Rugby League UK : The sport of Rugby Football is one of the most popular sports in England, along with cricket and golf. With England believed to be the origin of the sport dating back to around 1823, at the Rugby School, in Warwickshire, this sport has evolved ever since across the United Kingdom.
Coming a long way since the codifying of its rules, its disbanding from the Football Association (FA), the formation of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in 1871, and the sport receiving individuality with the International Rugby Board (IRB) being founded in 1886, rugby grew in popularity within many clubs across the UK.
However, in August 1895, a major event saw a split in the forms of the sport when 21 northern England situated clubs, not satisfied with the RFU, held a meeting in the George Hotel in Huddersfield. The major cause of this break-off was due to the banning of rugby matches by the RFU on fields where entry fee was charged, and also because the RFU recognized rugby as an amateur sport and did not offer any money to the players. This led to the birth of the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU), which is better known as Northern Union (NU) after 1922. Thus, clubs following the Northern Union rules played the other form of rugby football known as ‘rugby league'. This saw a huge number of rugby league clubs joining the NRFU due to the ‘professionalism' being recognized here.
The Rugby League UK or the Rugby Football League (also known as the RFL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the United Kingdom. It administered the main league competition of the Rugby League Championship run by the organization. England is a member country affiliated under the world governing body of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF).
Some of the major tournaments and teams overseen and sanctioned by the Rugby League UK/ the Rugby Football League (RFL) in Great Britain are listed below as:
- The Great Britain national rugby league team
- The Carnegie Challenge Cup
- The Rugby League National Leagues
- The engage Super League (Europe)
- The Gillette Fusion Test Series
- It also administers the game at the amateur/ junior levels jointly with the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA).
With its headquarters of the Rugby League UK/ the Rugby Football League (RFL) in Leeds, England, its operations are monitored by the RFL Board of Directors comprising Bob Stott, Ian Edwards, Richard Lewis, Maurice Watkins and Nigel Woods. The RFL is an expanding English rugby league organization with newer domestic leagues joining from various regions across the United Kingdom, such as those Leagues from Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The RFL is also part of the Community Board which consists of representatives from BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League and Student Rugby League.
Thus the Rugby League UK/ the Rugby Football League (RFL) has provided a tremendous platform for this full-contact team sport to be played at both international and domestic levels, and establish itself in the UK and across the world as a popular recreational sport.
