Editing British & Irish Lions (section)

===1888–1909===
[[File:British lions 1888.jpg|thumb|Shaw & Shrewsbury Team, 1888, The first British or Irish touring rugby team, a private-enterprise trip to Australia and New Zealand]]
The earliest tours date back to 1888, when a 21-man squad visited Australia and New Zealand. The squad drew players from England, Scotland and Wales, though English players predominated. The 35-match tour of two host nations included no tests, but the side played provincial, city and academic sides, winning 27 matches. They played 19 games of [[Australian rules football]], against prominent clubs in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] and South Australia, winning six and drawing one of these (see [[Australian rules football in England]]).

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|image1 = Image-England-Team,-SA-1891.jpg
|image2 = England-v-Cape-Colony-1891.jpg
|footer = Two images of the 1891 tour on South Africa where the team –despite its label as an 'England' side, included several Scots; (left): A group photograph of a team, (right): match v Cape Colony, the first of the tour that totalised 20 games
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The first tour, although unsanctioned by rugby bodies, established the concept of Northern Hemisphere sporting sides touring to the Southern Hemisphere. Three years after the first tour, the [[Western Province (rugby)|Western Province union]] invited rugby bodies in Britain to tour South Africa. Some saw the [[1891 British Lions tour to South Africa|1891 team]] – the first sanctioned by the [[Rugby Football Union]] – as the [[England national rugby union team|England national team]], though others referred to it as "the British Isles". The tourists played a total of twenty matches, three of them tests. The team also played the regional side of South Africa (South Africa did not exist as a political unit in 1891), winning all three matches. In a notable event of the tour, the touring side presented the [[Currie Cup]] to [[Griqualand West]], the province they thought produced the best performance on the tour.

Five years later a British Isles side returned to South Africa. They played one extra match on this tour, making the total of 21 games, including four tests against South Africa, with the British Isles winning three of them. The squad had a notable Irish orientation, with the Ireland national team contributing six players to the 21-man squad.

[[File:British rugby team 1899.jpg|thumb|The full squad that in 1899 returned to Australia, where they played 21 games, including four tests]]
In 1899 the British Isles touring side returned to Australia for the first time since the unofficial tour of 1888. The squad of 23 for the first time ever had players from each of the home nations. The team again participated in 21 matches, playing state teams as well as northern [[Queensland]] sides and Victorian teams. A four-test series took place against [[Australia national rugby union team|Australia]], the tourists winning three out of the four. The team returned via Hawaii and Canada playing additional games en route.

Four years later, in 1903, the British Isles team returned to South Africa. The opening performance of the side proved disappointing from the tourists' point of view, with defeats in its opening three matches by Western Province sides in [[Cape Town]]. From then on the team experienced mixed results, though more wins than losses. The side lost the test series to South Africa, drawing twice, but with the South Africans winning the decider 8 to nil.

[[File:1904 Lions in NZ.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Lions'' team that toured on Australia and New Zealand in 1904. They played four test, winning three]]
No more than twelve months passed before the British Isles team ventured to Australia and New Zealand in 1904. The tourists devastated the Australian teams, winning every single game. Australia also lost all three tests to the visitors, even getting held to a standstill in two of the three games. Though the New Zealand leg of the tour did not take long in comparison to the number of Australian games, the British Isles experienced considerable difficulty across the Tasman after whitewashing the Australians. The team managed two early wins before losing the test to New Zealand and only winning one more game as well as drawing once. Despite their difficulties in New Zealand, the tour proved a raging success on-field for the British Isles.

In 1908, another tour took place to Australia and New Zealand. In a reversal of previous practice, the planners allocated more matches in New Zealand rather than in Australia: perhaps the strength of the New Zealand teams and the heavy defeats of all Australian teams on the previous tour influenced this decision. Some commentators thought that this tour hoped to reach out to rugby communities in Australia, as [[rugby league]] (infamously) started in Australia in 1908. The Anglo-Welsh side (Irish and Scottish unions did not participate) performed well in all the non-test matches, but drew a test against New Zealand and lost the other two.
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