Rugby League

Rugby League started life in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union after a split from the Rugby Football Union over a dispute regarding the amateur status and player payments made by the northern clubs to its players. The players in the north were generally less well paid and could not afford to play without some form of recompense unlike their more affluent counterparts further south. The final straw came when the RFU announced that playing on pitches where an entrance fee had been charged was illegal under RFU rules. This lead to a meeting of 22 clubs at the George Hotel in Huddersfield at which the Northern Rugby Football Union was born.

In 1906 the Northern Rugby Football Union made changes to the rules of their version of the game, reducing the number of players in a team from 15 to 13 etc. and the modern game is born. In 1922 the Northern Rugby Football Union changes the name of the union to the Rugby Football League, there after the sport becomes known as Rugby League Football or simply Rugby League.

The amateur game is governed and coordinated by the British Amateur Rugby League Association, better known as BARLA. BARLA was formed in 1973 by a number of people concerned about the decline of the amateur game in England, unfortunately the split from the RFL was an acrimonious one with the RFL recommending a vote against BARLA being recognized as an association. Thankfully times have changed and now over 30 years on thanks to BARLA the amateur game is going from strength to strength with well over 20,000 players involved on a typical weekend.

Rugby League Rules & How to Play