Rugby league in England
Encyclopedia
Rugby league football is a team sport
in England
. The sport receives funding from Sport England
as an "English priority" sport. The top-level competition in England—called Super League
—is not an entirely all-English affair, as it includes a team from France
, and also featured a team from Wales from 2009 through 2011.
Its popularity is greatest in a swathe of northern England from Yorkshire
and across the Pennines
to Lancashire
and Cheshire
, the areas where the game originated. The sport is also popular in Cumbria
where the amateur game is particularly powerful. The game is played outside of these traditional areas but in far lower numbers. However, there has been growth in other parts of England, which can be seen in television viewing figures, attendance at Super League games and participation in the sport has increased from 114,000 to 285,000 from 2005 to 2009.
Within its heartlands, rugby league is often referred to as simply "rugby", although in the rest of England the term would normally refer to rugby union
. It is on occasion called "football", but even in the North of England that would normally refer to association football. For this reason, it is common among English rugby league fans to use the term "soccer" when talking about association football.
has long been popular in the North of England, and by the 1880s the region's clubs had come to dominate. The game was largely popular amongst working class
people, unlike the clubs in Southern England whose players belonged to the middle
or upper class
. Rugby competition at the time did not allow paying players any salary; the working-class players felt they could not afford time off to train and play, nor could they afford to miss work through injury sustained whilst playing. The principle of amateurism, and issues of class ensured that the Rugby Football Union
would not countenance professional rugby.
In 1895 representatives of the northern clubs met to form the "Northern Rugby Football Union" (NRFU). The NRFU was initially vehemently anti-professional, allowing only payments for time missed from other employment. A thriving amateur scene also soon developed, as local amateur clubs wished to maintain links with their "Northern Union" neighbours.
The Northern Union made reforms to the laws in 1897 and again in 1906 in an effort make the game more exciting. This resulted in Northern Union football becoming a sport in its own right rather than a form of rugby union.
The sport spread outside England and soon international matches began to be played. The first international match was played in 1904 as England was beaten 9-3 at Wigan by "Other Nationalities
" (largely Welsh players). This was followed by a tour of Britain by New Zealand
in 1907. New Zealand met Great Britain in Great Britain's first ever Test match at Headingley on the 18 January 1908. The same year the first Australian Kangaroos tourists visit Britain. In 1910 the first British tour to Australia and New Zealand took place.
The Challenge Cup
began in 1897 with Batley beating St Helens to win the first title.
The final was first broadcast by BBC radio in 1927. The Wembley tradition was started in 1929 when Wigan beat Dewsbury 13-2 at the first Rugby League Challenge Cup
to be held at Wembley.
Rugby league continued to be played throughout the 1914-15 season, however, the loss of players to the First World War, a government ban on professionalism and reduced attendances forced all major competitions to be replaced by regional competitions. The NRFU became the Rugby Football League
in 1922.
The 1930s saw a series of failed attempts to introduce rugby league football to London.
During the Second World War professional rugby league was again discontinued, normal leagues were suspended, a War Emergency League was established, with clubs playing separate Yorkshire and Lancashire sections to reduce the need for travel.
Several attempts were made to expand the game outside the heartlands, a Southern Amateur Rugby League being formed in 1949, however only Cumberland
and South Yorkshire
proved receptive with teams being founded in Workington, Whitehaven and Doncaster. Nonetheless the game survived, and continued to maintain popularity in its home regions. The introduction of regular internationals as other countries took up the sport provided a fillip.
Rugby league experienced a surge in interest following the end of the Second World War. Large crowds came to be the norm for a period of around 20 years. The total crowds for the British season hit a record in 1949–50, when over 69.8 million paying customers attended all matches.
The 1953–54 Challenge Cup
final replay between Halifax and Warrington, held at Odsal Stadium
drew 102,575 paying spectators with an estimated 20,000 others getting in free after a section of fencing collapsed.
The boom had begun to subside by the early sixties; rugby league now had to compete against television and other new forms of entertainment and attendances began to fall. David Attenborough
, then controller of BBC2, made the decision to screen games from a new competition the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
in 1965. It proved a success, and rugby league has featured on television ever since.
Attendances fell even further in the 1970s. Britain won the Ashes for the last time in 1970, with a 2–1 series win in Australia.
The foundation of the Universities and Colleges Rugby League
in 1969 and the British Amateur Rugby League Association
in 1973 was a response to the need to develop the game below professional level.
In June 1980, Fulham Football Club
announced the formation of a rugby league team, with the primary intention of creating another income stream for the soccer club. The Rugby Football League was keen to expand outside the heartlands and accepted the new club (now known as Harlequins Rugby League). This was not the first rugby league club to be based in London—three London-based clubs had come and gone in the 1930s. However unlike the past ventures the new team would survive despite numerous moves and name changes.
The 1982 Kangaroos won all their tour games for first time ever, they became known as "The Invincibles". This was the time when the gap between English and Australian rugby league became apparent and has never been fully closed.
The All-Party Parliamentary Rugby League Group was formed in 1987 to support the sport of rugby league and tackle the key issues facing the game in Parliament. Ian McCartney
MP was the first chairman and David Hinchliffe
MP the secretary. In 1987 a "free gangway" between the two codes of rugby at amateur level was introduced but individual cases of discrimination continued, resulting in the Sports (Discrimination) Bill, which was introduced by David Hinchcliffe in 1994.
In the mid eighties Wigan
began an era of domination of English rugby league that would end only with the formation of Super League. By 1995 they had won the Challenge Cup a record eighth consecutive times and the league title for a record seventh consecutive times.
The traditional Origin series between Yorkshire and Lancashire was abandoned in 1989. Although the matches had provided a good test for selecting players for the full England and Great Britain sides, the crowds had been poor and the games had little attraction for the rest of the country. The series was revived again in 2001 before being abandoned in 2003.
The Combined Services Rugby League (CSRL) was formed in 1994 after the official recognition of rugby league by the Armed Services, since then rugby league has been the fastest growing army sport. The rival code rugby union
went professional in 1995 and, as a result, other restrictions on rugby league were relaxed by the Rugby Football Union
. This opened up the possibility of expanding the game into areas where it had never been played before as it allowed rugby league clubs to groundshare with rugby union clubs and for union players to try out the other code without fear of persecution.
In 1995, the fallout from the Super League war
hit Britain, and the game underwent massive re-organisation. A new elite league, Super League
was formed, and the sport switched from a winter to a summer season. Super League has largely been a success as the value of its TV contract and top tier game crowd attendances and have both grown year upon year since 2001.
The Rugby League Conference
was founded in 1998 with the aim of providing regular fixtures for new clubs based outside the 'heartland' of rugby league. It began with fourteen teams, but within nine years had grown to eighty-eight clubs spread throughout England and the rest of Britain.
, whose remit covers the United Kingdom as a whole. With the advent of Wales Rugby League
, Scotland Rugby League
and Rugby League Ireland
, the RFL are increasingly becoming an English organisation. The RFL are affiliated with the Rugby League International Federation
and the Rugby League European Federation
. The Community Board is made up of representatives of the RFL, BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League and Student Rugby League
.
British Amateur Rugby League Association
(BARLA) are responsible for amateur rugby league chiefly in the sport's north of England heartlands. Though many Rugby League Conference
teams are affiliated to BARLA, the Conference itself is not a BARLA organisation. The top division under their control is the National Conference League, with regional leagues including the North West Counties and Pennine leagues. BARLA selects an international team consisting of amateur players, the BARLA Lions. This team tours many parts of the rugby league world, and have competed in the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.
Rugby league was recognised as a military sport in 1994. The Combined Services Rugby League (CSRL) is the co-ordinating group for the Army Rugby League, Royal Navy Rugby League and the Royal Air Force Rugby League. Each constituent body organises its own competitions at unit and formation level. Players are fed into representative teams to represent each of the services, and the best players are selected to represent the Combined Services.
During the early months of 2010, Tony Fretwell set up Great Britain Teachers Rugby League for qualified teachers who were interested in playing representative rugby league. Teachers Rugby League are supported by the NASUWT teaching union and the Rugby League Foundation.
The Women's Amateur Rugby League Association (WARLA) is the governing body of female rugby league in the United Kingdom; it currently falls under the Rugby Football League
association which oversees its running and management. It was originally established in 1985 and was recognized by the RFL in its first year.
Touch rugby
is governed by the ETA who are supported by the Federation of International Touch and are affiliate members of the Rugby Football Union. They are not affiliated to the RFL or BARLA.
Super League
is the top league for the game in Europe; thirteen of the fourteen teams (as of the upcoming 2012 season) are based in England. It is the only full-time professional rugby league competition operating in the northern hemisphere. The French team Paris Saint-Germain competed in the first Super League
but folded in 1999. French presence was re-established in 2006
when Catalans Dragons
were admitted to Super League. In 2009
, Super League added Celtic Crusaders from Wales
, which renamed themselves Crusaders Rugby League after that season; that team effectively folded after the 2011 season
. The winner of the league is awarded the League Leader's Shield
whilst the overall winner of Super League is determined by play-offs and a grand final.
The winner of the Super League plays the winner of the Australian NRL
competition in the World Club Challenge
.
Below Super League, there are the Championship and Championship 1
, previously known as the National Leagues before the admission of French club Toulouse Olympique
to the Championship in 2009. Toulouse would withdraw from the English league system after the 2011 season. Wales became represented in the Championships starting in 2010 with the entry of South Wales Scorpions
into Championship 1; they will be joined in 2012 by North Wales Crusaders
, the effective successor club to Crusaders RL. All other clubs in both divisions are based in England, and of these, only Gateshead Thunder
and London Skolars
of Championship 1 are based outside the heartlands.
There is automatic promotion between Championship and Championship 1, but since 2009 promotion between the Championship and Super League has been on a licenced, or franchised, basis. For 2013, the RFL will expand the Championship to 14 clubs, keeping Championship 1 at 10. To accommodate this, there will be no relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2012 season; the top four clubs in the 2012 Championship 1 will be promoted to the Championship, whilst four new clubs will be added to Championship 1 for 2013. Promotion and relegation will then return between these leagues. The Championship Cup (historically the National League Cup) is a competition with groups and a knock-out phase for clubs in Championship and Championship 1.
The Rugby League Challenge Cup
remains as a knock-out competition, though entry has now been expanded to make it a pan-European tournament bringing in teams from France, Russia and the rest of the UK. Amateur teams also have the chance to participate in the Challenge Cup and have been victorious over several Championship sides.
