I posted this on the Tony Smith Licensing thread but it is probably better discussed here. It is a look at the events leading up to the split with the RFU, which is nothing to do with broken time. This a version of events from my research into it.
Lancashire and Yorkshire were a pain in the side of the RFU long before 1895. As the story of the eventual split in rugby unfolds you may get confused by all the various meetings taking place. What you need to realise is that there is the governing body, the RFU, there are then two county committees Lancashire and Yorkshire RFU, there are then sub-committees of the county unions representing the senior clubs in each competition. Other meetings were taking place between groups of clubs that had a similar vision for the game.
The first inter county rugby game between the two great Northern rivals was in 1870 and was played in Leeds. At this stage there was no formal County Committees and it was down to the teams in the county to try and organise informaly a county competition. In 1874 Leeds Athletic, Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull and York formed a county committee to oversee the interests of a Yorkshire County team under the banner of The Yorkshire County Club. Other clubs were not content with 5 clubs running county matters which was causing friction between the elite clubs and the rest, eventually the committee of the Yorkshire County Club bowed to the inevitable and became a formal Union of all Yorkshire clubs in 1888.
Form 1870 to 1881 the Manchester Rugby Union club was the equivilant of the Yorkshire County Club and was responsible for county fixtures on behalf of Lancashire. Rugby clubs in West Lancashire wary of the growth of soccer in the area decided to form their own union in November 1881 to look after the interests of all rugby clubs in Lancashire.
In the 1885-86 season 24 clubs took part in the West Lancashire Cup, the cup competition proved popular attracting a crowd as high as 15,000 for a game between Warrington and Runcorn held at Widnes.
By the start of the 1886-87 season membership had increased to fifty clubs and the union introduced a Junior Challenge Cup alongside the Lancashire Cup.
The Lancashire Union at their AGM held on the 31st May 1889 decided to change from knockout cup competitions to leagues. The senior league consisted of eight clubs, Aspull, Warrington, Wigan, Tyldesley, Leigh, Walkden, St.Helens and Widnes.
The league system only lasted for two seasons, squabbling amongst clubs had made the system difficult to manage. The experiment though had sown seeds for the future.
As the Lancashire experiment ended after season 1890-91 the Yorkshire Senior clubs of Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Liversedge, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own league starting in season 1891-92. The clubs wanted full control of the league. The Yorkshire RFU would not sanction the move as that would mean they were relinquishing control of the sport to the senior clubs.
At a meeting of the Yorkshire R.U. on 15th January 1895 the Yorkshire committe agreed to send a deputation to a meeting with their Lancashire counterparts in Manchester at The Crown Hotel to discuss the propsal of the formulation of a Northern Union.
At the Manchester meeting the decision was made to press ahead with the creation of the a Northern Union and a meeting arranged for 30th January at the George Hotel Huddersfield for all the senior clubs from Lancashire and Yorkshire.
At the meeting on the 30th January attended by Brighouse Rangers, Batley, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Warrington, Swinton, Liversedge, Salford, Hull, Wakefield, Manningham, Wigan, Leigh, Tyldesley, Broughton Rangers, Leeds, Oldham, Rochdale Hornets, Hunslet, Bradford and St. Helens the following resolutions were passed.
1. That the premier clubs of Lancashire and Yorkshire as here represented do form themselves into a union for the purpose of furthering the interests of Rugby football in the two counties.
2. That the union be governed by one representitive from each club, the offucials to consist of president, vice-president, honarary secretaries and treasurer to be selected from such representitives.
3. That the champion club in the first division of the Lancashire Championship and the champion club of the first division of the Yorkshire Senior Competition play a match for the championship of the Union.
4. Any bona-fide playing member of a club shall be eligible to play for any club in the Union, provided he has not already taken part in a match with another club of the Union. If he has so played, permission for his transfer must be obtained from the club for which he has played and he must in addition have obtained the sanction of this competition committee.
Wednesday 23rd January 1895
Yorkshire Senior Competition Committee meet in Leeds discuss a proposal for Northern Rugby Union League. No decision is made about whether to press ahead. It was decided that a meeting should be arranged with Lancashire clubs to see their point of view in Huddersfield on the 8th February.
11th February 1895
Manchester guardian reports that interest in Rugby Football in Lancashire has all but disappeared with the suspension of Salford, Wigan and Leigh and compulsery posponement of fixtures betwee Widness and Aspull, Backley and Ulverston and Walkden and Blackley. The reports also complained about the standard of game in the county matches as being below standard and that the Lancashires match with Cumberland had been scratched as being a pointless excersise due to the weakness inflicted by exclusions.
The rugby union have not yet taken any decisive action in regard to the newley formed Northern Union. It was expectted that the union would receive official sanction at the meeting of the (RFU) committee on Friday night but it was considered suffeciently important to defer the consideration of the question to the next meetig. Presumably this meeting will take place before the Scotland game at Richmond on March 9. It is assumed, of coourse, that the fact of the committee declining for the present to approve the new union is an indication of hostility to it.
At the March 9th meeting the RFU asked the Northern Union clubs to submit its proposed rules for the new union.
The following rules were submitted to the RFU following a meeting of the Senior clubs at the George Hotel on 2nd April 1895.
1. The Union shall be called The Lancashire and Yorkshire R.F.U. of Senior Clubs.
2. That the Union shall be a member of the RFU
3. That it is governed by one representative from each club.
4. The officials to be elected at an A.G.M held alternatively in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
5. Annual subscription 1 guinea
6. Committee of Management to be 4 per County
7. Champion club from each county to play for 'Champion of Union'
The Yorkshire clubs, Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield declined to sign up due to having large capital debts and felt the Northern Union was to much of a gamble. Lancashire clubs Salford and Swinton also had reservations.
The Lancashire RFU refused to back the senior clubs Northern Union at their meeting on 17th April 1895.
The RFU discussed the proposals from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Senior Clubs at a meeting on the 9th May 1895. The RFU committee passed the following resolution.
"This committee being of the opinion that any such organisation as the proposed Union of Lancashire and Yorkshire Clubs would be prejudicial to the best interests of the game, forbids the formation of such a Union”.
This left the senior clubs of Lancashire and Yorkshire little option but to form their own organisation outside of the RFU.
The whole thing about money is the line-peddled by the RFU, the clubs wanted control of their fixtures and competitions, this was what the Northern clubs were arguing over, broken time was a side-show.