Rugby League in Lancashire refers to 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 11 ...

in relation to its participation and history within the traditional county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

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 ...

. The county has since been split up for administrative purposes with parts of traditional Lancashire forming parts of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

, Cheshire and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

as well as the current borders of Lancashire.

History

Historical and current boundaries of Lancashire

Rugby league was founded in Yorkshire in 1895 at the George Hotel in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

when 22 clubs broke away from the Rugby Football Union to form 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 ...

which later changed its name to the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

. Of those 22 founding clubs, 9 were from Lancashire. The first Lancashire winners of the newly formed league, the NRFU Championship were

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 ...

, with

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 ...

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.

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 The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headin ...

), with seven Super League titles.

Competitions

Lancashire League

The Lancashire League was founded in 1895 for teams in Lancashire to compete in.

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

(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

matches between representative teams from

and

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 ...

, 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 Lancashire

The table below lists clubs located within the traditional borders of Lancashire: from the top division (the Super League), down to tier 3 of the

British rugby league system The British rugby league system is based on a five-tier structure administered by the Rugby Football League. There is no system of automatic promotion and relegation between all five tiers although teams have moved between them in the past. Since ...

Locations

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester has the strongest concentration of rugby league teams within the traditional boundaries of Lancashire. The most notable team is

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

Cheshire

Cheshire had its own rugby league tradition with Runcorn being one of the founder members of the Northern Union in 1895 but this died out. Boundary changes to England's counties in the 1970s brought the formerly Lancastrian towns of Widnes and Warrington into Cheshire.

Merseyside

Merseyside was a county formed in 1974 from parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. Currently St. Helens are the only professional side within Merseyside, but other sides have also existed, notably

Liverpool Stanley Liverpool Stanley was a semi-professional rugby league club from Liverpool, England. It was renamed Liverpool City in 1951, but was otherwise unrelated to the original Liverpool club of the same name. The club's origins date back to 1880 when i ...

and Prescott Panthers.

Cumbria

Cumbria is a county that was created in the 1970s composing of the former counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 Rugby Football League season, 1995–96 and 1996 RFL Division Two, 1996 ...

are the oldest side in what is now Cumbria and are based in what was part of Lancashire. Other Cumbrian sides exist and have existed in the traditional county of Cumberland, namely Whitehaven, Workington Town and at one time Carlisle. These sides played in the Lancashire cup despite playing outside the boundaries of traditional Lancashire.

Lancashire

Within the current borders of Lancashire there are currently no professional rugby league sides. The most recent side to play is

Blackpool Panthers Blackpool Panthers RLFC was an English professional rugby league club based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They played at Bloomfield Road, between 2005-2007, then moved to the Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde rugby union club. They we ...

which folded in 2010.