BARLA administer different amateur competitions which run throughout the winter in the heartlands. There has been a movement towards playing heartlands rugby league in Summer with the advent in 2008 of the InterTown Series
and the National Conference League
trialling a Summer competition in 2009. The leading competition is the National Conference League
which consists of three divisions (Premier Division, Division One and Division Two) of up to 14 teams each. The National Conference takes teams from all over England but since the advent of the Rugby League Conference has been contested only by heartlands teams. Other major amateur leagues include the North West Counties League
, CMS Yorkshire League
, Pennine League
, Cumberland League
, Barrow & District League
and the Hull & District League
. Teams from these regional leagues can apply for election to the National Conference League if they meet minimum criteria.
The Rugby League Conference
(played in summer) has many grass roots teams but is considered 'open' rather than amateur though most teams do not pay their players. Most of the teams are based outside the game's heartlands. The London League
, Midlands Rugby League
and RL Merit League act as feeders for the Conference.
which is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Challenge Cup Final whether on the winning or losing side and the Man of Steel Award which is the annual award for the best player in Super League.
The Albert Goldthorpe Medal
is an award that has been created by Rugby Leaguer & League Express
to honour the leading players in Super League.
The Rugby League World Golden Boot Award
is given to the international player of the year, as determined by a ballot of international rugby league writers and broadcasters. Until 2007, this was accompanied by the RLIF Awards
which rewarded the best referee, coach, developing nations player, international newcomer, captain and a team of the year.
for Yorkshire and Lancashire.
There were also county cups
for Yorkshire and Lancashire between 1905 and 1993. The Regal Trophy
and BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
were two other knock-out tournaments. A Trans-Pennine Cup
was played for a short-time but it was replaced by the National League Cup
.
The Rugby League Charity Shield
was a one-off match at the beginning of each season between 1985 and 1995. It was contested by the Champions and the holders of the Challenge Cup.
The rugby union county championship was continued as a rugby league county championship after the 1895 great schism. Teams representing Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland / Cumbria and sometimes Cheshire and Northumberland & Durham took part in the championship. This continued as the Rugby League War of the Roses played between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
. There has been some debate as to whether St Helens versus Wigan Warriors or Bradford Bulls versus Leeds Rhinos is the biggest derby in English rugby league but there is only one true derby in the Super League - Hull FC v Hull KR. All other derbies are from different, but close, towns. The North West derby is between two sides that have usually been among the strongest in the game. Unlike in soccer, there is no segregation of supporters at matches and rival fans mingle freely.
Some of the teams involved no longer play in the same league and so derby games are either arranged as pre-season friendlies or take place as part of the National League Cup.
. Thirty-three percent of schools across the UK offer rugby league as a school sport.
The RFL uses two modified forms of rugby league created by ARL Development in Australia. Mini league
(known as mini footy in Australia) is played by all children up to Year 4 of Primary School. It is designed to provide children with a safe environment, a firm knowledge of the laws of rugby league and a chance to practice the skills such as tackling, passing and common defensive and attacking tactics. Players up to and including Year 6 of Primary School play mod league. Mod league
is a bridge between mini league and full contact rugby league. On completion of mod league, players make a move to full international rugby league laws.
The Champion Schools
tournament is a national competition for secondary schools. In the 2005/6 academic year over 1,200 teams and 20,000 players competed in the Champion Schools tournament, making it the largest rugby league competition in the world. Eighty percent of participants are new to rugby league. The growth of the Champion Schools tournament led to the creation of the Carnegie Champion Colleges
competition for Years 12 and 13. The regionally based competition was introduced in 2008 and started in January.
British Amateur Rugby League Association
runs the Gilette National Youth League
as well as the Yorkshire combination, Hull Youth and Junior and London Junior League
.
Super League and National League teams run academy sides to develop young talent. Players under the age of 21 years are eligible to play for the senior academy, the rules also permit three players over the age of 21 to play in academy matches. Junior academies are the second tier in the Youth Development system. Only players under the age of 18 years are eligible to play for the junior academy; no players over the age limit are allowed to play. Some of the better junior academy players may get experience in the senior academy and it is not uncommon for some players to play regularly in both junior and senior academies.
Although the game remains close to its working class
origins, changes in social demographics and attitudes have allowed many working class people to attend university where they have continued their association with the game.
The Student Rugby League was founded in 1967 when a team was created at Leeds University by Andrew Cudbertson, Jack Abernathy and Cec Thompson
, other teams soon joined in areas of the United Kingdom which lay outside of the games traditional heartlands.
The first university game was between Leeds and Liverpool in 1968. A year later the Universities and Colleges Rugby League was formed after student pioneers fought hard to get the sport recognised in higher education. The first Oxford versus Cambridge University match took place in 1981. The varsity match
has "discretionary full blue
" status. The game is now played in over 70 universities.
Rugby league in universities has been an important vehicle for expansion of the game as players from outside the heartlands often first began to play at university level. Many continue to play after leaving university and this has led to the creation of teams in non-traditional areas such as London Skolars
.
Rugby league sevens
is particularly popular with pub teams drawn from the regulars at a pub; it is often difficult for a single public house
to form a full squad of 13 players and 4 substitutes.
Rugby league nines
is the more common form of the shortened version of the game. The Carnegie Floodlit Nines
, Middlesex 9s
and the York International 9s
are three of the best known rugby league nines
tournaments in England. The York nines began in 2002 and the Middlesex nines a year later. All three competitions feature professional and amateur teams from England as well as teams from abroad.
Touch football
(known as touch rugby in England) is administered by the England Touchrugby Association (ETA). They provide affiliated leagues around the country. Despite touch rugby being a derivative of rugby league rather than union; the ETA are affiliate members of the Rugby Football Union
rather than the Rugby Football League
.
Tag Rugby UK Limited runs Tag Rugby
adult leagues. In 2008, a Tag Merit League was established based on the RL Merit League format. The league was developed with the intention to encourage new clubs outside the older IMBRL circuit to play tag rugby league. The Merit League operates on normal rugby league laws with tags taking the place of tackles.
Wheelchair rugby league
was first introduced to England in 2005. The first competitive league began in 2009.
Masters Rugby League
which uses modified rules to allow older players to continue playing has only recently arrived in England and is not widely played.
Sports Tracker consistently reports that rugby league interests around 15% of British
adults. It was the fourth most popular team sport in the February 2005 list behind football, cricket and rugby union; 12% of British adults watched it regularly.
Rugby league is extremely popular in its "heartland" and, in those areas, interest in the sport rivals that of soccer. Many large towns with rugby league traditions do not have football teams as a result of the monopoly on local interest: for example, St Helens, Whitehaven, Warrington, Keighley, Castleford, Dewsbury, Batley and, until recently, Wakefield. It is striking how interest in rugby league can be very widespread in such towns whilst towns just a few miles away might have hardly any fans of the sport.
The regions in which rugby league is played most are West Cumbria
, where the amateur version has a high participation rate; south Lancashire
outside the cities of Liverpool
and Manchester
; West Yorkshire
and the city of Hull
. The sport is present in South Yorkshire
and in York
, but on a much smaller scale; it has little presence in the North East
or the largely rural county of North Yorkshire
. Many of the professional and semi-professional teams are connected by the M62 motorway
and so the term "M62 corridor" is sometimes used, often in a derogatory manner, to refer to the area where rugby league is most popular. A 1994 survey revealed that sixty percent of people regularly attending rugby league lived in only four postal districts along the M62.
Rugby league is considered by most English people to be a regional sport, which perhaps prevents rugby league making further inroads in to the English psyche in the South, and those cities which already thrive on soccer, and to a lesser extent, cricket and rugby union. Neither is it played in as great numbers elsewhere in England, although semi-professional and amateur clubs do exist in the lower national leagues and conference leagues and there is significant schools participation in London
.
Fifty-percent of viewers who watch rugby league on Sky Sports live in the South of England. Over 40% of active rugby league supporters are female. At the beginning of the 2006 season there were between thirty and forty female-only rugby league clubs running in England, not including clubs that have teams of both sexes. The majority of these clubs are located in Lancashire
and Yorkshire
.
Perhaps because of its regional character, rugby league as a whole has a lower participation rate compared to the other three major sports in England. Rugby league has for much of its history been banned in the armed forces and in many schools and universities, further stifling growth. These barriers have largely been dismantled in the past ten years due to professionalisation of the rival code of rugby union
.
In 2004 the Rugby Football League
reported 62,463 registered players (this is a UK-wide figure). However in 2008, the RFL noted that there were only 2,000 registered club players aged 30 or over.
The 2006 Super League generated the highest weekly average attendance in the 11-year history of the competition. The average weekly attendance for the regular season stood at 9,026, generated by an aggregate attendance of 1,516,342 supporters. This is an increase on the 2005 season average of 8,887. The attendances are not evenly spread between clubs within Super League; whilst the best supported team, Leeds Rhinos
with average gates of 15,683, a couple of clubs failed to attract averages of above 5,000. Crowds at matches below the top flight can exceed 3,500, however most of the clubs in this division have attendances lower than this.
Although attendances outside Super League can be quite low, many of the teams play in small towns and the attendance figures represent a large percentage of the local population.
in England and the return of competitive international matches with Australia and New Zealand
have seen growth for the sport.
The ending of discrimination against rugby league resulting from professionalism in rugby union led to an increase in numbers in the amateur game, with many rugby union amateurs keen to try out the other code. In 2004 the Rugby Football League was able to report a 94% increase in registered players in just two years, whilst attendance figures for Super League
matches rose 8% from the 2003 season.
The annual Champion Schools
competition from 2003 onwards has increased the number of school teams from 300 to 1,500 and the participation levels to 25,000 from 6,000. Though these figures include participants from Wales.
Whilst rugby union
was officially an amateur sport, many rugby union players came to play rugby league. In recent years this trend has reversed and some rugby league players have crossed codes to play union.
Expansion by the governing body, the Rugby Football League
sees continual growth in the south of England, notably the London
area, which now boasts two professional clubs (Harlequins Rugby League—formerly known as London Broncos—and London Skolars
). One of the prime vehicles for expansion has been the Rugby League Conference
, a set of competitions for clubs in those development areas.
George Bennet
became the first black player to play for Great Britain while it was another 44 years before Viv Anderson
became the first black footballer to play association football for England.
Clive Sullivan
became the first black captain of the Great Britain team in 1972, 21 years before Paul Ince
became the first black captain of England's soccer team.
Roy Francis was the first black coach of a leading club, almost half a century before the top flight of English soccer would have a black British manager, a milestone also achieved by Ince (on 22 June 2008).
