LEAGUE CODE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 104, 3 May 1924, Page 19

LEAGUE CODE

[BY "HALF BACK"! - HISTORY OF THE CODE

THE GREAT SECESSION

Unfortunately, "Half-Back" is again this week unable to produce pars on local players, as no local matches were played last Saturday.. However, the .local competitions will commence on Saturday next, while to-day H.M.A.S. Adelaide' are playing the Wellington representatives, and the town junior representatives are playing the country junior representatives as a curtain-raiser to the special match. As the article appearing in 'this column last week on training was evidently much appreciated by local enthusiasts, an article on the History of the League code, as applied to England, will, no doubt, be of interest. In presenting a history of the English Rugby League and Bugby League clubs, it is hoped to dispel what may be a prevalent idea in many minds to-day, that professional Rugby football is a modern invention. ■ By way of introduction, v, brief history of the ruling authority is given, and biographical sketches of the more famous clubs follow.

Though a change was', mads in one important principle in. 1895, many of the clubs, even a quarter of a century be- , fore that date,, possessed a history in the Rugby game, of which ■ they were deservedly proud. The. Northern Rugby Union came into being in 1895 and in the words o£ Mr. J. H. Smith, one of the founders, the causes of its inception were that for many years previous to 1895 the Rugby world was full of rumours as to alleged professionalism, states an English writer. The increased popularity 'of the handling code amongst the working class population of the North, and the consequent increase in "gates" enabled clubs to offer inducements too great to be resisted, and the migration of skilful players became so pronounced as to admit of no doubt that professionalism existed. The English Rugby Union strengthened their rules with the avowed object of preventing anything except pure amateurism, but in. Lancashire and Yorkshire particularly it was recognised that where large sums were taken in gate money, payment for time lost, at least, was inevitable. Consequently an organised attempt was made, at' what was the bestattended meeting on record of the Bugby Union, to legalise the payment.of bona fide'broken time, but the representatives of the Southern clubs were too strong, and the Northern advocates of payment for broken time were defeated. Though actual steps were not immediately taken, the breaking away of a section' of the North was only a question of time,.and it was not long before events took definite shape. THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS. In the summer of 1595 the leading clubs of Lancashire and Yorkshire held a number of'meetings, and though some withdrew before the climax came, the ultimate result was that at a meeting held at Huddersfield on 29th August the resignations of 22 clubs were forwarded to the Rugby Onion, and the Northern Union became an established fact. The seceders were : —Bradford, .Brighouse Rangers, Halifax, Hunslet, Hull, Hudderstield, Liversedge, Leeds, Leigh, Manningham, Oldhani, Rochdale Hornets, Runcorn, St. "Helens, Stockport, Tyldesley, Wakefield. Trinity, Warringtou, Widnes, and Wigan; The first season the clubs were all included in one League, an arrangement which meant the playing of 12 matches by each team. Then at the end o[ the seasan, as was expected, came a large influx of other Rugby Union clubs, the more prominent being Sall'ord, Swinton, Morecambe, Castleford, Bramley, Heekmondwike, Holbeck, and Leeds Parish Church. This necessitated the reconstruction of the League, and separate senior competitions were established in Lancashire and Yorkshire, with supplementary leagues for junior clubs. . ■ THE CHALLENGE CUP. In the season 1896-97 what is probably the most successful competition ever inaugurated by the professional handling code came lDto being. The writer refers to the Challenge Cup, and it is worthy of note that in the first final played at Leeds, the contesting teams being Batley and St. Helens, the attendance reached 13,492 aud tho receipts £621 17s 7d. The year after, on the sanff ground, and with Batley again winners by defeating Bradford in the final tie, the receipts lumped to £1505 3s. With tho exception of tho | war interval, the Challenge Cup- compe-tition-has advanced by leaps and bounds, and to those who talk of decay, the writer might, while on these records, give the figures of the. last cup final. At Headingley, in April last year, when Rochdale Hornets defeated Hull by 10 points to 9—the first time he is noted in the 22 contests wherein the cup had been won by the narrow margin of one point —the attendance reached 35,500, a record for the game in England, and tho receipts were £2961. FORMATION OF THE LEAGUE. "I will defer consideration of the from broken time to out-"and-out professionalism until next' week and purpose to confine this article to a short history of the League," says the writer: "Professionalism was adooted in 1898, and until 1901 there was a'sleadv accession of clubs. Space will not permit of consideration being given to the many Leagues' outside the 'premier circle, but the1 season of 1901-2 brought to a close the Lancashire and Yorkshire senior competition by tho formation of the Northern League with its two divisions.' Mr. . Smith' writes of ITtTs event: "In 1901 we reached a period in the history of the Union when tho first discordant note was souikled. and an event occurred which was fated lo have far-reaching consequences. I refer to the formation.of the Northern League Up to this time one of the predominant factors m building up tli edifice of the professional union was the unanimity with which the authorities worked to render the interests of the richer clubs identical with those less fortunately placed. In all my experience I have never . been asocisated - with a committee, when the spirit of mutual dependence was so fully recognised, or where concession and conciliation -were so pronounced. . The establishment of the Northern League, however, altered all this, and we have certainly never been the same happy family since. Tho provision •of . opportunity for the leading clubs to meet in League matches, irrespective of their gcograpl.ical position, was only the natural aud logical development of the League principle, and some scheme which would group these clubs together was "'sooner or later bound to be demanded, but, unforunately, the establishment of the new League, or, to be exact, the matter pi its formation, was keenly resented by those left out of: the select circle, and was tile direct causes of our lo.siii'r ono or two prominent dubs." " '

"Bub for the friction caused, the promoters of Assofiah'on football in West Yorkshire would nnt have been able to raouro ii raid v-made arid fiiHy-eniuppod enclosure in tic very hsa.it of Bradford

at a moment's notice. It is certain that, had it not been for the chagrin of the Manningham officials at being left out in the cold, and their determination not to continue in second-class company after their brilliant achievements of the immediately preceding seasons, they would not have resigned their membership of the Northern Union."

. When opportunity offers, the development of the League code will be outlined down to the time when an alteration was made in the playing rnles. Another subject to be dealt with is the influence of the colonial tourist on the game in England.