Rugby league in Lancashire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rugby League in Lancashire refers to the sport of rugby league in relation to its participation and history within the traditional county of Lancashire, England. The county has since been split up for administrative purposes with parts of traditional Lancashire forming parts of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Cumbria as well as the current borders of Lancashire.
Rugby league was founded in Yorkshire in 1895 at the George Hotel in Huddersfield when 22 clubs broke away from the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Rugby Football Union which later changed its name to the Rugby Football League. Of those 22 founding clubs, 9 were from Lancashire.
The first Lancashire winners of the newly formed league, the NRFU Championship were Oldham, with Wigan being the most successful with 22 titles. Between 1896 and 1900 teams either played in the Lancashire or Yorkshire League depending on geographical location but still competed in the Challenge Cup. Wigan are the most successful club in the competition with 19 titles.
In the Super League era St Helens R.F.C. are the most successful Lancashire club, and second most of all (behind Leeds Rhinos), with seven Super League titles.
Team
Competitions
Lancashire League
The Lancashire League was founded in 1895 for teams in Lancashire to compete in. Wigan and St Helens dominated the league before it was abandoned in 1970 due to the amount of fixtures being played.
Lancashire Cup
The Lancashire Cup was a cup competition for teams in Lancashire. The competition ran from 1905-1992 when it folded due to the amount of fixtures in the calendar and the Rugby Football League (RFL) not seeing it as being a part of the future of modern rugby league.