Ellery Hanley
earned the distinction of being the first black coach of any British national sporting team when he took charge of Great Britain in the home Ashes series of 1994.
In 1997 the Rugby Football League
launched a thirteen-point action plan aimed at tackling racism and encouraging the development of rugby league in Asian and black communities. Despite the sport being popular in West Yorkshire
and Greater Manchester
, which both have large South Asian communities, the sport has little following amongst South Asian communities. The British Asian Rugby Association (BARA) was set up in 2004 to encouraging participation in rugby among British Asians.
with around 23,000 subscribers and League Weekly with around 11,000 subscribers. In and around the heartlands, these publications are stocked in newsagents but in the rest of England they are only available via subscription. There is also one monthly magazine, Rugby League World
, which can be bought throughout the UK.
own the rights to broadcast a highlights package called the Super League Show
which was first broadcast across England and the rest of the UK in 2008. Prior to this it had only been broadcast in the North of England.
End of season play-offs are shown across the whole country in a highlights package. The BBC covers the Rugby League Challenge Cup
from the rounds in which the top clubs enter with the final attracting over 4 million viewers. The Challenge Cup final is considered by government to constitute a "listed event" which must be shown by a free-to-air channel available to at least 95% of the UK population.
Sky
has the rights to show live Super League games; one or two live matches are broadcast often fronted by Mike Stephenson
and Eddie Hemmings
. Live Super League broadcasts regularly rank amongst the top 10 most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports with more than 250,000 viewers. Highlights are shown on Boots N' All
which is shown on Sky Sports and is rebroadcast on the Internet. Sky also hold the rights to show the Rugby League Tri-Nations
live, whilst highlights are shown on BBC Sport. Premier Sports
shows 150 live games from Australia's National Rugby League
. Five matches from the 2011 Student Rugby League Super 8 were televised live on Premier Sports. The Australian State of Origin
is currently shown on Sky. The current TV rights deal for Engage Superleague will bring in around 50 million pounds over 3 years starting 2009 http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/163010/super-league-wins-new-tv-deals-and-plans-expansion
and BBC Five Live Sports Extra
carry commentary from a selection of Super League matches each week, while BBC local radio also broadcasts throughout the season.
Various commercial and community radio stations also give coverage to their local rugby league teams:-
, is set around the life of a rugby league player, Frank Machin, whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting life. The film stars Richard Harris
, Rachel Roberts
, Alan Badel
and William Hartnell
. It is considered to be one of the last major films of the British New Wave or "Free Cinema" movement. Many of the scenes in This Sporting Life were filmed at Wakefield Trinity
's Belle Vue
stadium.
The highly acclaimed play, Up n Under
was made as a film in 1998. As a comedy set in the north of England that features a bunch of losers, it has been compared to The Full Monty and Brassed Off. The film stars Samantha Janus, Gary Olsen, Neil Morrissey, Brian Glover, Griff Rhys Jones and Tony Slattery. The play was recently revived on stage with England rugby union star Gareth Chilcott in the Gary Olsen role. The film follows the story of an inept pub team in a rugby league sevens competition.
On 5 April 1904, England played their first game, losing 9–3 to Other Nationalities in a 12-a-side match at Wigan. With the exception of the 1995 World Cup, matches involving England were not deemed to have Test status, which applied only to the full Great Britain side.
Usually the nation of England was represented by Great Britain in international tournaments, but for the 1975
, 1995
, 2000
and 2008
World Cups, England, along with other Home Nations, took part in their own right. However, unlike Great Britain, an England side has never won the World Cup.
Between 1935 and 2004 they also competed in the European Nations Cup
. In recent years they had come to dominate this tournament, and in 2005 they withdrew to level the playing field. They also took part in the World Sevens
(2002, 2003).
There has also been an England A and England "Lionhearts team selected since 2002. The England A team is selected from up and coming players who are not yet ready for selection in the Great Britain team. England Lionhearts are selected from players in the Rugby League Conference
. They compete against Wales A, Scotland A "Bravehearts" and Ireland A "Wolfhounds" each year in the Amateur Four Nations competition.
England has historically provided the vast majority of players for the Great Britain team
, one of the major national teams playing rugby league. They compete against Australia for The Ashes
, and New Zealand for the Baskerville Shield
.
The first Great Britain game took place on 18 January 1908 when they beat New Zealand 14-6 at Headingley. Great Britain took part in the 1954
, 1957
, 1960
, 1968
, 1970
, 1972
, 1977
, 1985–1988 and 1989–1992 World Cups
. They won a total of three World Cups in 1954, 1960 and 1972.
Great Britain also played in the 1999
, 2004
, 2005
and 2006
Tri-Nations against New Zealand and Australia. Although Great Britain never won the Tri- Nations, they finished top of the table in 2005 but lost to Australia in the final.
In 2007 Great Britain was replaced by separate England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales teams; thereafter, Great Britain will only play on special occasions and tours.
Team sport
A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The sport receives funding from Sport England
Sport England
Sport England is the brand name for the English Sports Council and is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as an "English priority" sport. The top-level competition in England—called Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
—is not an entirely all-English affair, as it includes a team from France
Catalans Dragons
The Catalans Dragons are a French professional rugby league club based in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales. They currently play in the Super League, and are the only team in the competition from outside of the United Kingdom...
, and also featured a team from Wales from 2009 through 2011.
Its popularity is greatest in a swathe of northern England from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and across the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
to Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, the areas where the game originated. The sport is also popular in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
where the amateur game is particularly powerful. The game is played outside of these traditional areas but in far lower numbers. However, there has been growth in other parts of England, which can be seen in television viewing figures, attendance at Super League games and participation in the sport has increased from 114,000 to 285,000 from 2005 to 2009.
Within its heartlands, rugby league is often referred to as simply "rugby", although in the rest of England the term would normally refer to rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
. It is on occasion called "football", but even in the North of England that would normally refer to association football. For this reason, it is common among English rugby league fans to use the term "soccer" when talking about association football.
History
- See also: History of rugby leagueHistory of rugby leagueThe history of rugby league as a separate form of rugby football goes back to 1895 in Huddersfield, Northern England when the Northern Rugby Football Union broke away from the established Rugby Football Union to administer its own separate competition. Similar schisms occurred later in Australia...
Early years
RugbyRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
has long been popular in the North of England, and by the 1880s the region's clubs had come to dominate. The game was largely popular amongst working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
people, unlike the clubs in Southern England whose players belonged to the middle
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
or upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
. Rugby competition at the time did not allow paying players any salary; the working-class players felt they could not afford time off to train and play, nor could they afford to miss work through injury sustained whilst playing. The principle of amateurism, and issues of class ensured that the Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
would not countenance professional rugby.
In 1895 representatives of the northern clubs met to form the "Northern Rugby Football Union" (NRFU). The NRFU was initially vehemently anti-professional, allowing only payments for time missed from other employment. A thriving amateur scene also soon developed, as local amateur clubs wished to maintain links with their "Northern Union" neighbours.
The Northern Union made reforms to the laws in 1897 and again in 1906 in an effort make the game more exciting. This resulted in Northern Union football becoming a sport in its own right rather than a form of rugby union.
The sport spread outside England and soon international matches began to be played. The first international match was played in 1904 as England was beaten 9-3 at Wigan by "Other Nationalities
Other Nationalities rugby league team
The Other Nationalities rugby league team regularly played international, and also county, rugby league football teams in Europe from 1904 to 1975. The team, created in 1904 to play England in the first ever rugby league international match, was at first made up of Welsh and Scottish players...
" (largely Welsh players). This was followed by a tour of Britain by New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
in 1907. New Zealand met Great Britain in Great Britain's first ever Test match at Headingley on the 18 January 1908. The same year the first Australian Kangaroos tourists visit Britain. In 1910 the first British tour to Australia and New Zealand took place.
The Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
began in 1897 with Batley beating St Helens to win the first title.
The final was first broadcast by BBC radio in 1927. The Wembley tradition was started in 1929 when Wigan beat Dewsbury 13-2 at the first Rugby League Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
to be held at Wembley.
Rugby league continued to be played throughout the 1914-15 season, however, the loss of players to the First World War, a government ban on professionalism and reduced attendances forced all major competitions to be replaced by regional competitions. The NRFU became the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
in 1922.
The 1930s saw a series of failed attempts to introduce rugby league football to London.
During the Second World War professional rugby league was again discontinued, normal leagues were suspended, a War Emergency League was established, with clubs playing separate Yorkshire and Lancashire sections to reduce the need for travel.
Post-war
In 1948 the first televised rugby league match was played when Wigan's 8–3 Challenge Cup Final victory over Bradford Northern was broadcast to the Midlands. In another first this was the first rugby league match to be attended by the reigning monarch, King George VI, who presented the trophy.Several attempts were made to expand the game outside the heartlands, a Southern Amateur Rugby League being formed in 1949, however only Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
and South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
proved receptive with teams being founded in Workington, Whitehaven and Doncaster. Nonetheless the game survived, and continued to maintain popularity in its home regions. The introduction of regular internationals as other countries took up the sport provided a fillip.
Rugby league experienced a surge in interest following the end of the Second World War. Large crowds came to be the norm for a period of around 20 years. The total crowds for the British season hit a record in 1949–50, when over 69.8 million paying customers attended all matches.
The 1953–54 Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
final replay between Halifax and Warrington, held at Odsal Stadium
Odsal Stadium
Odsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Odsal, Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The venue is used for rugby league and has been the home ground of Bradford Bulls/Bradford Northern since 1934...
drew 102,575 paying spectators with an estimated 20,000 others getting in free after a section of fencing collapsed.
The boom had begun to subside by the early sixties; rugby league now had to compete against television and other new forms of entertainment and attendances began to fall. David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, then controller of BBC2, made the decision to screen games from a new competition the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was a competition for British rugby league clubs held between 1965 and 1980. It was designed specifically for television, and the then director of BBC2, broadcaster David Attenborough, was instrumental in its creation...
in 1965. It proved a success, and rugby league has featured on television ever since.
Attendances fell even further in the 1970s. Britain won the Ashes for the last time in 1970, with a 2–1 series win in Australia.
The foundation of the Universities and Colleges Rugby League
Student Rugby League
The Student Rugby League is the organisation which administrates university and college rugby league in the United Kingdom, on behalf of the Rugby Football League and BUCS....
in 1969 and the British Amateur Rugby League Association
British Amateur Rugby League Association
The British Amateur Rugby League Association is the governing body for social and recreational rugby league in the United Kingdom...
in 1973 was a response to the need to develop the game below professional level.
