claim the fourth World Cup title. Midland Hotel, Bradford

The stolen trophy was not the one which was due to be competed for and presented in the 1970 World Cup Final the following Saturday at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Rugby Stadium,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

: with the commencement of sponsorship in the game, administrators had decided to play for a new sponsored trophy, with the original being kept safe and on display at the hotel in a symbolic capacity only. Following its disappearance, nothing is known of the trophy's whereabouts for the next twenty years until, in 1990, Bradford resident Stephen Uttley and his wife Elizabeth discovered the trophy, missing only the

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

, amongst rubbish dumped in a ditch near the Bradford and Bingley Rugby Club in

Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which had a population of 18,294 at the 2011 Census. Bingley ra ...

. Unaware of the significance of his find, Stephen Uttley made enquiries with local rugby clubs including Bradford Northern (known today as the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

), but he was unable to find the original owners. He subsequently handed the trophy in to the police, but it was returned to him 28 days later after no-one claimed it, and tried contacting

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

's ''

Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a phy ...

'' programme but could not interest them in the story. Uttley consequently decided to donate it to a friend, Terry Fawthrop, who was the proprietor of the White Rose Health Club at Idle, Bradford, the same club frequented by Warrington and Kiwi International

Gary Mercer Gary Ivan Mercer (born 22 June 1966) is a New Zealand rugby league and rugby union coach and former professional rugby league footballer. A New Zealand international representative player, he has spent most of his career in Britain both playing ...

during his stay in Bradford. There were plans for the trophy to be used as a

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

trophy by the club. Mercer eventually contacted the local ''

Telegraph & Argus The ''Telegraph & Argus'' is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work ...

'' newspaper, who ran an article on it. The trophy was identified by rugby league historian Trevor Delaney, who in turn notified the police, the newspapers and the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisat ...

. On 1 June 1990, the trophy was presented to Roger Millward of the RFL outside the White Rose health club in Bradford, before being taken to the RFL's headquarters in

. Speaking on its return, RFL spokesman David Howes commented, "It is like the return of the Holy Grail. No-one knows what its value is, but in rugby league terms it is priceless". The RFL agreed to pay a reward for the trophy's return, "anything except a place in the team" Howes joked, but the finder asked only for some match tickets. The original World Cup trophy was later brought back into use for the 2000 World Cup, minus the cockerel that had adorned it initially, and was presented to the victorious

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

team. The trophy featured again during the 2008 World Cup, when it was used prominently as the basis for the competition logo, and retained for 2013 and beyond, being named after

beginning from the 2017 World Cup.

References

External links