British & Irish Lions

Lore & Background

From 1888 onwards, combined British rugby sides visited countries in the Southern Hemisphere. The first tour was a commercial venture, undertaken without official backing. The next six visits enjoyed a growing degree of support from the rugby authorities, before the 1910 South Africa tour, which was the first tour representative of the four Home Unions. In 1949, the four Home Unions formally created a Tours Committee and for the first time, every player of the 1950 Lions squad had played internationally before the tour. From the 1950s, tours saw the Lions winning many of the provincial games, but the test series were generally lost or drawn. The series wins in 1971 (New Zealand) and 1974 (South Africa) interrupted this pattern. The last tour of the amateur era took place in 1993. The Lions have also played occasional matches in the Northern Hemisphere either as one-off exhibitions or before a tour.

In Their Own Story

The air in Eden Park hung heavy with humidity and the electric roar of eighty thousand voices. This wasn't a World Cup final; it was something rarer—the third test, the decider against the Lions. A wall of crimson jerseys stood opposite the black, a surreal sight where four distinct nations had bled into a single identity just to stand on this hallowed turf. The All Blacks captain locked eyes across the scrum, not with a single rival's flanker, but with a composite force forged in desperation and refusal to break. As the referee called for the set, an unnatural silence swallowed the stadium. In that suspended second, history wasn't just being observed; it was being contested by the only team brave enough to attempt the impossible: stealing the crown from New Zealand.

Reader's Guide

The team is known as the British & Irish Lions, a name used since the 2001 tour of Australia. They wear a red jersey with white shorts and green and blue socks, representing the four unions. The Lions do not currently have a national anthem; for the 1989 tour, 'God Save the Queen' was used, and for the 2005 tour, a commissioned song 'The Power of Four' was met with little support and has not been used since.

Did You Know?

• The nickname 'Lions' was first used by British and South African journalists on the 1924 South African tour after the lion emblem on the players' ties.
• The 1971 Lions won the test series against New Zealand 2–1, with one draw.
• The Lions have won one series in New Zealand (1971) and drawn one (2017), while New Zealand has won three series (1930, 1959, 2005).