Liversedge RFC (founded 1877) were a semi-professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

club from

Liversedge Liversedge is a town and former parish of Birstall, in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Liversedge lies between Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. The Kirklees ward ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They were a founder member of the

Northern Rugby Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

, precursor to the Rugby Football League.

History

Early Days

Liversedge was founded in 1877. After the 1890-91 season, Liversedge along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own county league starting in 1891 along the lines of a similar competition that had been played in Lancashire. The clubs wanted full control of the league but the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union would not sanction the competition as it meant giving up control of rugby football to the senior clubs. The club played in the Yorkshire Senior competition in the early 1890s.

Northern Union

Prior to the great schism in rugby, Liversedge, like many other clubs from Yorkshire (and Lancashire), had suffered punishment by the Rugby Football Union for ''" broken time"'' payments. As a result, Liversedge, represented by a Mr. J. H. Hampshire, attended a meeting at the

George Hotel, Huddersfield The George Hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, is a Grade II listed building famous as the birthplace of rugby league football in 1895. The 60 bed hotel was built in 1851 and closed in January 2013, with the receivers looking for a n ...

, together with the representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a

. Liversedge thereby became one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season, 1895–96, the league consisted of 22 clubs and Liversedge finished in 15th position. In season 1896–97, the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Liversedge playing in the former section, where they would stay for the remainder of their semi-professional existence. They did slightly better, finishing in 11th position out of 16 teams. In the following four seasons ( 1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1900–01), still in the Yorkshire section, they finished bottom in every season except 1898–99, when they managed to finish second bottom, in each case out of the 16 clubs. In their final season, 1901–02 they yet again won the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

, finishing 14th out of 14 teams with only six points. They dropped out of the league after the end of the 1901–02 season..

Successor clubs

Although Liversedge RFC were founder members of the Rugby League, the town does not have the rugby league heritage of other towns in the area. Following the demise of the original club, an

Association Football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, Liversedge F.C., was founded in its stead in 1910, one of a number of instances of code switching around that time. Today the town is represented by Liversedge ARLFC who play at Primrose Lane (off Bradford Road) in the Third Division of the Pennine Amateur Rugby League.

Notable players

Harry Varley Henry "Harry" Varley (25 November 1867 – 21 November 1915) was an English rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1880s and 1890s, and coached rugby league in the 1890s. He played representative level rugby unio ...

(25 November 1867 – 21 November 1915) played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

for England v Scotland in 1892 while with Liversedge. He went on to play under the new code for Liversedge and

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

. Robert "Bob" Wood (born 1873) played rugby union for England v Ireland in 1894 and at club level for Liversedge.

Statistics

Club Records

Club Trophies

Liversedge did not win any trophies, although reached the final of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup in 1888–89 during their rugby union days. They lost 18–16 to Otley (1 goal, 1 try, 4 minors to 1 goal, 0 tries, 4 minors).

League Record (incomplete)

: League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0 : Only limited County League information is available for this season

Fixtures & Results (incomplete)

The following are a selection of Liversedge's fixtures from the seven seasons in which they played semi-professional Rugby League: : Folly Fields was the stadium used by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below – Note 3. : Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton – and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997. :

became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with

Wigan United AFC Wigan United A.F.C. was an association football club existing from around 1896 into the early 1900s, and was based in Wigan, Lancashire, England. History The 1900–01 season saw the club in the Lancashire League, and rumours circulating arou ...

, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when

beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

being constructed. : CC Rx: Challenge Cup Round x; YC Rx: Yorkshire Cup Round x; YSC: Yorkshire Senior Competition : Only limited County League information is available for season ( 1901–02)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liversedge RFC Rugby league teams in West Yorkshire Defunct rugby league teams in England Sport in Kirklees Rugby clubs established in 1877 Rugby clubs disestablished in 1902 Founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union English rugby league teams 1877 establishments in England