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
Rugby has long beeen 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 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 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 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 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 has been French involvement in the past, and it is intended that the French will re-join the competition in 2006. Below Super League there are the Rugby League National Leagues. In 2006 Welsh team Celtic Crusaders 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 cricket and rugby union; but not soccer 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 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 vast majority of rugby league clubs in the UK are English). Average attendance at Super League 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 Rugby Football League sees continual but slow growth South of Manchester, notably the London area, which now boast two professional clubs (London Broncos and London Skolars). One of the prime vehicles for expansion has benn 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 the 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 a 94% increase in registered players in just two years, whilst atendance 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 historicaly provided the vast majority of players for the Great Britain team, one of the major national teams playing rugby league.