Eighties and onwards
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...
announced the formation of a rugby league team, with the primary intention of creating another income stream for the soccer club. The Rugby Football League was keen to expand outside the heartlands and accepted the new club (now known as Harlequins Rugby League). This was not the first rugby league club to be based in London—three London-based clubs had come and gone in the 1930s. However unlike the past ventures the new team would survive despite numerous moves and name changes.
The 1982 Kangaroos won all their tour games for first time ever, they became known as "The Invincibles". This was the time when the gap between English and Australian rugby league became apparent and has never been fully closed.
The All-Party Parliamentary Rugby League Group was formed in 1987 to support the sport of rugby league and tackle the key issues facing the game in Parliament. Ian McCartney
Ian McCartney
Sir Ian McCartney is a former politician, who was the British Labour Party Member of Parliament for the Makerfield constituency between 1987 to 2010, and served in the Cabinet, from 2003 to 2007, when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister...
MP was the first chairman and David Hinchliffe
David Hinchliffe
David Martin Hinchliffe was Labour Member of Parliament for Wakefield from 1987 to 2005 when he stood down and was replaced by Mary Creagh.-Early life:...
MP the secretary. In 1987 a "free gangway" between the two codes of rugby at amateur level was introduced but individual cases of discrimination continued, resulting in the Sports (Discrimination) Bill, which was introduced by David Hinchcliffe in 1994.
In the mid eighties Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
began an era of domination of English rugby league that would end only with the formation of Super League. By 1995 they had won the Challenge Cup a record eighth consecutive times and the league title for a record seventh consecutive times.
The traditional Origin series between Yorkshire and Lancashire was abandoned in 1989. Although the matches had provided a good test for selecting players for the full England and Great Britain sides, the crowds had been poor and the games had little attraction for the rest of the country. The series was revived again in 2001 before being abandoned in 2003.
The Combined Services Rugby League (CSRL) was formed in 1994 after the official recognition of rugby league by the Armed Services, since then rugby league has been the fastest growing army sport. The rival code rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
went professional in 1995 and, as a result, other restrictions on rugby league were relaxed by the Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
. This opened up the possibility of expanding the game into areas where it had never been played before as it allowed rugby league clubs to groundshare with rugby union clubs and for union players to try out the other code without fear of persecution.
In 1995, the fallout from the Super League war
Super League war
The Super League war is the common name given to the corporate dispute that was fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s between the Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer and Optus Vision-backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting...
hit Britain, and the game underwent massive re-organisation. A new elite league, Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
was formed, and the sport switched from a winter to a summer season. Super League has largely been a success as the value of its TV contract and top tier game crowd attendances and have both grown year upon year since 2001.
The Rugby League Conference
Rugby League Conference
The Rugby League Conference , was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Scotland and Wales.The RLC was founded as the 10-team Southern Conference League in 1997, with teams from the southern midlands and the...
was founded in 1998 with the aim of providing regular fixtures for new clubs based outside the 'heartland' of rugby league. It began with fourteen teams, but within nine years had grown to eighty-eight clubs spread throughout England and the rest of Britain.
Governing bodies
There is no governing body for the sport in England—that role is filled by the Rugby Football LeagueRugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
, whose remit covers the United Kingdom as a whole. With the advent of Wales Rugby League
Wales Rugby League
Wales Rugby League is the national governing body for rugby league football in Wales.In 1907 The Welsh Northern Rugby Football Union was formed in Wrexham, but the English Northern Rugby Football Union refused it affiliation as they wanted the body located in the south of Wales and the Welsh body...
, Scotland Rugby League
Scotland Rugby League
The Scottish Rugby Football League is the governing body for rugby league football in Scotland. It administers the Scotland national rugby league teams jointly with the Rugby Football League....
and Rugby League Ireland
Rugby League Ireland
Rugby League Ireland is the internationally recognised governing body for the development of rugby league football in Ireland, having secured official recognition from the RLIF in 2000...
, the RFL are increasingly becoming an English organisation. The RFL are affiliated with the Rugby League International Federation
Rugby League International Federation
The Rugby League International Federation is the world governing body of rugby league football. It was formed in 1998 in Sydney, Australia. Its purpose is to, "foster, develop, extend, govern and administer the game of Rugby League throughout the world". Its headquarters are in Sydney, Australia,...
and the Rugby League European Federation
Rugby League European Federation
The Rugby League European Federation is the umbrella body for nations playing the sport of rugby league football across Europe and the Northern Hemisphere. It supports the Rugby League International Federation . The RLEF "oversees and co-ordinates the development of the sport in all its member...
. The Community Board is made up of representatives of the RFL, BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League and Student Rugby League
Student Rugby League
The Student Rugby League is the organisation which administrates university and college rugby league in the United Kingdom, on behalf of the Rugby Football League and BUCS....
.
British Amateur Rugby League Association
British Amateur Rugby League Association
The British Amateur Rugby League Association is the governing body for social and recreational rugby league in the United Kingdom...
(BARLA) are responsible for amateur rugby league chiefly in the sport's north of England heartlands. Though many Rugby League Conference
Rugby League Conference
The Rugby League Conference , was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Scotland and Wales.The RLC was founded as the 10-team Southern Conference League in 1997, with teams from the southern midlands and the...
teams are affiliated to BARLA, the Conference itself is not a BARLA organisation. The top division under their control is the National Conference League, with regional leagues including the North West Counties and Pennine leagues. BARLA selects an international team consisting of amateur players, the BARLA Lions. This team tours many parts of the rugby league world, and have competed in the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.
Rugby league was recognised as a military sport in 1994. The Combined Services Rugby League (CSRL) is the co-ordinating group for the Army Rugby League, Royal Navy Rugby League and the Royal Air Force Rugby League. Each constituent body organises its own competitions at unit and formation level. Players are fed into representative teams to represent each of the services, and the best players are selected to represent the Combined Services.
During the early months of 2010, Tony Fretwell set up Great Britain Teachers Rugby League for qualified teachers who were interested in playing representative rugby league. Teachers Rugby League are supported by the NASUWT teaching union and the Rugby League Foundation.
The Women's Amateur Rugby League Association (WARLA) is the governing body of female rugby league in the United Kingdom; it currently falls under the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
association which oversees its running and management. It was originally established in 1985 and was recognized by the RFL in its first year.
Touch rugby
Touch football (rugby league)
Touch is a field sport also known as Touch Football, or in some countries as Touch Rugby. Touch is overseen worldwide by the Federation of International Touch . Touch has traditionally been played in Australia and New Zealand but the sport has expanded internationally and features many regional and...
is governed by the ETA who are supported by the Federation of International Touch and are affiliate members of the Rugby Football Union. They are not affiliated to the RFL or BARLA.
Open Age Competitions
- See also: British rugby league systemBritish rugby league systemThe British rugby league system is based on four separate structures: the professional leagues administered by the Rugby Football League, the reserve leagues, the amateur leagues administered by British Amateur Rugby League Association and the Rugby League Conference.There is no system of automatic...
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
is the top league for the game in Europe; thirteen of the fourteen teams (as of the upcoming 2012 season) are based in England. It is the only full-time professional rugby league competition operating in the northern hemisphere. The French team Paris Saint-Germain competed in the first Super League
Super League I
The year 1996's Stones Bitter Super League I was the official name for the 102nd season of top-level rugby league football, and the first year of Europe's new championship: Super League. It is also the first season of rugby league to be played in summer...
but folded in 1999. French presence was re-established in 2006
Super League XI
Engage Super League XI was the official name for the year 2006's Super League season in the sport of rugby league in Europe. Bradford Bulls were looking to retain the title they won in Super League X....
when Catalans Dragons
Catalans Dragons
The Catalans Dragons are a French professional rugby league club based in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales. They currently play in the Super League, and are the only team in the competition from outside of the United Kingdom...
were admitted to Super League. In 2009
Super League XIV
The 2009 Super League season is the fourteenth season of rugby league since the Super League format was introduced in 1996...
, Super League added Celtic Crusaders from Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, which renamed themselves Crusaders Rugby League after that season; that team effectively folded after the 2011 season
Super League XVI
The 2011 Super League season was the sixteenth season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996...
. The winner of the league is awarded the League Leader's Shield
League Leader's Shield
The League Leader’s Shield, often called The Hubcap is a trophy awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. Currently the championship is decided on the basis of a play-off series, and the Shield is thus regarded as a lesser prize...
whilst the overall winner of Super League is determined by play-offs and a grand final.
The winner of the Super League plays the winner of the Australian NRL
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
competition in the World Club Challenge
World Club Challenge
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league football match held between the champions of the Australasian National Rugby League and the European Super League competitions to determine the world's best rugby league club...
.
Below Super League, there are the Championship and Championship 1
Championship 1
Championship 1, known as The Co-operative Championship 1 due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group, is a rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. It acts as the country's third-tier competition behind the Championship, with which it has a system of promotion and relegation. It is...
, previously known as the National Leagues before the admission of French club Toulouse Olympique
Toulouse Olympique
Toulouse Olympique are a French professional rugby league team from Toulouse, in the southwest of France. They were founded on 22 October, in 1937 two years after the founding of the French Rugby League Federation. Between 1995 and 2002 the club were known as Spacers de Toulouse, due to links with...
to the Championship in 2009. Toulouse would withdraw from the English league system after the 2011 season. Wales became represented in the Championships starting in 2010 with the entry of South Wales Scorpions
South Wales Scorpions
South Wales Scorpions Rugby League Football Club is a professional rugby league club formed in 2009, based in Neath, Wales. They are owned by a consortium of South Wales businessmen, led by Phil Davies...
into Championship 1; they will be joined in 2012 by North Wales Crusaders
North Wales Crusaders
-Coaches:...
, the effective successor club to Crusaders RL. All other clubs in both divisions are based in England, and of these, only Gateshead Thunder
Gateshead Thunder
Gateshead Thunder is a professional rugby league club based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear in England. They currently play in the Championship 1 competition, the third tier of rugby league in the United Kingdom...
and London Skolars
London Skolars
London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in North London. They were founded in 1995 and have been semi-professional since 2003, operating in Championship One...
of Championship 1 are based outside the heartlands.
