Rugby League in Yorkshire refers to the sport of rugby league in relation to its participation and history within Yorkshire, England. The traditional county is the largest in the United Kingdom and as thus has many rugby clubs, professional and amateur.

History

Rugby league was founded in Yorkshire in 1895 at the George Hotel in Huddersfield when 22 clubs broke away from the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

to form the Northern Rugby Football Union which later changed its name to the Rugby Football League. The first winners of the newly formed league, the NRFU Championship were

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

based team

Manningham FC Manningham was an English rugby league football club based in Manningham, Bradford, the first champions of the Rugby Football League (then known as the Northern Rugby Football Union) in its first season. After seven seasons of rugby league, t ...

in 1895. Between 1896 and 1900 teams either played in the Yorkshire or Lancashire League depending on geographical location but still competed in the Challenge Cup. In the early years of the competition Huddersfield were a dominant force, winning multiple league titles between 1910s and 1940s. In the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

era, Bradford Bulls were one of the dominant forces in the early years winning four titles between 1997 and 2005. Leeds Rhinos became the most successful team in Yorkshire winning eight Super League titles and winning 14 Challenge Cups.

Competitions

Yorkshire League

The Yorkshire League was founded in 1895 for teams in Yorkshire to compete in. Leeds and Huddersfield dominated the league before it was abandoned in 1970 due to the amount of fixtures being played.

Yorkshire Cup

The Yorkshire Cup was a cup competition for teams in Yorkshire. The competition ran from 1905–1992 when it folded due to the number 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.

War of the Roses

The War of the Roses, was the inter-county rugby league matches between representative teams from Yorkshire and Lancashire, the areas where rugby league has traditionally been most popular in England. The fixture was abandoned in 2003 after poor attendances and lack of interest from players and the media.

Rugby league clubs in Yorkshire

The table below lists clubs located within the traditional borders of Yorkshire in the top three tiers of the British rugby league system: from the top division (the

), down to tier 3 of League 1.

Locations

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire has the most clubs in the whole of Yorkshire with 11 teams based in the region. Traditionally, Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants have been the two most successful, Bradford Bulls also became a dominant force in rugby league during the

era along with Leeds.

East Riding of Yorkshire

Two teams are based in the East Riding of Yorkshire and both play in Kingston upon Hull. Traditionally Hull F.C. are said to represent the West side of the city and Hull Kingston Rovers represent the East side of the city with the boundary being the River Hull.

South Yorkshire

Two clubs compete and are based in South Yorkshire;

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

and Doncaster. Doncaster play at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster whereas Sheffield play at the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Stadium in Sheffield.

are the most successful of the two teams having won the 1996 Challenge Cup. Doncaster have yet to win any major honours.

North Yorkshire

The only side in North Yorkshire is currently York City Knights (previously York) but sides have existed in Ripon and Scarborough.