Rugby league in England

Rugby league is a popular team sport played in England. It is most popular in parts of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The game is played outside of these traditional areas but in far lower numbers, where rugby league is reduced to a minority sport. However, there has been considerable growth in the game on English soil, which can be seen in television viewing figures, attendance at Super League games and participants nationwide as compared with previous years.

History

Rugby has long been popular in the North of England, and by the 1880s the region's clubs had come to dominate. The game was largely popular amongst working class people, unlike the clubs in Southern England whose players were middle or upper class. Rugby competition at the time did not allow paying players any salary; the working-class players felt they could not afford time off to train and play, nor could they afford to miss work through injury sustained whilst playing. The principle of amateurism, and issues of class ensured that the Rugby Football Union would not countenance professional rugby.

In 1895 representatives of the northern clubs met to form the "Northern Rugby Football Union" (NRFU). It is often, mistakenly, thought that this new body allowed professionalism from the start, though in fact the NRFU was initially vehemently anti-professional, allowing only payments for time missed from other employment. A thriving amateur scene also soon developed, as local amateur clubs wished to maintain links with their "Northern Union" neighbours. The NRFU became the Rugby Football League in 1922.

The game initially struggled against the rise of association football, and although several attempts were made to expand the game outwith the heartlands only Cumbria proved receptive. Nonetheless the game survived, and continued to maintain a degree of popularity in its home regions. The introduction of regular internationals as other countries took up the sport provided a fillip, as did the coming of television some 60 years later.

In 1995, the fallout from the Super League war hit Britain, and the game underwent massive re-organisation. A new elite league, Super League (Europe) was formed, and the sport switched from a winter to a summer season. Super League has largely been a success for the game as a whole as television ratings, top tier game crowd attendances and participation numbers all growing year upon year since 2001; few would argue that the health of the game is not far better than it was during the mid 1990s.

Governing body

There is no governing body for the sport in England - that role is filled by the Rugby Football League, whose remit covers the United Kingdom as a whole. Most amateur rugby league is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA), though they are not responsible for the Rugby League Conference, thus the vast majority of BARLA team are concentrated in the sport's north of England heartlands.

Competitions

Originally, English clubs competed in a Championship divided into two county based leagues, as well as for county cups and the national Challenge Cup. Since 1995 and the move to a summer season this structure has altered radically. Super League (Europe) now represents the top league for the game in England. It is the only full-time professional rugby league competition operating in the northern hemisphere, though currently all the teams are based in England. There was a French team in the first Super League and this was re-established in 2006 when French side Les Catalans joined Super League. Below Super League there are the Rugby League National Leagues. In 2006 Welsh team Celtic Crusaders joined National League two.

The Challenge Cup remains as a knockout competition, though entry has now been expanded to make it a pan-European tournament bringing in teams from France and Russia.

The leading amateur league in England is the National Conference League (played in winter). The Rugby League Conference (played in summer) has many grass roots teams but is considered 'open' rather than amateur.

Popularity

Rugby league is extremely popular in its "heartland" and, in those areas, interest in the sport rivals that of soccer. Rugby league is considered by most English people to be a regional sport, which perhaps prevents rugby league making further inroads in to the English psyche in the South and those cities which already thrive on soccer (football), cricket and rugby union.

Perhaps because of its regional character, rugby league as a whole has a lower participation rate compared to the other three major sports in England. Rugby league has for much of its history been banned in the armed forces and in many schools and universities, further stifling growth. These barriers have largely been dismantled in the past ten years.

Statistics

Rugby league is one of a number of sports vying for (distant) second place to soccer in the nation's affection. The MORI Sports Tracker consistently reports that rugby league interests around 15% of British adults. It was the fourth most popular team sport in the February 2005 list behind football, cricket and rugby union. In 2004 the Rugby Football League reported 62,463 registered players (this is a UK-wide figure, though the majority of rugby league clubs in the UK are based in the three northern counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire). Average attendance at Super League matches in 2005 was 8,887, with the aggregate across the season of 1,493,084. The attendances are not evenly spread between clubs within Super League; whilst the largest supported team, Leeds Rhinos had average gates of 17007, some clubs failed to attract averages of above 4000. Crowds at matches below the top flight can exceed 2000 however most of the clubs in this tier have attendances lower than this.

Demographics

The regions in which rugby league is played most are west Cumbria, where the amateur version has a high participation rate; south Lancashire outside the cities of Liverpool and Manchester; West Yorkshire and the city of Hull. The sport is not played in such large numbers in other parts of the North, notably the North East or the largely rural county of North Yorkshire. Neither is it played in great numbers else where in England, although semi-professional and amateur clubs do exist in the lower national leagues and conference leagues.

Expansion by the governing body, the Rugby Football League sees continual but slow growth in the south of England, notably the London area, which now boast two professional clubs (Harlequins Rugby League formerly the London Broncos and London Skolars). One of the prime vehicles for expansion has been the Rugby League Conference, a set of competitions for clubs in those development areas.

Due to changes in English society rugby league is not quite as working-class a sport as has previously been the case. Many working class people now go to University and the game of rugby league is now played at most universities. Oxford and Cambridge Universities have been playing each other at rugby league for some time and 'blues' are now awarded to players taking part.

Due to the efforts of former Conservative party chairman Sir Edward du Cann there is now a scholarship programme for Oxford University .

Current trends

The success of Super League in England and the return of competitive international matches between Australia and New Zealand have seen growth for the sport. There is heavy expansion in the south with conference competitions, and Harlequins RL (formerly London Broncos) still enjoying moderate success in the Super League.

The ending of discrimination against rugby league resulting from professionalism in rugby union led to an increase in numbers in the amateur game, with many rugby union amateurs keen to try out the other code. In 2004 the Rugby Football League was able to report a 94% increase in registered players in just two years, whilst attendance figures for Super League matches rose 8% from the 2003 season.

The national team

England is represented in the World Cup (1977, 1995, 2000) and the World Sevens (2002, 2003). With the exception of the 1995 World Cup, matches involving England are not deemed to have Test status. Between 1935 and 2004 they also competed in the European Nations Cup. In recent years they had come to dominate this tournament, and in 2005 they withdrew to level the playing field.

England has historically provided the vast majority of players for the Great Britain team, one of the major national teams playing rugby league.

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