Formation On Tuesday 27 August 1895, as a result of an emergency meeting in
Manchester, prominent Lancashire rugby clubs Broughton Rangers, Leigh, Oldham, Rochdale Hornets, St Helens, Tyldesley, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan declared that they would support their Yorkshire colleagues in their proposal to form a Northern Union. Two days later, on Thursday 29 August 1895, representatives of 21 clubs met in the
George Hotel, Huddersfield to form the "Northern Rugby Football Union" (usually termed Northern Union or NU). Twenty clubs agreed to resign from the
Rugby Football Union, but Dewsbury felt unable to comply with the decision. The
Cheshire club, Stockport, had telegraphed the meeting requesting admission to the new organisation and was duly accepted with a second Cheshire club, Runcorn, admitted at the next meeting. The 22 clubs were: •
Batley •
Bradford FC (switched to association football in 1907 and became
Bradford Park Avenue) •
Brighouse Rangers (Folded in 1906, now survives as an amateur club) •
Broughton Rangers (Folded in 1955) •
Halifax •
Huddersfield •
Hull FC •
Hunslet (Folded in 1973 but were resurrected as a
Phoenix club) •
Leeds •
Leigh •
Liversedge (Folded in 1902, survive as an amateur club) •
Manningham (Switched to association football in 1903 and became
Bradford City) •
Oldham •
Rochdale Hornets •
Runcorn (Folded in 1918) •
St Helens •
Stockport (Folded in 1902) •
Tyldesley (Folded in 1902) •
Wakefield Trinity •
Warrington •
Widnes •
Wigan Subsequent events Source: in 1897 was won by
Batley against
St Helens Upon its founding, the Northern Union created in
league competition with the first season being the
1895–96 season. The
Challenge Cup came two years later in
1896–97. 1904 saw the creation of the
England national rugby league team who played the
Other Nationalities rugby league team in rugby league's first international matches. In 1906, the Northern Union reduced the sport from 15-a-side to 13-a-side. In 1907, the Northern Union's brand of rugby was introduced to New Zealand and saw the first ever
rugby league tours of New Zealand to Great Britain. For this tour the
Wales national rugby league team was formed with the match between Wales and New Zealand being the first recognised international test match by the
International Rugby League. On this tour New Zealand played England, and the newly formed
Great Britain national rugby league team combining the best players of England and Wales. The Northern Union would go on to favour the use of a Great Britain side over separate England and Wales sides. A year later, the sport was introduced to Australia and saw a
similar tour carried out the Australians. In 1922, Northern Rugby Union became known as "Rugby League". In 1929, the Challenge Cup final moved to
the national stadium. In 1933, an
Ashes match was held in France. The following year, with the help of the RFL, the
French Rugby League Federation was formed and rugby league reached its fourth country. In 1954, the first
Rugby League World Cup was held in France and was won by Great Britain. In 1971, the RFL introduced the 6 tackle rule. The
British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) was created in 1973 in Huddersfield by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs. Fewer than 150 amateur teams remained with a mere 30 youth rugby league teams. The 'breakaway' from the RFL was acrimonious and was strongly contested, with a vote 29–1 against recognising BARLA. Thanks to Tom Mitchell, this changed to a unanimous vote of approval for BARLA within 12 months. In 1976, the RFL created the
World Club Challenge, seeing the British champions play the champions of Australia, the only other major rugby league. 1991 saw the introduced of a formalised youth leagues.
Maurice Lindsay became the Chief Executive of the RFL in 1992, proposing the
Super League, which replaced
Championship as the sport's premier league competition from 1996 onwards. Lindsay returned to Wigan in 1999 for his second stint at the club after
Sir Rodney Walker, then chairman of the RFL, sacked him from the RFL after a campaign to unseat him failed. In 1995, the RFL appointed its first Development Officer for Ireland with the aim of assisting
Rugby League Ireland in the sports development across the
Irish Sea. 1995 also saw the Great Britain side reserved to tours with England and Wales competing separately in the
World Cup. 1996 saw the switch to summer rugby and the creation of the
Super League. The competition aimed to be a European competition outside of the
British rugby league system, however this never materialised. Despite this,
Paris Saint-Germain F.C. formed a
rugby league team who competed in the first two seasons, marking the first foreign team to complete in the British game. The RFL accumulated losses of £1.9 million at the end of 2001, shortly before a major restructuring of the governing body and the appointment of
Richard Lewis as executive chairman in May 2002. Within a year of joining the RFL, he oversaw reunification with BARLA after nearly 30 years of division. Lewis left in 2012 to become Chief Executive of the
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The RFL net value has been positive every year since 2004, being £1.7 million in 2011. In 2002,
London Skolars became the first amateur club to join the professional system, being the first club to do so in 80 years, and marked the start of a period where a number of clubs moved up, each with various levels of success and failure. In 2006,
Catalans Dragons joined the British game, marking the second French team to do so. Unlike PSG, Catalans would go on to be a success in the British game. In 2011 a major change to the game was agreed, changing from a winter to a summer game, starting in 2012 with a playing season from March to November, aligning with the
Super League, which has played this way since 1996. The regional leagues may include winter competitions in addition. They also became the first UK sporting organisation to make the top 100 employers in the Stonewall Index that measures attitudes towards lesbian, gay and bisexual staff.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex served as patron until February 2021. He was replaced by his sister in law
The Princess of Wales. In March 2025, chairman Simon Johnson underwent a high profile sudden departure following a motion passed at a council meeting by
Leigh Leopards and
Batley Bulldogs. This coincidence with a number of other executives' resignations aimed growing unrest from clubs regarding the governing body's decision making.
The Guardian describe the RFL as going "from once crisis to another", with this event marking three leadership changes in eight years. The newspaper stated the lack of effective leadership had led to an increase in club power and threatened any potential investments from the
National Rugby League, in addition to risking the reversal of the good work that had been on on-field in recent years. In this time of crisis, multiple whistleblowers made complaints about historical sexism and misogyny within the organisation. In August 2025,
Sport England required the RFL to come up with a "Governance Action Plan" after concerns relating to compliance with England's codes of sports governance. In an October 2025 meeting between the RFL and the
Australian Rugby League Commission, ARLC chief
Peter V'landys described the RFLs financial viability as a "train crash". Stating they needed to drastically find ways to increase revenue to support the "strong product" they govern. ==Responsibility==