There is automatic promotion between Championship and Championship 1, but since 2009 promotion between the Championship and Super League has been on a licenced, or franchised, basis. For 2013, the RFL will expand the Championship to 14 clubs, keeping Championship 1 at 10. To accommodate this, there will be no relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2012 season; the top four clubs in the 2012 Championship 1 will be promoted to the Championship, whilst four new clubs will be added to Championship 1 for 2013. Promotion and relegation will then return between these leagues. The Championship Cup (historically the National League Cup) is a competition with groups and a knock-out phase for clubs in Championship and Championship 1.
The Rugby League Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
remains as a knock-out competition, though entry has now been expanded to make it a pan-European tournament bringing in teams from France, Russia and the rest of the UK. Amateur teams also have the chance to participate in the Challenge Cup and have been victorious over several Championship sides.
BARLA administer different amateur competitions which run throughout the winter in the heartlands. There has been a movement towards playing heartlands rugby league in Summer with the advent in 2008 of the InterTown Series
InterTown Series
The InterTown Series is a summer rugby league competition organised by the British Amateur Rugby League Association . It is contested by teams representing districts made up of players from clubs in that area....
and the National Conference League
National Conference League
The National Conference League is the top league in the pyramid of amateur rugby leagues run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association...
trialling a Summer competition in 2009. The leading competition is the National Conference League
National Conference League
The National Conference League is the top league in the pyramid of amateur rugby leagues run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association...
which consists of three divisions (Premier Division, Division One and Division Two) of up to 14 teams each. The National Conference takes teams from all over England but since the advent of the Rugby League Conference has been contested only by heartlands teams. Other major amateur leagues include the North West Counties League
North West Counties
The North West Counties A.R.L. are a series of rugby league regional leagues covering the following age groups in the North West of England:-* Age 8 to 12* Age 13 to 15* Age 16 to 18* Open Age...
, CMS Yorkshire League
CMS Yorkshire league
The CMS Yorkshire League is a series of rugby league divisions in the traditional county of Yorkshire.The league is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association...
, Pennine League
Pennine League
The Pennine Amateur Rugby League, or Pennine League is a rugby league competition for amateur open-age clubs that runs from September to April. The clubs are drawn from West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the east of Lancashire....
, Cumberland League
Cumberland League
The Cumberland League is a series of rugby league divisions in the traditional county of Cumberland.The league is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association . Teams from the Cumberland league can apply for election to the National Conference League if they meet minimum...
, Barrow & District League
Barrow & District League
The Barrow & District League is a series of rugby league divisions in and around Barrow-in-Furness.The league is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association . Officially, teams from the Barrow & District League can apply for election to the National Conference League if they meet minimum...
and the Hull & District League
Hull & District League
The Hull & District Youth League is a series of rugby league divisions in and around Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire.The league is run by a volunteer League Management Committee who are elected annually by the youth leagues member clubs...
. Teams from these regional leagues can apply for election to the National Conference League if they meet minimum criteria.
The Rugby League Conference
Rugby League Conference
The Rugby League Conference , was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Scotland and Wales.The RLC was founded as the 10-team Southern Conference League in 1997, with teams from the southern midlands and the...
(played in summer) has many grass roots teams but is considered 'open' rather than amateur though most teams do not pay their players. Most of the teams are based outside the game's heartlands. The London League
London League (rugby league)
The London, South and East Merit League is a rugby league competition founded in 1965. It is also known as the London League , London & South East Merit League, London Amateur Rugby League and London Merit League ....
, Midlands Rugby League
Midlands Rugby League
The 3vSport.com Midlands Rugby League is a summer rugby league tournament in the Midlands region of England. It is a feeder league to the Rugby League Conference and a successor league to the Midlands Merit League...
and RL Merit League act as feeders for the Conference.
Player awards
The main two awards are the Lance Todd TrophyLance Todd Trophy
The Lance Todd Trophy is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in rugby league football's Challenge Cup Final.The trophy was introduced in 1946, in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in a road accident during the Second World War...
which is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Challenge Cup Final whether on the winning or losing side and the Man of Steel Award which is the annual award for the best player in Super League.
The Albert Goldthorpe Medal
Albert Goldthorpe Medal
The Albert Goldthorpe Medal is an award that has been created by Rugby Leaguer & League Express to honour the leading players in Super League and to honour Albert Goldthorpe who was English rugby league's first superstar at the turn of the 20th century....
is an award that has been created by Rugby Leaguer & League Express
Rugby Leaguer & League Express
Rugby Leaguer & League Express is a weekly newspaper published every Monday in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the monthly magazine 'Rugby League World' and the annual 'Gillette Rugby League Yearbook'.It features match reports and pictures...
to honour the leading players in Super League.
The Rugby League World Golden Boot Award
Rugby League World Golden Boot Award
The Rugby League World Golden Boot Award is a rugby league award handed out annually for achievements in rugby league by Rugby League World magazine...
is given to the international player of the year, as determined by a ballot of international rugby league writers and broadcasters. Until 2007, this was accompanied by the RLIF Awards
RLIF Awards
The Rugby League International Federation currently oversees and awards the major international sporting award for rugby league on an annual basis and has done so since its inception in 2004....
which rewarded the best referee, coach, developing nations player, international newcomer, captain and a team of the year.
Defunct competitions
At various times English clubs have either competed in a national Championship with a Second Division and sometimes a Third Division as well or had separate county leaguesRugby league county leagues
The Yorkshire League and the Lancashire League formed two sections of the Rugby Football League Championship for much of its history. Initially, the 22 clubs that broke away in 1895 played in one combined league, however the following season saw the addition of many clubs, and the League was split...
for Yorkshire and Lancashire.
There were also county cups
Rugby league county cups
Historically, British rugby league clubs competed for the Lancashire Cup and the Yorkshire Cup, known collectively as the county cups. The leading rugby clubs in Yorkshire had played in a cup competition for several years prior to the schism of 1895...
for Yorkshire and Lancashire between 1905 and 1993. The Regal Trophy
Regal Trophy
The Regal Trophy was a knock-out competition for British rugby league football clubs between 1971 and 1996.It was initially for professional clubs with the exception of two amateur teams who were finalists of the BARLA National Cup...
and BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was a competition for British rugby league clubs held between 1965 and 1980. It was designed specifically for television, and the then director of BBC2, broadcaster David Attenborough, was instrumental in its creation...
were two other knock-out tournaments. A Trans-Pennine Cup
Trans-Pennine Cup
The Trans-Pennine Cup was a short-lived competition for professional British rugby league clubs outside Super League. It was played for during the period in which all non-Super League professional clubs were grouped into a single competition, the Northern Ford Premiership: 1998-2001.The competition...
was played for a short-time but it was replaced by the National League Cup
National League Cup
The Championship Cup, known as the Northern Rail Cup due to sponsorship by Northern Rail, is a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Championship and Championship 1 leagues, formerly known as the Rugby League National Leagues...
.
The Rugby League Charity Shield
Rugby League Charity Shield (Great Britain)
The Rugby League Charity Shield was a trophy for British rugby league clubs that was held as a one-off match at the beginning of a new season. It was modelled on English football's Charity Shield, and was held between 1985 and 1995. Normally the team that had won last season's championship would...
was a one-off match at the beginning of each season between 1985 and 1995. It was contested by the Champions and the holders of the Challenge Cup.
The rugby union county championship was continued as a rugby league county championship after the 1895 great schism. Teams representing Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland / Cumbria and sometimes Cheshire and Northumberland & Durham took part in the championship. This continued as the Rugby League War of the Roses played between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Derbies
Many of the professional teams are separated by only a few miles but not all matches between teams from the same traditional county are considered derbiesLocal derby
In many countries the term local derby, or simply just derby means a sporting fixture between two, generally local, rivals, particularly in association football...
. There has been some debate as to whether St Helens versus Wigan Warriors or Bradford Bulls versus Leeds Rhinos is the biggest derby in English rugby league but there is only one true derby in the Super League - Hull FC v Hull KR. All other derbies are from different, but close, towns. The North West derby is between two sides that have usually been among the strongest in the game. Unlike in soccer, there is no segregation of supporters at matches and rival fans mingle freely.
Some of the teams involved no longer play in the same league and so derby games are either arranged as pre-season friendlies or take place as part of the National League Cup.
- CalderRiver Calder, West YorkshireThe River Calder is a river in West Yorkshire, in Northern England.The Calder rises on the green eastern slopes of the Pennines flows through alternating green countryside, former woollen-mill villages, and large and small towns before joining the River Aire near Castleford.The river's valley is...
derbies - between Castleford TigersCastleford TigersCastleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
, Featherstone RoversFeatherstone RoversFeatherstone Rovers are a semi-professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They currently play in the Championship. The Rovers are one of the last vestiges of "small town teams" that were once common in rugby league during the early twentieth century...
, and Wakefield Trinity WildcatsWakefield Trinity WildcatsWakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts... - Widnes VikingsWidnes VikingsWidnes Vikings RLFC are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They currently play in the Engage Super League, the top tier of European rugby league, after being awarded a license to compete in the top-flight Super League from 2012 onward...
v Warrington WolvesWarrington WolvesWarrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003.... - Oldham RoughyedsOldham RoughyedsOldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....
v Rochdale HornetsRochdale HornetsRochdale Hornets RLFC is an English professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. They currently play in Championship One... - Heavy WoollenHeavy Woollen DistrictThe Heavy Woollen District is named because of the heavyweight cloth manufactured in an area of West Yorkshire, England. Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike and Ossett are the core of the area. Liversedge, Gomersal, Gildersome, Birkenshaw, Mirfield, Cleckheaton, Morley, Tingley, East Ardsley, Birstall...
derby - Batley BulldogsBatley BulldogsBatley Bulldogs are an English professional rugby league club from Batley, West Yorkshire. They currently play in the Co-operative Championship. Batley is one of the original twenty-two rugby football clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895...
v Dewsbury RamsDewsbury RamsDewsbury Rams RLFC is a professional rugby league club based in the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. They are arguably most famous for becoming Champions in 1972-73 after finishing the regular season in 8th place. In the playoffs they beat Featherstone away, Warrington away, and then Leeds in the... - HullKingston upon HullKingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
derby - Hull v Hull KRHull Kingston RoversHull Kingston Rovers or Hull KR is an English professional rugby league football club based in Hull, England. The club formed in 1882 and currently competes in Super League, having won promotion from National League One in 2006... - Salford City RedsSalford City RedsSalford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...
v Swinton LionsSwinton LionsSwinton Lions is an English professional rugby league club from Swinton, Greater Manchester. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. They currently play in the Championship.-Early years:... - St. Helens, Wigan WarriorsWigan WarriorsWigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
, and Leigh CenturionsLeigh CenturionsLeigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in... - South YorkshireSouth YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
derby - Sheffield EaglesSheffield EaglesSheffield Eagles RLFC are an English rugby league club based in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield. They currently play in the Co-operative Championship. Their home games are played at Bramall Lane after leaving Don Valley Stadium in late 2009....
v Doncaster - West CumbriaCumbriaCumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
derbies - between Barrow RaidersBarrow RaidersBarrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....
