History Part One – 1873-1918
Chapter 1. Early clubs
Long before the start of the game we now know as Rugby League in 1895, there were amateur teams in the Halifax area playing rugby. The first was Halifax Football and Athletic Club, now Halifax Panthers, formed in 1873. Teams had preceded them in other towns around the country, but ...
Chapter 2. The start of Rugby League
With the governance of the game though, all was not well. Rugby Union was ruled by ex Public School and Grammar School types, mostly though not completely from the south of England, who had little in common with the typically working class men who played the game in Yorkshire and ...
Chapter 3. The Birth of the Halifax Local League
The new Northern Union continued to expand. Its authorities were keen to set up local leagues, encouraging their senior clubs to take a lead. The Halifax club favoured the idea of taking control of one, offering a trophy and medals for a new local competition, and agreeing to pay a ...
Chapter 4. An early crisis
At this point everything in the area seemed rosy. Halifax and Brighouse Rangers were in the top flight performing well, while five local teams – Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Elland and Luddenden Foot – were in the second tier. The new Halifax & District League had annexed almost all ...
Chapter 5. 1907 Revival
The summer of 1907 presented a new opportunity, when grants of around £20 (£2,000 in 2024 money) were made available by the Northern Union for the formation of Intermediate Leagues across Yorkshire and Lancashire. The just-completed season had seen a reduction to13-a-side, which not only led to more attractive rugby ...
Chapter 6. Continued Growth
The league continued to develop. It was still widely referred to as the Intermediate League, or The Inters, not least in the Halifax newspapers, but in reality was now including older players and morphing into the Halifax & District Junior League, which it was to officially become later – in ...
Chapter 7. First World War
War loomed in 1914, though no one realised it would last as long as it did. When it started in summer, clubs expected to carry on, the Halifax & District League advertising for clubs in open age, Under-21 and Under-18 divisions. However, Halifax Territorials were unable to play a single ...