The National Rugby League Museum is a planned museum for the sport of

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 112 ...

and is due to open in 2020. The museum will be based in the

George Hotel, Huddersfield The George Hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, is a Grade II#England and Wales, 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 th ...

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

, England.

Origins

Following the closure of the

Rugby League Heritage Centre The Rugby League Heritage Centre was formerly located in the basement of the George Hotel, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the first rugby league heritage museum and was significantly influenced by Sky Sports presenter and former Gr ...

in 2013, rugby league was left without a national museum in the United Kingdom - the country where the sport originated. The contents of the heritage centre were secured by the charity Rugby League Cares with the aid of a £97,200 grant from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. Rugby League Cares used the grant to organise a touring exhibition "Rugby League Heritage On Tour" which has shown parts of the collection at various venues across the United Kingdom since 2014. In March 2016 Rugby League Cares announced that Kevin Moore, director of the

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally b ...

would lead a feasibility study into establishing a new national museum for rugby league as well providing a home for the

Rugby League Hall of Fame The Rugby League Hall of Fame honours the leading players of the sport of rugby league. It was established by the sport's governing body in the UK, the Rugby Football League, in 1988. Players must have been retired for at least five years to be ...

. The location of the museum was announced in September 2016 as

Bradford City Hall Bradford City Hall is a 19th-century town hall in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building which has a distinctive clock tower. History Before its relocation, between 1847 and 1873, the town hall ...

, in conjunction with

Bradford City Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, ...

. However, in 2020, this proposal was dropped, with instead a new plan to incorporate the museum into the disused

, where the Rugby Football League was originally founded in 1895.

Opening

The museum plans to open in August 2020, the 125th anniversary of the formation of the sport.

References

{{reflist Rugby league in the United Kingdom Sports museums in the United Kingdom History of rugby league Museums in West Yorkshire