A History
of Rugby League in the UK
The history of the
Rugby League in the United Kingdom can trace its roots to the
formation of the Rugby Football Union in 1871. The game of rugby
found the greatest following, at the time, in the Northern English
counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The Northern clubs who enjoyed
rugby were mostly made up of the working class who enjoys a good
rout, while the Southern rugby clubs were composed of the more
aristocratic middle class. The divide between player classes carried
over to the leagues that began to spring up in Australia and New
Zealand.
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There was a serious
disassociation of rugby leagues between 1892 and 1895, when the
Northern Rugby Football Union was formed. The Rugby Football Union
took exception to the forming of a Northern League, which was formed
due to the allegations of improper compensation of players of some
clubs for missing work to play in league events, and issued
sanctions against the official, players and clubs which formed the
Northern Union. The phrase, “rugby league”, was first officially
used in 1901, with the Northern Rugby Football Union becoming the
officially recognized Northern Rugby Football League in 1922.
During the gaming period in which the Northern Rugby League was
formed, league championship games were played between the Lancashire
and Yorkshire based clubs for a nationwide Challenge Cup award for
the winner. In 1905, the separate Lancashire and Yorkshire cups were
added to the Challenge Cup and the league championship. At this time
there were four cups available for any club to win, with the
ultimate goal of all clubs to win all four cups. During the First
World War, Britain discouraged all professional sports for the
duration of the war, although rugby play continued with fewer
restrictions in Australia.
During the Second World War, Britain was much less restrictive with
professional sports and allowed continued competitions, with only
restrictions on travel between leagues. The Northern League and the
traditional Union even competed in a fundraiser event to raise money
for the Red Cross. At the conclusion of the Second World War,
sporting events in Britain enjoyed a boom in spectator attendance at
competitive events, with the first televised match held on Saturday
10 November 1951. The most highly attended event was a match held on
5 May 1954, with and estimated 102,575 spectators in attendance for
the match between the Halifax and Warrington rugby clubs.
Throughout the history of all rugby play, rules continue to evolve
and the structures of the teams throughout the world continue to
evolve with it. As part of the agreement between the major rugby
competitive markets, the season was switched in Britain from winter
to summer in 1996. To meet standards set by the seasons, all
British, Australian and New Zealand games are now played between
March and October, with international tournament play generally
occurring in November of each year.
Though the sport of rugby, as an international sport, has seen its
share of hard times such as the near
disastrous 2000 World Cup tournament, it remains a globally
attractive sport. With millions of spectators around the world each
year, the 2008 World Cup turned a tidy profit for the league and was
declared a huge success. The modern Rugby League European
Federation, the European Super League, was established during the
first decade of the new millennium and has gone toward advances in
both the quantity of international competitions as well as the
quality of play. The game of rugby in the UK, and around the world,
will continue to evolve to the irreverent joy of all those who
follow the sport globally.
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