Virtual Insanity: Rugby League's Video Game History, Part One

Football has FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, Cricket has had the Brian Lara series and now the cleverly titled Cricket series and Rugby Union had the famous Jonah Lomu game as well as the EA Sports series in the mid 2000s. What about Rugby League though? How has the greatest game been translated into the video game universe? Let's take a look....

Part One: In The Dugout

Following on from the success of Kevin Toms' original Football Manager series, Rugby League's first venture into the video game space was unsurprisingly made up of management titles with the first coming in 1989 in the shape of Rugby Boss which was made in 1989 by Alternative Software. 


Featuring an Alex Murphy lookalike on the cover and an action shot of what appears to be a fierce Calder derby between Featherstone and Castleford, Rugby Boss was available on both the Amstrad CPC and the Commodore 64. The game planted you in charge of one of a host of clubs with the system automatically placing you in the Second Division as you aim to take your rag-tag bunch of (unlicensed) players to the top of the sport in England. Players could be bought and sold but the game would end if your club ran out of money which meant you had to keep a tight eye on the pursestrings while masterminding your team's success (think like a primitive form of the Super League salary cap). 

Sadly the game takes the saying of 'crossing the white lines' a little too seriously as the match engine leaves little to the imagination. In a far cry from the advanced graphic processes of today, Rugby Boss' matchday experience is more akin to watching a match via Teletext (ask your parents kids) as text updates from your match come up on the screen. 40-0 down away at Wigan? Tough I'm afraid as substitutions aren't even possible in this one. 

Rugby Manager featured later in 1989 and featured a lot of the same features that Boss boasted but it's 1992's Rugby Coach that is still held in high regard by fans of a certain age. 


The title, produced by D&H games, provided players with the ability to manage on either side of the great divide meaning that the oval-ball world wasn’t just confined to the M62 corridor with even the option to complete cross-code transfers included. The game also included an element of challenge as you couldn’t merely parachute yourself into the top job at Central Park or Knowsley Road, you had to earn your shot at glory at one of the minnow clubs. 

Over more recent years we’ve seen Rugby League management games come and go but for fans of a certain age, the likes of Rugby Boss and Rugby Coach will never be topped. 


Next week: We leave the dressing room behind and remember the early Rugby League simulation games…

My name is Daniel Barker Gray, I love Rugby League as much as you probably do and this page is dedicated to all things 13-a-side. If you enjoy my content you may also enjoy my book Broken Time which tells the tale of the game from it’s inaugural season through to the World Cup in 2000. You can purchase a copy by following the below link. For more Rugby League chatter from me, follow my Twitter account @Dan_BarkerGray. 

Broken Time: A Written History Of Rugby League 1895-2000 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09KN64W9W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_DEEHAVDMWFPYFB3SYYPC






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