, WhitehavenWhitehaven RLFCWhitehaven RLFC is a rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. They play in Co-operative Championship. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground...
and Workington TownWorkington TownWorkington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in the Championship 1. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.... - West YorkshireWest YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
derbies - Bradford BullsBradford BullsBradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
, Leeds RhinosLeeds RhinosLeeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
, HalifaxHalifax RLFCHalifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, blue shorts and blue socks . They share The Shay stadium with football club FC Halifax Town...
and Huddersfield GiantsHuddersfield GiantsHuddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
Junior rugby league
Rugby league is played at a school level in many schools in the heartlands; recently it has been introduced into some schools outside the traditional areas in particular in London and HertfordshireHertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. Thirty-three percent of schools across the UK offer rugby league as a school sport.
The RFL uses two modified forms of rugby league created by ARL Development in Australia. Mini league
Mini footy
Mini footy is a form of rugby league developed by the Australian Rugby League. It was developed to introduce children to rugby league....
(known as mini footy in Australia) is played by all children up to Year 4 of Primary School. It is designed to provide children with a safe environment, a firm knowledge of the laws of rugby league and a chance to practice the skills such as tackling, passing and common defensive and attacking tactics. Players up to and including Year 6 of Primary School play mod league. Mod league
Mod league
Mod league is a form of rugby league developed by the Australian Rugby League. It was developed to introduce children to rugby league.Mod league follows on from mini footy; it introduces laws more common to the full international laws of rugby league, whilst also keeping the theme of being an...
is a bridge between mini league and full contact rugby league. On completion of mod league, players make a move to full international rugby league laws.
The Champion Schools
Champion Schools
The Champion Schools tournament is a full contact knock-out rugby league football competition open to every secondary school in England, Scotland and Wales and is the largest rugby league tournament in the World "RFL-13-05-07" The competition is operated by the Rugby Football League and the...
tournament is a national competition for secondary schools. In the 2005/6 academic year over 1,200 teams and 20,000 players competed in the Champion Schools tournament, making it the largest rugby league competition in the world. Eighty percent of participants are new to rugby league. The growth of the Champion Schools tournament led to the creation of the Carnegie Champion Colleges
Champion Colleges
Carnegie Champion Colleges is a rugby league competition administered by the Student Rugby League. It is open to teams in the 12-13 year groups at Sixth Forms and FE Colleges in the UK...
competition for Years 12 and 13. The regionally based competition was introduced in 2008 and started in January.
British Amateur Rugby League Association
British Amateur Rugby League Association
The British Amateur Rugby League Association is the governing body for social and recreational rugby league in the United Kingdom...
runs the Gilette National Youth League
Gilette National Youth League
The Gilette National Youth League is a British rugby league tournament at under-18 level. It was previous known as the Halifax Home Insurance National Youth League.It is the second tier competition at under-18s...
as well as the Yorkshire combination, Hull Youth and Junior and London Junior League
London Junior League
The London Junior League is a rugby league competition for clubs in London and the South East of England.The season runs from February through to September. It is competed for at under-16, under-14, under-13 and under-12 level. There is also a Rugby League Conference Academy league for the under-18...
.
Super League and National League teams run academy sides to develop young talent. Players under the age of 21 years are eligible to play for the senior academy, the rules also permit three players over the age of 21 to play in academy matches. Junior academies are the second tier in the Youth Development system. Only players under the age of 18 years are eligible to play for the junior academy; no players over the age limit are allowed to play. Some of the better junior academy players may get experience in the senior academy and it is not uncommon for some players to play regularly in both junior and senior academies.
Student Rugby League
- See also Student Rugby LeagueStudent Rugby LeagueThe Student Rugby League is the organisation which administrates university and college rugby league in the United Kingdom, on behalf of the Rugby Football League and BUCS....
Although the game remains close to its working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
origins, changes in social demographics and attitudes have allowed many working class people to attend university where they have continued their association with the game.
The Student Rugby League was founded in 1967 when a team was created at Leeds University by Andrew Cudbertson, Jack Abernathy and Cec Thompson
Cec Thompson
Cec Thompson was a British professional rugby league footballer of the 1940s, '50s and '60s.He was born in County Durham, the son of a mother from Durham and a Trinidadian father. His father died when he was very young and his childhood was spent in a succession of orphanages.Thompson took up...
, other teams soon joined in areas of the United Kingdom which lay outside of the games traditional heartlands.
The first university game was between Leeds and Liverpool in 1968. A year later the Universities and Colleges Rugby League was formed after student pioneers fought hard to get the sport recognised in higher education. The first Oxford versus Cambridge University match took place in 1981. The varsity match
Rugby League Varsity Match
The Rugby League Varsity Match is an annual rugby league match between Cambridge University and Oxford University. It is played at Twickenham Stoop in London, England, usually in the first week of March. The 2010 match took place on Thursday 4 March. Oxford, the winners of the match, received the...
has "discretionary full blue
University Sporting Blue
A Blue is an award earned by sportsmen and women at a university and some schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of Blues began at Oxford and Cambridge Universities...
" status. The game is now played in over 70 universities.
Rugby league in universities has been an important vehicle for expansion of the game as players from outside the heartlands often first began to play at university level. Many continue to play after leaving university and this has led to the creation of teams in non-traditional areas such as London Skolars
London Skolars
London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in North London. They were founded in 1995 and have been semi-professional since 2003, operating in Championship One...
.
Derivatives of rugby league
Rugby league sevens
Rugby league sevens is a seven-a-side derivative of rugby league football, which is usually a thirteen-a-side sport. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some rule changes and shorter games...
is particularly popular with pub teams drawn from the regulars at a pub; it is often difficult for a single public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
to form a full squad of 13 players and 4 substitutes.
Rugby league nines
Rugby league nines
Rugby league nines is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in festivals, as its shorter game play allows for a tournament to be...
is the more common form of the shortened version of the game. The Carnegie Floodlit Nines
Carnegie Floodlit Nines
Carnegie Floodlit Nines is a rugby league nines event held at Headingley Stadium in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The same stadium hosted the Headingley Sevens, rugby league sevens tournament from 1965-78...
, Middlesex 9s
Middlesex 9s
Middlesex 9s is a rugby league nines tournament that is hosted by the London Skolars rugby league club at their New River Stadium in North London, and held in August....
and the York International 9s
York International 9s
York International 9s is an international rugby league nines tournament taking place in York, England. It is held at Heworth ARLC's Elmpark Way ground on the north east side of the city. The 2007 tournament took place on Saturday 14 July....
are three of the best known rugby league nines
Rugby league nines
Rugby league nines is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in festivals, as its shorter game play allows for a tournament to be...
tournaments in England. The York nines began in 2002 and the Middlesex nines a year later. All three competitions feature professional and amateur teams from England as well as teams from abroad.
Touch football
Touch football (rugby league)
Touch is a field sport also known as Touch Football, or in some countries as Touch Rugby. Touch is overseen worldwide by the Federation of International Touch . Touch has traditionally been played in Australia and New Zealand but the sport has expanded internationally and features many regional and...
(known as touch rugby in England) is administered by the England Touchrugby Association (ETA). They provide affiliated leagues around the country. Despite touch rugby being a derivative of rugby league rather than union; the ETA are affiliate members of the Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
rather than the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
.
Tag Rugby UK Limited runs Tag Rugby
Tag Rugby
Tag Rugby, also known as rippa rugby, flag rugby league or flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt that has two velcro tags attached to it, or shorts with velcro patches. The mode of play is based on rugby league with many similarities to touch rugby...
adult leagues. In 2008, a Tag Merit League was established based on the RL Merit League format. The league was developed with the intention to encourage new clubs outside the older IMBRL circuit to play tag rugby league. The Merit League operates on normal rugby league laws with tags taking the place of tackles.
Wheelchair rugby league
Wheelchair rugby league
Wheelchair rugby league is a wheelchair-based version of rugby league football. It was developed by French rugby league player, coach and official, Robert Fassolette in 2004...
was first introduced to England in 2005. The first competitive league began in 2009.
Masters Rugby League
Masters Rugby League
Masters Rugby League is a derivative of rugby league for a wide age range of older, semi-retired and non-competitive players and officials. Masters Rugby League started in New Zealand in 1992 and has since grown in popularity, spreading to Australia and more recently to the United...
which uses modified rules to allow older players to continue playing has only recently arrived in England and is not widely played.
Popularity
Rugby league is one of a number of sports vying for (distant) second place to Association football in the nation's affection. The MORIMORI
Ipsos MORI is the second largest market research organisation in the United Kingdom, formed by a merger of Ipsos UK and MORI, two of the Britain's leading survey companies in October 2005...
Sports Tracker consistently reports that rugby league interests around 15% of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
adults. It was the fourth most popular team sport in the February 2005 list behind football, cricket and rugby union; 12% of British adults watched it regularly.
Rugby league is extremely popular in its "heartland" and, in those areas, interest in the sport rivals that of soccer. Many large towns with rugby league traditions do not have football teams as a result of the monopoly on local interest: for example, St Helens, Whitehaven, Warrington, Keighley, Castleford, Dewsbury, Batley and, until recently, Wakefield. It is striking how interest in rugby league can be very widespread in such towns whilst towns just a few miles away might have hardly any fans of the sport.
The regions in which rugby league is played most are West Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, where the amateur version has a high participation rate; south Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
outside the cities of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
; West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
and the city of Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
. The sport is present in South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
and in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, but on a much smaller scale; it has little presence in the North East
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
or the largely rural county of North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
. Many of the professional and semi-professional teams are connected by the M62 motorway
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
and so the term "M62 corridor" is sometimes used, often in a derogatory manner, to refer to the area where rugby league is most popular. A 1994 survey revealed that sixty percent of people regularly attending rugby league lived in only four postal districts along the M62.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Fifty-percent of viewers who watch rugby league on Sky Sports live in the South of England. Over 40% of active rugby league supporters are female. At the beginning of the 2006 season there were between thirty and forty female-only rugby league clubs running in England, not including clubs that have teams of both sexes. The majority of these clubs are located in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
.
