List of Rugby League towns

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

With rugby league being a predominantly working class and Northern England game there are settlements that are distinctly rugby league towns like St Helens, Warrington, and Widnes among others that have only a rugby league team as the major sports teams.

What about towns that have an Football League team in addition to a rugby league team?

I would assume Hull with its two rugby league teams is a rugby league town rather than an association football town.

 

Also is there a reason why rugby league won out in these towns rather than association football?

 

Hope that all made sense. Apologies if not and please let me know if it does not make sense.

Thank you.

 

[meast]

Castleford

Wakefield 

Featherstone 

Leigh

Rugby was the dominant sport in Huddersfield upto the late 1910's when Huddersfield Town under Herbert Chapman became successful.

Both clubs had similar histories throughout the 20th century but football is now king in the birthplace of the sport.

[sam4731]

16 minutes ago, meast said:

Castleford

Wakefield 

Featherstone 

Leigh

Rugby was the dominant sport in Huddersfield upto the late 1910's when Huddersfield Town under Herbert Chapman became successful.

Both clubs had similar histories throughout the 20th century but football is now king in the birthplace of the sport.

None of these places have a Football League team.

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

Leeds

Bradford

Wigan

Salford

Barrow

Doncaster

Sheffield

York

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Oldham

Rochdale

Workington

Kingston-upon-Hull

These are the places with at least a team in the Football League or at least had one and a rugby league from my knowledge. 

 

 

[M j M]

Typically once soccer got a foot in the door in previously rugby strongholds it grew to be the larger game, primarily I feel thanks to its more national spread and profile. The split of the sport of rugby almost certainly didn't help as time went by. Even in the places listed above, few of which have significant soccer teams, there will no doubt be a large proportion of the public who follow a team, be it from a nearby town or, increasingly, from anywhere in the world.

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

Thank you for the reply. What about places that remained rugby league towns despite the presence of a football team like Wigan?

Any explanations why rugby league dominated there?

 

Thank you.

[Chris22]

There are no 'rugby league' towns in England, in my view. In every one listed in this thread, I would wager that more people follow football than rugby league.

Edited April 13 by Chris22

[Hopie]

7 minutes ago, Chris22 said:

There are no 'rugby league' towns in England, in my view. In every one listed in this thread, I would wager that more people follow football than rugby league.

And some of them are definitely cities.

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

8 hours ago, Hopie said:

And some of them are definitely cities.

Please do not get me started on what is and what is not cities because honestly besides Leeds none of the places that have a professional/semi professional rugby league team are cities in my book. Especially Wakefield. 

Apologies. 

[EggFace]

8 hours ago, Chris22 said:

There are no 'rugby league' towns in England, in my view. In every one listed in this thread, I would wager that more people follow football than rugby league.

And bloody is that to boot.

[daz39]

30 minutes ago, SouthBedfordshireFan said:

Please do not get me started on what is and what is not cities because honestly besides Leeds none of the places that have a professional/semi professional rugby league team are cities in my book. Especially Wakefield. 

Apologies. 

Not even Sheffield or Bradford who are both in the top 10 cities in population in the UK, or Newcastle or Hull which both rank in the UK's top 20 too?

In your book and the official book are obviously 2 different things!

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

Just now, daz39 said:

Not even Sheffield or Bradford who are both in the top 10 cities in population in the UK, or Newcastle or Hull which both rank in the UK's top 20 too?

In your book and the official book are obviously 2 different things!

Unforunately the official book considers many places as cities that have swathes of rural land within their jurisdictions that are regarded as cities. For example Wakefield. Anyways that is a different discussion for another day and forum. 

I was being a bit hyperbolic with the exclusion of Bradford and Sheffield as not cities.

Apologies. I get very passionate about this topic of what are and what are not considered cities

[BadlyOverdrawnBoy]

22 minutes ago, SouthBedfordshireFan said:

Unforunately the official book considers many places as cities that have swathes of rural land within their jurisdictions that are regarded as cities.

e.g. Salford

[Gomersall]

10 hours ago, Chris22 said:

There are no 'rugby league' towns in England, in my view. In every one listed in this thread, I would wager that more people follow football than rugby league.

Most people in the U.K. follow football but it depends what you define as follow. IMO more people from the city of KuH attend professional RL matches on a regular basis even though, currently, Hull City’s attendances are slightly higher than the two RL clubs combined. This is because, again IMO, a higher percentage of Hull City fans come from outside of the city. 

Edited April 14 by Gomersall

[Derwent]

11 hours ago, SouthBedfordshireFan said:

 

I would assume Hull with its two rugby league teams is a rugby league town rather than an association football town.

 

Not really true. Hull City’s average attendance is around 22,000 this season which is similar to the 2 RL clubs combined. 
Plus of course in many of these towns there will be many people who support both the RL and football clubs.

