User:POds/Sandbox/Rugby league in England

Rugby league is a popular team sport played in England. It is essentially played in parts of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The game is played out side of these traditional areas but in far less 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, attendance at Super League games and participants nation wide as compared with previous years figures.

History

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 intially struggled against the rise of association football, and although several attempts were made to expand the game outwith the heartlands only Cumbria proved receptive. None the less 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

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 2003; many would not argue that the health of the game is far better then it was during the mid 90s.

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

will join National League two.

The Challenge Cup remains as a knockout competition, though entry has now been expanded to make it a pan-European tournament.

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 has a certain amount of popularity in its "heartland" and, in those areas, interest in the sport matches that of other major national sports like

which is by a great distance the predominant sport. Rugby league is considered by most English to be a regional sport, which perhaps prevents rugby league making further in roads in to the English psyche in the south and the larger cities which already thrive of soccer (football) 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. Although some claim that it is the "national sport of Yorkshire", it is a fact that rugby union has many more clubs, teams and participants in Yorkshire than does rugby league.

Statistics

Rugby league is one of a number of sports vying for (distant) second place to soccer in the nation's affection. The

matches in 2005 was 8,887, with the aggregate across the season of 1,493,084.

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 number else where in England, although semi professional and armature clubs do survive in the lower national leagues and conference leagues set up by the Rugby Football League.

Expansion by the governing body, the

, 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 [2].

Current trends

The success of

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 a 94% increase in registered players in just two years, whilst atendance figures for

matches rose 8% from the 2003 season.

The national team

England is represented in the

. In recent years they had come to dominate this tournament, and in 2005 they withdrew to level the playing field.

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

See also

• Sport in the United Kingdom

External links

• The Rugby Football League
• BARLA

References

• English History
• RFL Participation survey
• 2004 Super League attendance