The game of rugby union owes its origin to a game of football played with completely different rules from that of traditional soccer in the Rugby School in England. In 1862, the former students of the Rugby School met and decided upon some rules of the game to organize rugby competitions outside the School.
A number of clubs were formed during this time and most of these converted themselves to Rugby League clubs when the game originated in 1895.The initial number was twenty two when the Northern Rugby Football Union was formed with the clubs breaking away from the earlier governing body.
Currently the game is crossing its boundaries every day in its preparation to reach a global height. It has already been successful in reaching out to players, audience and enthusiasts in countries other than those which initially were its home. The popularity graph of Rugby League is on such a rise over the last few years that a large number of new Rugby League clubs have entered the competitions.
Rugby League International Federation is the governing body of the game of rugby league. The game, apart from being internationally popular, is also quite accepted at the club levels. Some of the famous rugby league clubs of the world have been the Bradford Bulls, the Catalans Dragons, the Harlequins, the Adelaide Rams, the Brisbane Broncos, the Gold Coast Titans, the Canterbury Bulldogs, New Zealand Warriors and others.
The professional clubs usually hire players and appoint a head coach to the rugby league team who trains the players. They also maintain a number of teams including the men's team, the women's team, the youth team and other teams of different age groups. The youth team or the teams of the lower age groups are usually the training ground for the talented players who are expected to make a mark in bigger stages in the future. These teams participate in different competitions and the match fees or the rewards they earn are a source of their revenues which are used to run the club and pay the coaches or the players. Many clubs even own home grounds and stadiums.
The Rugby League Clubs of different countries participate in the local leagues and also play many international club-level tournaments. The World Club Challenge, featuring clubs of Australia and United Kingdom, is a major international rugby league club tournament. The Super League (Europe) is another important tournament of the same genre.
The Rugby League Clubs have helped to boost the popularity of the game since its origin in 1895. Different Rugby League clubs of various countries have a strong fan following which can be easily understood by the number of supporters turning up for the clubs' games in different stadiums. With the current craze of different rugby league clubs of all the countries in which the game is played, it seems that they can play a major role in making the sport popular and spread it across the globe.
