Sowerby Bridge was a professional rugby league club.


The club was based in Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby Bridge is a market town that lies within the Upper Calder Valley in the district of Calderdale in the county of West Yorkshire, in northern England.-Geography:Sowerby Bridge is situated on the edge of Halifax, about three miles from its centre...

, a small market town

Market town

Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 (population approx. 10,000) that lies within the Upper Calder Valley

Upper Calder Valley

The Upper Calder Valley lies in West Yorkshire in northern England, and covers the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Luddendenfoot, and Sowerby Bridge, as well as a number of smaller settlements such as Portsmouth, Cornholme, Walsden and Eastwood. The valley is named after the River...

 in the district of Calderdale

Calderdale

The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, through which the upper part of the River Calder flows, and from which it takes its name...

 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....

, northern 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...

, and approximately 3 miles from Halifax

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...

.


The club joined the Northern Union

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 1901-02 and played for the single season in the Yorkshire Senior Competition

Rugby 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...

, which was effectively Division 2 (East).



Only limited County League information is available for this season.

History

Very little is known about the Sowerby Bridge club.


At the end of the 1901-02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member South Shields

South Shields (Rugby League)

South Shields was a professional rugby league club.The club was based in South Shields South Shields was a (semi) professional rugby league club.The club was based in South Shields South Shields was a (semi) professional rugby league club.The club was based in South Shields (known locally as just...

) with the existing second competition scrapped. This meant that teams were excluded from the senior competitions leaving them with several options :-


a) Join the new Lancashire League or the Lancashire Combination (reserve grade)


b) Join a new Yorkshire Senior League


c) reverting to amateur status within the Northern Union


d) revert back to rugby union


e) turn to Association Football, which many clubs did


f) fold


Sowerby Bridge was one of the 4 Yorkshire (the others being Goole

Goole (Rugby League)

Goole was a professional rugby league club.The club was based in Goole, a small town and port in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England...

, Heckmondwike

Heckmondwike (Rugby League)

Heckmondwike was a professional rugby league club.The club was based in Heckmondwike , a small town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, which is located geographically at the centre of West Yorkshire, England....

 and Liversedge) and 2 Lancashire clubs (Altrincham

Altrincham (Rugby League)

Altrincham was a professional rugby league club.The club was based in Altrincham, a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.The town was originally in the County of Cheshire....

 and Radcliffe

Radcliffe (Rugby League)

Radcliffe was a professional rugby league club.The club was based in Radcliffe, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England....

) not elected to the new Division 2, but it is unknown as to which route the club followed.
However, based on the limited available informnation and taking into account the poor playing record, it is feasible to assume that the club folded (or as described in Cherry and White "disappeared.

Club League Record

In the single season in which Sowerby Bridge played (semi) professional Rugby League, 1901-02, there are few records readily available.


Some of the achievements are as follows:-

Season	Competition	Pos	Team Name	Pl	W	D	L	PW	PA	Diff	Pts	% Pts	No of teams in league	Notes	Ref
1901-02	Yorks Senior	13	Sowerby Bridge								12		14
Sowerby Bridge had 2 points deducted.			Only limited County League information is available for this season.

RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points

% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents

League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.