[Griff]

1 hour ago, SouthBedfordshireFan said:

Unforunately the official book considers many places as cities that have swathes of rural land within their jurisdictions that are regarded as cities. For example Wakefield. Anyways that is a different discussion for another day and forum. 

Once again, we see folk confusing a city with an administrative area.   The City of Wakefield just includes Wakefield.   The City of Wakefield MDC includes Castleford, Featherstone, several other towns and vast tracts of farmland.

A city has a Royal Charter saying it's a city.  It's not just a big town.   St David's is a city.   It's not big.

[JohnM]

11 hours ago, SouthBedfordshireFan said:

Thank you for the reply. What about places that remained rugby league towns despite the presence of a football team like Wigan?

Any explanations why rugby league dominated there?

 

Thank you.

I suspect but can't prove that soccer fans from "Wigan" support and watch Bolton Wanderers, Man City, Man Utd, Everton, Liverpool. With the diaspora from poor quality town centre housing to out of town "new" housing estates public and private,I'm not convinced there are rugby towns any more.... everything is much more homogeneous than it was 50 years ago.

Edited April 14 by JohnM

[HawkMan]

1 hour ago, Derwent said:

Not really true. Hull City’s average attendance is around 22,000 this season which is similar to the 2 RL clubs combined. 
Plus of course in many of these towns there will be many people who support both the RL and football clubs.

People on here support both sports, including an esteemed poster from Leigh, no name no pack drill, who I suspect is a closet Bolton Wanderers fan....er maybe.

Edited April 14 by HawkMan

[Rene_Artois]

2 hours ago, Griff said:

A city has a Royal Charter saying it's a city.  It's not just a big town.

This.

Opinions and facts are not the same thing.

Edited April 14 by Rene_Artois

[Wellsy4HullFC]

3 hours ago, Gomersall said:

Most people in the U.K. follow football but it depends what you define as follow. IMO more people from the city of KuH attend professional RL matches on a regular basis even though, currently, Hull City’s attendances are slightly higher than the two RL clubs combined. This is because, again IMO, a higher percentage of football fans come from outside of the city. 

Despite having many rugby league friends, I often find football is the more prevalent topic of conversation. It's the most watched in pubs when I play darts around the city in the Thursday (even European games). It's unprecedentedly more popular amongst young people from when I was teaching. There's just no question. 

City get a higher combined attendance currently. Even if many are from out of town, think how many Leeds fans, Man City fans, Man Utd fans, Liverpool fans, Arsenal fans, Chelsea fans, etc. there are. 

Football is just so much more inclusive due to how easy it is to play, how accessible it is follow, watch and play. You can't get away from it. It'll always be more widely followed here.

[bamfordsbeans]

In the 80's and 90's I would say Halifax was definitely a rugby town.

The performances of Fax at an atmospheric Thrum Hall backed up by a vibrant amateur game. meant the game was a major talking point in the pubs and clubs.

However in the last 20 years the decline of both the professional club and the amateur game (Siddal excepted) has meant soccer is now the main sport in town.

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, HawkMan said:

People on here support both sports, including an esteemed poster from Leigh, no name no pack drill, who I suspect is a closet Bolton Wanderers fan....er maybe.

Well it can't be moi, even if I could be described as 'esteemed', my one and only venture to an association football match was in Oct '68 Man U v Waterford European Cup. 

Albeit, I have been on a few football grounds watching RL from memory Man U, Man C, both Maine Rd and Etihad, Bolton both Burnden Park and Reebok, QPR, Leeds U, Newcastle U, Blackburn R, Carlilse U, Liverpool, sure there are some I have missed. 

Edit, thanks @bamfordsbeans Halifax forgot that one. 

Double Edit, Both Hull Football grounds Boothferrry Park and KCOM.

Edited April 14 by Harry Stottle

[Damien]

2 hours ago, JohnM said:

I suspect but can't prove that soccer fans from "Wigan" support and watch Bolton Wanderers, Man City, Man Utd, Everton, Liverpool. With the diaspora from poor quality town centre housing to out of town "new" housing estates public and private,I'm not convinced there are rugby towns any more.... everything is much more homogeneous than it was 50 years ago.

Additionally it has always amazed me how many Latics fans are from St Helens, including ardent Saints RL fans. These things aren't always as they seem.

Edited April 14 by Damien

[Harry Stottle]

18 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Football is just so much more inclusive due to how easy it is to play, how accessible it is follow, watch and play. You can't get away from it. It'll always be more widely followed here.

And my theory why it became so popular is that it could be played on relatively any surface. 

[HawkMan]

29 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

And my theory why it became so popular is that it could be played on relatively any surface. 

I was watching a game of RL yesterday, when the second commentator said something like, " what a move ! The kids will be practicing that in the playgrounds on Monday." I thought if the playground is grassed over maybe.

Edited April 14 by HawkMan