Perhaps because of its regional character, rugby league as a whole has a lower participation rate compared to the other three major sports in England. Rugby league has for much of its history been banned in the armed forces and in many schools and universities, further stifling growth. These barriers have largely been dismantled in the past ten years due to professionalisation of the rival code of rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
.
In 2004 the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
reported 62,463 registered players (this is a UK-wide figure). However in 2008, the RFL noted that there were only 2,000 registered club players aged 30 or over.
The 2006 Super League generated the highest weekly average attendance in the 11-year history of the competition. The average weekly attendance for the regular season stood at 9,026, generated by an aggregate attendance of 1,516,342 supporters. This is an increase on the 2005 season average of 8,887. The attendances are not evenly spread between clubs within Super League; whilst the best supported team, Leeds Rhinos
Leeds Rhinos
Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
with average gates of 15,683, a couple of clubs failed to attract averages of above 5,000. Crowds at matches below the top flight can exceed 3,500, however most of the clubs in this division have attendances lower than this.
Although attendances outside Super League can be quite low, many of the teams play in small towns and the attendance figures represent a large percentage of the local population.
Current trends
The success of Super LeagueSuper League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
in England and the return of competitive international matches with Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
have seen growth for the sport.
The ending of discrimination against rugby league resulting from professionalism in rugby union led to an increase in numbers in the amateur game, with many rugby union amateurs keen to try out the other code. In 2004 the Rugby Football League was able to report a 94% increase in registered players in just two years, whilst attendance figures for Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
matches rose 8% from the 2003 season.
The annual Champion Schools
Champion Schools
The Champion Schools tournament is a full contact knock-out rugby league football competition open to every secondary school in England, Scotland and Wales and is the largest rugby league tournament in the World "RFL-13-05-07" The competition is operated by the Rugby Football League and the...
competition from 2003 onwards has increased the number of school teams from 300 to 1,500 and the participation levels to 25,000 from 6,000. Though these figures include participants from Wales.
Whilst rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
was officially an amateur sport, many rugby union players came to play rugby league. In recent years this trend has reversed and some rugby league players have crossed codes to play union.
Expansion by the governing body, the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
sees continual growth in the south of England, notably the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
area, which now boasts two professional clubs (Harlequins Rugby League—formerly known as London Broncos—and London Skolars
London Skolars
London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in North London. They were founded in 1995 and have been semi-professional since 2003, operating in Championship One...
). One of the prime vehicles for expansion has been the Rugby League Conference
Rugby League Conference
The Rugby League Conference , was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Scotland and Wales.The RLC was founded as the 10-team Southern Conference League in 1997, with teams from the southern midlands and the...
, a set of competitions for clubs in those development areas.
Rugby league and race
Rugby league has had a tradition of being inclusive and for some notable firsts in terms of black participation. Professional black players first took to the professional rugby league pitch prior to the first world war.George Bennet
George Bennet
George Bennet was a Welsh rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1930s who at representative level played rugby league for Wales, and at club level for Wigan, playing , /, or /, i.e...
became the first black player to play for Great Britain while it was another 44 years before Viv Anderson
Viv Anderson
Vivian Alexander "Viv" Anderson MBE is an English football player and coach, who played for clubs including Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday in the 1970s and 1980s...
became the first black footballer to play association football for England.
Clive Sullivan
Clive Sullivan
Clive A. Sullivan MBE was a Welsh rugby union and professional Rugby League World Cup winning footballer of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. A Great Britain and Wales international winger, he played with both Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers in his career, and also played for Oldham, and Doncaster...
became the first black captain of the Great Britain team in 1972, 21 years before Paul Ince
Paul Ince
Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince is an English football manager and a former professional player. He has managed Blackburn Rovers, Milton Keynes Dons and Macclesfield Town...
became the first black captain of England's soccer team.
Roy Francis was the first black coach of a leading club, almost half a century before the top flight of English soccer would have a black British manager, a milestone also achieved by Ince (on 22 June 2008).
Ellery Hanley
Ellery Hanley
Ellery Cuthwyn Hanley MBE is a British former rugby league footballer of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, and former head coach of Great Britain, St. Helens and Doncaster. As a player he played most of his games at /, or /. Over a period of nineteen years, he played for Bradford Northern, Wigan, Balmain,...
earned the distinction of being the first black coach of any British national sporting team when he took charge of Great Britain in the home Ashes series of 1994.
In 1997 the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
launched a thirteen-point action plan aimed at tackling racism and encouraging the development of rugby league in Asian and black communities. Despite the sport being popular in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
and Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, which both have large South Asian communities, the sport has little following amongst South Asian communities. The British Asian Rugby Association (BARA) was set up in 2004 to encouraging participation in rugby among British Asians.
Publications
There are two weekly rugby league newspapers, Rugby Leaguer & League ExpressRugby Leaguer & League Express
Rugby Leaguer & League Express is a weekly newspaper published every Monday in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the monthly magazine 'Rugby League World' and the annual 'Gillette Rugby League Yearbook'.It features match reports and pictures...
with around 23,000 subscribers and League Weekly with around 11,000 subscribers. In and around the heartlands, these publications are stocked in newsagents but in the rest of England they are only available via subscription. There is also one monthly magazine, Rugby League World
Rugby League World
Rugby League World is a dedicated rugby league magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the weekly newspaper Rugby Leaguer & League Express and the annual Gillette Rugby League Yearbook.-History:Rugby League World began...
, which can be bought throughout the UK.
Television
BBC SportBBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC. It became a fully dedicated division of the BBC in 2000. It incorporates programmes such as Match of the Day, Grandstand , Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Rugby Special and coverage of Formula One motor racing, MotoGP and the Wimbledon Tennis...
own the rights to broadcast a highlights package called the Super League Show
Super League Show
The Super League Show is the BBC's rugby league highlights programme, usually shown on a Sunday afternoon on BBC One in the North of England and on the BBC website. It is fronted by Look North newsreader Harry Gration and Tanya Arnold with a variety of studio guests from Super League...
which was first broadcast across England and the rest of the UK in 2008. Prior to this it had only been broadcast in the North of England.
End of season play-offs are shown across the whole country in a highlights package. The BBC covers the Rugby League Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
from the rounds in which the top clubs enter with the final attracting over 4 million viewers. The Challenge Cup final is considered by government to constitute a "listed event" which must be shown by a free-to-air channel available to at least 95% of the UK population.
Sky
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
has the rights to show live Super League games; one or two live matches are broadcast often fronted by Mike Stephenson
Mike Stephenson
Michael "Mike" Stephenson, also commonly known as Stevo, is an English Rugby League World Cup winning Rugby League, and presenter/commentator on British satellite television channel Sky Sports who also represented Great Britain in the sport.Stevo, the nickname that he is commonly known as on TV...
and Eddie Hemmings
Eddie Hemmings (rugby league)
Eddie Leslie Bruce Hemmings presents Sky Sports rugby league coverage, and is also the channel's main commentator for the sport. Hailing from Warrington, Cheshire, England, Hemmings is usually partnered by the idiosyncratic co-commentator Mike Stephenson....
. Live Super League broadcasts regularly rank amongst the top 10 most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports with more than 250,000 viewers. Highlights are shown on Boots N' All
Boots N' All
Boots 'N' All is the Sky Sports-televised rugby league, weekly magazine programme, focusing on the Super League, National Leagues and amateur game...
which is shown on Sky Sports and is rebroadcast on the Internet. Sky also hold the rights to show the Rugby League Tri-Nations
Rugby League Tri-Nations
The Rugby League Tri-Nations was a rugby league tournament involving the top three nations in the sport: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand...
live, whilst highlights are shown on BBC Sport. Premier Sports
Premier Sports
Premier Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels, operated by the Luxembourg registered Premier Media S.à r.l., broadcasting in United Kingdom.-History:...
shows 150 live games from Australia's National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
. Five matches from the 2011 Student Rugby League Super 8 were televised live on Premier Sports. The Australian State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
is currently shown on Sky. The current TV rights deal for Engage Superleague will bring in around 50 million pounds over 3 years starting 2009 http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/163010/super-league-wins-new-tv-deals-and-plans-expansion
Radio
BBC Radio Five LiveBBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
and BBC Five Live Sports Extra
BBC Five Live Sports Extra
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra is an additional digital radio service provided by the BBC via DAB Digital Radio and the digital satellite, digital terrestrial, IPTV and digital cable television services in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is not available via analogue radio...
carry commentary from a selection of Super League matches each week, while BBC local radio also broadcasts throughout the season.
- BBC London 94.9BBC London 94.9BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Channel 0152 and also online...
covers every Harlequins game. - BBC Radio CumbriaBBC Radio CumbriaBBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Cumbria and broadcasts from studios in Carlisle.- History :The county of Cumbria, from which the station takes its current name, was not created until 1974...
report on Barrow Raiders, Whitehaven and Workington Town throughout the season as well as the local amateur scene throughout their season on The Rugby League Show. - BBC Radio HumbersideBBC Radio HumbersideBBC Radio Humberside is a BBC Local Radio service covering the area of the former English county of Humberside, which was returned to North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire the East Riding of Yorkshire and the City of Kingston upon Hull on 1 April 1996....
broadcasts both Hull FC and Hull KR matches on The Oval Ball and does simultaneous broadcasts when games clash. - BBC Radio LeedsBBC Radio LeedsBBC Radio Leeds is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.- Frequencies :It broadcasts from its studios at St...
covers Leeds Rhinos. - BBC Radio ManchesterBBC Radio ManchesterBBC Radio Manchester is a BBC Local Radio station broadcasting to Greater Manchester in North West England. It broadcasts 24 hours a day from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays via a transmitter at Holme Moss, with a small repeater at Saddleworth covering Tameside and Saddleworth...
covers Wigan, Warrington, Leigh, Oldham, Salford, Saint Helens, Swinton and Rochdale. - BBC Radio MerseysideBBC Radio MerseysideBBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of Merseyside and north Cheshire. It was the third BBC local radio station to launch on 22 November 1967 initially serving the south west of historic Lancashire....
gives live commentary of St Helens, Widnes and Warrington.
Various commercial and community radio stations also give coverage to their local rugby league teams:-
- 107.2 Wire FM107.2 Wire FMWire FM is a British Independent Local Radio station that serves the Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn areas of Cheshire , with strong commitment to local news and information. Its sports coverage is heavily influenced by local rugby league teams Warrington Wolves and Widnes Vikings...
- Warrington WolvesWarrington WolvesWarrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....
and Widnes VikingsWidnes VikingsWidnes Vikings RLFC are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They currently play in the Engage Super League, the top tier of European rugby league, after being awarded a license to compete in the top-flight Super League from 2012 onward...
