Your Online Guide to the 2009 Lions Tour to South Africa

The British and Irish Lions (until 2001 known as the British Isles Rugby Union Team or “British Lions”) rugby union side comprises a pick of the best players from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.  Rugby union circles refer to these four international Rugby Unions collectively as the Home nations and therefore sometimes refer to the Lions team as a Home Nations team. Lions selectors can also pick uncapped players available to one of the four home unions, but in recent years this has rarely occurred.

Combined rugby sides from the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland toured in the Southern Hempisphere 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 four Home Unions) enjoyed a growing degree of support from the authorities, although only one of these included representatives of all four nations.

The International Olympic Committee does not generally allow non-sovereign nations to compete in Olympic Games. But UK teams competed several times at the Rugby union competitions in 1900 and in 1908. This did not form part of the Lions tradition. The Summer Olympics last included rugby union in 1924.

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 regularly suffered defeat at the hands of their hosts, but by 1955 the tourists took the matches seriously enough to obtain a 2-2 draw in South Africa. The 1970s saw a renaissance for the side. The last tour of the amateur age took place in 1993. Three tours have happened since.