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News, Reviews & Opinion - Sean Fagan - RL1908.com

Received an interesting question from Tom (in Epsom, New Zealand) recently...

"We got posed the question 'in what country and century did rugby
league begin?' He says it should be at the point of the divide between northern and
southern clubs in England 1895, but I think that it should be technically 1901 as that was the first time I understand the term 'rugby league' was used officially.What's the professional opinion?"

My reply was as follows:

I understand your position, but everyone within the code would say
without any hesitation that the sport of rugby league was born in
England in 1895 - it was at that point that it established itself as a
separate entity from the RFU (and therefore the game of rugby union).
It called itself the "Northern Union" (later called English RL).

At least in RL's case, we can point to a precise moment - if you look
at Canadian and American football they began with no affiliation to
the RFU, but did use their playing laws as a starting point in the
1870s - each then, in their own way, proceeded to amend them into
different sports over the decades that followed - each of those sports
claims their foundation date from the date they first formed a
recognised association/body (even though their first rules were
obstensibly rugby union laws).

As for "rugby league" - it was being used as far back as the 1880s. In
1888 three rugby union clubs formed the Manitoba Rugby League
competition in western Canada. That same country also had the
"Saskatchewan Rugby Football League" (1907) and the "Central Alberta
Rugby Football League" (1908). None of the clubs were playing the
13-man rugby league code.

For the 1901/02 season, the "Northern Union" introduced the "Northern
Rugby League" club competition - the first time "rugby league" had
been directly used by the professional code.

When the code started in Sydney in 1908, it was the "NSW Rugby Football League" - even into the 1930s I've seen Sydney newspapers refer to the 13-man code as "league rugby".

So, no I don't think the first use of "rugby league" in 1901 is the
defining moment - particulary when you consider that it was not until
1906 that the NU adopted 13-a-side and the play-the-ball.

I've heard some argue that RL really began in 1906, for at that point it became a distinctly different form of rugby - though I would still go for 1895, I think the 1906 argument has "more legs" than your contention re the first use of "rugby league".

In summation, as the Americans and Canadians do, rugby league was born at the moment it stood as a separate body from rugby union (the RFU).

That in itself is not the creation of a new sport (there were many
"football" organisations around the globe unaffiliated to the RFU but
who were playing rugby union laws) - however, we can see from August
1895 the one organisation (the RFL / "Northern Union") in control of
the game.

Long-winded answer! But I side with your colleague on this one!

Cheers
Sean Fagan