. - Buzz 97.1Buzz 97.1Heart Wirral was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Wirral Peninsula, sharing its facilities with Heart Wrexham and Gold, in Gwersyllt, Wrexham.-History:...
- KCFM - covers Hull FC and Hull KR and will switch between games when both sides play at the same time.
- NE1fmNE1fmNE1fm is an FM community radio station based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Having launched in 2007, the station broadcasts 24 hours a day on 102.5 FM, and online via its website...
- Gateshead ThunderGateshead ThunderGateshead Thunder is a professional rugby league club based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear in England. They currently play in the Championship 1 competition, the third tier of rugby league in the United Kingdom... - Ridings FMRidings FMRidings FM is the Independent Local Radio station serving Wakefield and the Five Towns area since 3 October 1999. It is owned by the Lincs FM Group....
- Wakefield Trinity WildcatsWakefield Trinity WildcatsWakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
, Castleford TigersCastleford TigersCastleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
and Featherstone RoversFeatherstone RoversFeatherstone Rovers are a semi-professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They currently play in the Championship. The Rovers are one of the last vestiges of "small town teams" that were once common in rugby league during the early twentieth century...
. - Salford City RadioSalford City Radio94.4FM Salford City Radio is a triple award winning community radio station based in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester. It launched in September 2007 after securing a 5 year FM licence to broadcast full time on 94.4 MHz. The station broadcasts a mixture of community news, music and talk shows...
- covers Salford City RedsSalford City RedsSalford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...
in the Rugby Roundup. - Wish FMWish FMWish FM is a British Independent Local Radio that serves the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester and the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside...
- Wigan WarriorsWigan WarriorsWigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
and St Helens.
Cinema
The 1963 film, This Sporting LifeThis Sporting Life
This Sporting Life is a 1963 British film based on a novel of the same name by David Storey which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award. It tells the story of a rugby league footballer, Frank Machin, in Wakefield, a mining area of Yorkshire, whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting...
, is set around the life of a rugby league player, Frank Machin, whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting life. The film stars Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
, Rachel Roberts
Rachel Roberts (British actress)
Rachel Roberts was a Welsh actress noted for her fervour and passion; Roberts is best remembered for her forthright screen performances in two key films of the 1960s, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and This Sporting Life, in both of which she played the older mistress of the central male...
, Alan Badel
Alan Badel
Alan Fernand Badel was a distinguished English stage actor who also appeared frequently in the cinema, radio and television and was noted for his richly textured voice which was once described as "the sound of tears".-Early life:...
and William Hartnell
William Hartnell
William Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
. It is considered to be one of the last major films of the British New Wave or "Free Cinema" movement. Many of the scenes in This Sporting Life were filmed at Wakefield Trinity
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
's Belle Vue
Belle Vue (Wakefield)
Belle Vue is a rugby league stadium in Wakefield, England. It is the home stadium of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. It is located beside the A638 Doncaster Road, approximately one mile south of Wakefield City Centre.- Description :Currently, the East stand has a covered stand with seating, with some...
stadium.
The highly acclaimed play, Up n Under
Up 'n' Under (film)
Up 'n' Under is a 1998 film adaptation of the John Godber play of the same title.John Godber scripted and made his directorial debut with this adaptation of his play...
was made as a film in 1998. As a comedy set in the north of England that features a bunch of losers, it has been compared to The Full Monty and Brassed Off. The film stars Samantha Janus, Gary Olsen, Neil Morrissey, Brian Glover, Griff Rhys Jones and Tony Slattery. The play was recently revived on stage with England rugby union star Gareth Chilcott in the Gary Olsen role. The film follows the story of an inept pub team in a rugby league sevens competition.
England
Usually the nation of England was represented by Great Britain in international tournaments, but for the 1975
1975 Rugby League World Cup
The 1975 Rugby League World Cup was the seventh staging of rugby league football's World Cup tournament...
, 1995
1995 Rugby League World Cup
The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was held during October in the United Kingdom. It was the eleventh staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was marketed as the Halifax Centenary World Cup, reflecting the tournament's sponsorship and the fact that 1995 marked the 100th birthday of the sport...
, 2000
2000 Rugby League World Cup
The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was held during October and November of that year in Great Britain, Ireland and France...
and 2008
2008 Rugby League World Cup
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, and the first since the 2000 event...
World Cups, England, along with other Home Nations, took part in their own right. However, unlike Great Britain, an England side has never won the World Cup.
Between 1935 and 2004 they also competed in the European Nations Cup
Rugby League European Nations Cup
The European Cup is a rugby league football tournament for European nations that was first held in 1935. The tournament was first started in 1935, with England, Wales and France each playing each other once...
. In recent years they had come to dominate this tournament, and in 2005 they withdrew to level the playing field. They also took part in the World Sevens
Rugby League World Sevens
The Rugby League World Sevens, usually referred to as the World Sevens and sometimes as the World Cup Sevens, were a pre-season rugby league sevens tournament made up over the years primarily of New South Wales Rugby League , Australian Rugby League and mostly recently National Rugby League ...
(2002, 2003).
There has also been an England A and England "Lionhearts team selected since 2002. The England A team is selected from up and coming players who are not yet ready for selection in the Great Britain team. England Lionhearts are selected from players in the Rugby League Conference
Rugby League Conference
The Rugby League Conference , was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Scotland and Wales.The RLC was founded as the 10-team Southern Conference League in 1997, with teams from the southern midlands and the...
. They compete against Wales A, Scotland A "Bravehearts" and Ireland A "Wolfhounds" each year in the Amateur Four Nations competition.
Great Britain
The Great Britain side is also referred to as "the Lions" or "the British Lions". At international level the Women's Great Britain side is commonly referred to as the Great Britain Lionesses.England has historically provided the vast majority of players for the Great Britain team
Great Britain national rugby league team
The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....
, one of the major national teams playing rugby league. They compete against Australia for The Ashes
Rugby League Ashes
The Ashes is the name given to the trophy awarded to the winner of a best-of-three series of rugby league football test series between Great Britain and Australia...
, and New Zealand for the Baskerville Shield
Baskerville Shield
The Baskerville Shield is a trophy awarded to the winner of rugby league test series between Great Britain and New Zealand. It named in honour of Albert Henry Baskerville, who organised the first ever tour by New Zealand of Great Britain in 1907....
.
The first Great Britain game took place on 18 January 1908 when they beat New Zealand 14-6 at Headingley. Great Britain took part in the 1954
1954 Rugby League World Cup
The first Rugby League World Cup was held in France in 1954 and officially known as the "Rugby World Cup". The prime motivators behind the idea of holding a rugby league world cup were the French, who were short of money following the seizing of their assets by the rugby union in World War II.The...
, 1957
1957 Rugby League World Cup
The second Rugby League World Cup was held in Australia in 1957. As before a group stage was held first, with matches being held at locations in Sydney and Brisbane....
, 1960
1960 Rugby League World Cup
The 1960 Rugby League World Cup was the third staging of the tournament and the first Rugby league World Cup to be held in Great Britain. The same format as used in 1957 was used, with a group stage leading to a final table....
, 1968
1968 Rugby League World Cup
- Final standings :-Final:The final had been billed a 'debacle' following Great Britain's inexplicable loss to France in Auckland, leaving them to contest the final despite being beaten by Australia seven tries to none two days prior....
, 1970
1970 Rugby League World Cup
The fifth Rugby League World Cup was held in Great Britain in 1970. Britain, fresh from defeating Australia in the Ashes, were hot favourites, and won all three of their group stage games. All the other nations lost two games each, and Australia qualified for the final largely on the back of an...
, 1972
1972 Rugby League World Cup
The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November of 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 and France were expected to be tough opponents on their...
, 1977
1977 Rugby League World Cup
- Final standings :-Final:Great Britain were the underdogs going to the final, which was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. They managed to dominate the possession, and it took a last minute try from Australia’s John Kolc to secure the Cup in front of 24,457 spectators.Australia: Graham Eadie;...
, 1985–1988 and 1989–1992 World Cups
Rugby League World Cup
The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...
. They won a total of three World Cups in 1954, 1960 and 1972.
Great Britain also played in the 1999
1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations
-Tournament standings:-Final:Teams:NEW ZEALAND: 1. Richie Barnett ; 2. Nigel Vagana , 3. Ruben Wiki , 5. Willie Talau , 5. Leslie Vainikolo ; 6. Henry Paul , 7. Robbie Paul ; 8. Joe Vagana , 9. Richard Swain , 10. Craig Smith , 11. Stephen Kearney , 12...
, 2004
2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations
-Tournament standings:-Final:-Non-series Tests:During the series, Australia and New Zealand played additional Tests against France.-----Additional Matches:...
, 2005
2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations
New Zealand 38 defeated Australia 28 New Zealand 38 (C. Toopi 3, N. Cayless, N. Vangana, B. Webb tries; S. Jones 7 goals) defeated Australia 28 New Zealand 38 (C. Toopi 3, N. Cayless, N. Vangana, B. Webb tries; S. Jones 7 goals) defeated Australia 28 (B. Tate 2, M.Gasnier 2, M. King, A. Johns...
and 2006
2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations
The 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations was hosted for the second time by Australia and New Zealand. Sponsored by Gillette the tournament followed the same format as in 2004 and 2005, with each team meeting the other two teams twice, and the top two teams at the end of the group stages proceeding to the...
Tri-Nations against New Zealand and Australia. Although Great Britain never won the Tri- Nations, they finished top of the table in 2005 but lost to Australia in the final.
In 2007 Great Britain was replaced by separate England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales teams; thereafter, Great Britain will only play on special occasions and tours.
See also
- British Rugby League Hall of FameBritish Rugby League Hall of FameThe British Rugby League Hall of Fame was established by the Rugby Football League in 1988 to commemorate the greatest ever players in British rugby league...
- Sport in EnglandSport in EnglandSport plays a prominent role in English life. Popular team sports in England are association football, cricket, rugby union and rugby league. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, golf, motorsport and horseracing...
- English rugby league stadia by capacity
External links
- The Rugby Football League
- BARLA
- English Superleague
- Community Rugby League - Covering the amateur game in the UK
- League Weekly
- Rugby league on the BBC
- Why honours aren't even for rugby league
Regional web sites
- London rugby league site
- Midlands rugby league site
- North East rugby league site
- South West rugby league site
- Yorkshire rugby league site