British & Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions (formerly British Isles and then the British Lions; commonly the Lions) is a Rugby Union side comprising a pick of the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Collectively these four international Rugby Unions were once known as the "Home Nations" and the Lions team was, therefore, considered to be a "Home Nations" team. This usage has lapsed in recent times.

Naming and symbols

The team has historically used the name 'British Isles'. On their 1950 tour of New Zealand and Australia they also adopted the name 'British Lions' after the lion emblem on their jerseys. Since the 2005 tour of New Zealand they have been known as the 'British and Irish Lions'. The new name was adopted, in part, to take account of the sensitivities of some people in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland who object to any implication that they are in some way "British". Some have criticised this change as exhibiting unnecessary political correctness, as they felt that the geographic term British Isles carried no political overtones. Most rugby unions fans simply refer to the team as the 'Lions'.

The Lions do not represent a nation state, and as such they do not relate to any national flag or other national symbols, and they do not have a national anthem. For the 2005 tour to New Zealand the Lions directorate specially commissioned a song, "The Power of Four", although it met with little support amongst Lions fans at the matches, and even the players seemed not to know the words. The status of the song on future tours remains uncertain.

History

Combined Rugby Union sides from the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland toured in the Southern Hemisphere from 1888 onwards. The first tour took place as a commercial venture, made without official backing, but the six subsequent visits that took place prior to the 1910 South Africa tour (the first selected by a committee from the then four Home Unions) enjoyed a growing degree of support from the authorities, although only one of these included representatives of all four nations.

The 1950s proved a golden age for Lions rugby, although only in the 1970s did style begin to match the substance of victory in New Zealand and South Africa.

Originally, poorly organised Lions teams were regularly defeated by their hosts, but by 1955 the tourists were taking the matches seriously enough to obtain a 2-2 draw in South Africa. Although the 1960s were forgettable for the Lions, the 1970s saw a renaissance. The 1971 team, centred around the skilled Welsh half-back pairing of Gareth Edwards and Barry John, secured a series win over the All Blacks.

The best known and most successful Lions team was that which toured South Africa in 1974 under the esteemed Irish forward Willie John McBride, which went 22 games unbeaten and triumphed 3-0, with one drawn, in the test series. The test series was beset by violence. The management of the Lions concluded that the Springboks dominated their opponents with physical aggression. At that time, in test matches the referee was from the home nation, there were only substitutions if a doctor agreed that a player was physically unable to continue and there were no video cameras and sideline officials to keep actions such as punching, kicking, and head-butting to a minimum. The Lions decided "to get their retaliation in first" with the infamous '99 call' (99 is a shortening of 999 which in Britain and Ireland is the phone number for the emergency services such as the police, ambulance or fire brigade). The idea was that a South African referee would be unlikely to send off all of the Lions if they all retaliated against "blatant thuggery". At the battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium, one of the most violent in rugby history, there is famous video footage of JPR Williams running over half of the pitch and launching himself at van Heerden after such a call.

Post-War Lions tours

The following table lists all Lions tours since World War II:

Year	To	Captain	Head coach	Result	Score
1950	New Zealand & Australia	Karl Mullen - Ireland		Lost Won	3-0 (New Zealand - with 1 draw) 2-0 (Australia)
1955	South Africa	Robin Thompson - Ireland		Draw	2-2
1959	Australia & New Zealand	Ronnie Dawson - Ireland		Won Lost	2-0 (Australia) 1-3 (New Zealand)
1962	South Africa	Arthur Smith - Scotland		Lost	3-0 (with 1 draw)
1966	Australia, New Zealand & Canada	Mike Campbell-Lamerton - Scotland		Won Lost	2-0 (Australia) 0-4 (New Zealand)
1968	South Africa	Tom Kiernan - Ireland		Lost	3-0 (with 1 draw)
1971	New Zealand	John Dawes - Wales	Carwyn James - Wales	Won	2-1 (with 1 draw)
1974	South Africa	Willie John McBride - Ireland	Syd Millar - Ireland	Won	3-0 (with 1 draw)
1977	New Zealand	Phil Bennett - Wales	John Dawes - Wales	Lost	3-1
1980	South Africa	Bill Beaumont - England	Noel Murphy - Ireland	Lost	3-1
1983	New Zealand	Ciaran Fitzgerald - Ireland	Jim Telfer - Scotland	Lost	4-0
1989	Australia	Finlay Calder- Scotland	Ian McGeechan - Scotland	Won	2-1
1993	New Zealand	Gavin Hastings - Scotland	Ian McGeechan - Scotland	Lost	2-1
1997	South Africa	Martin Johnson - England	Ian McGeechan - Scotland	Won	2-1
2001	Australia	Martin Johnson - England	Graham Henry - New Zealand	Lost	2-1
2005	New Zealand	Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland	Sir Clive Woodward - England	Lost	3-0

Lions tours

The Lions comprise a touring team which currently plays three southern-hemisphere teams:

They also routinely toured in Argentina before World War II.

Tours currently take place every four years, the most recent one, the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, taking place in 2005. The next planned tour will visit South Africa in 2009.

In a break with tradition, a first 'home' fixture against Argentina took place at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on May 23, 2005, before the Lions went to New Zealand. It finished in a 25-all draw.

On tour, mid-week games take place against local provinces or clubs as well as the weekend full tests against the host's national team. Tension normally exists between those selected for the tests and those who turn out only for the mid-week games. During the 2005 Lions tour, the visitors won all the provincial matches; the All Blacks won the test matches; and the New Zealand Maori won their game.

Future of The Lions

In the past British and Irish rugby-union players have considered playing for the Lions a high honour in the game - for many higher even than playing for their national side. Those who play against the Lions have also regarded it as a huge occasion. However, some players, the media and some administrators have increasingly raised questions about the future of The Lions following the team's poor showing in their last two tours, being outplayed, firstly on the 2001 tour to Australia, and then on the 2005 tour to New Zealand. Some see the Lions as an anachronism in the highly professional world of modern international rugby union. Others see the Lions as representing a great rugby union tradition and will fight hard to preserve its traditions (such as the awarding of official caps for Lions matches). Some rugby union supporters would like to see the Lions retained as a touring side but to have the status of the team made more analogous with other scratch rugby union sides like the Barbarians - playing for the joy of rugby union rather than having any pretensions to international status.

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