Rugby League v Football in known RL towns .. fan bases / support levels ?

[The Partisan]

Looking through the various levels of  competition for football in England I note the names of towns/ teams I know more from their RL teams.   Wigan, Hull, Leeds etc.  

Curious to know how each code fairs in their support in these towns ? 

Is there a reasonable level of crossover with RL fans attending football games and vica versa ? 

Assuming the football team has a longer history in most locations? 

 

 

 

 

[Leigh-On-Kiwi]

Interesting Topic.

I'm originally from Leigh but now reside in Auckland, seeing Auckland FC's rise in the A-League is nothing short of spectacular and the amount of fans they're getting at home games is incredible, with them all being played at Mount Smart home of the Warriors.

I remember growing up in Leigh and the only game of football I ever went to see was Leigh RMI vs Fulham, who at the time was managed by Kevin Keegan. Outside of that i never was interested in watching the local football team as I was always attracted to the premier league. I think thats what is still the case today, most people pick a premier league team and small town based RL teams will always come above the small town based football club.

[Father Gascoigne]

1 hour ago, The Partisan said:

Looking through the various levels of  competition for football in England I note the names of towns/ teams I know more from their RL teams.   Wigan, Hull, Leeds etc.  

Curious to know how each code fairs in their support in these towns ? 

Is there a reasonable level of crossover with RL fans attending football games and vica versa ? 

Assuming the football team has a longer history in most locations? 

You can see just looking at this forum that there are a fair number of locals who have an interest in both sports. You'd expect people on a rugby league forum to be diehard RL fans, so it probably translates well to the larger casual sports-watching public in Lancashire and Yorkshire. 

In terms of longevity, the RL teams in those cities have a much longer history than the football counterpart. 

Warriors were founded in 1872, the Latics in 1932. 

In Hull, FC were founded in 1865, Robins in 1882, and AFC in 1904. 

In Leeds, the Rhinos were founded in 1870, City in 1904, and United in 1919. 

The other factor at play is interest in clubs outside the city. In Leeds, United is the focal point for football fans, no doubt stemming from a successful period where the club was regarded as part of the elite. You're not going to find many fans of Manchester, Liverpool or Sheffield clubs. But in Wigan, being equidistant between Liverpool and Manchester--and having a historically unsuccessful local team in what is rugby league territory--I'm led to believe the Latics rank fourth or fifth in terms of football interest. 

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

Oldham Football Club, rugby, founded 1876, Pine Villa, Oldham Athletic,  founded 1895. Both clubs founding members of Super League and Premier League respectively.  Both the Yeds and Latics have had hard times in recent years. But seem to be having a revival. However, the Yeds have lost a generation of support, whereas the Latics have managed to maintain a large core of support. Mainly due to being able to remain in town at their spiritual home, Boundary Park.  Average attendances for the Yeds are circa 2,000+ whereas for the Latics it is 7,000+. For a 5th tier football club that is phenomenal. This past weekend, the Yeds v Fev was 2,850, Latics v Halifax Town over 10,000.  Just wish we could get more for the Roughyeds.

Edited May 20 by The Art of Hand and Foot

[wilsontown]

Similar kind of deal here in York. City have averaged 6,000 + at home this season, while the Knights seem to typically average about 2,000. It's also true that a lot of football fans support Leeds United rather than their local team.

[Moomintroll]

In late 19th century Huddersfield, rugby was very much the only game in town. The local paper (The Chronicle) regularly carried 2-3 pages of (rugby) football, matched only by the coverage of cricket in the summer months. "Association" barely warranted a mention, with the first Huddersfield club* lasting barely more than a couple of seasons.

Huddersfield Town formed in 1908, but struggled for about a decade, despite joining the football league in 1910. Crowds were down to 3,000, which was considerably less than what the NU side could draw. Promotion to the top flight and their first FA Cup appearance in 1920 gave them a huge boost, with Herbert Chapman cementing their popularity with three successive league championships.

 

 

*I may be misremembering, but I think Huddersfield AFC may have been a creation of the rugby team, looking to capitalise on the growth of Association. 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

For cross-referencing football affiliation with RL I'd say it goes something like this....

Rhinos, Cas, Wakey = Predominantly Leeds United 

Hull KR/FC = Hull City with healthy amount of Leeds United and then a fair few Man U/Liverpool 

Wigan, Leigh, Warrington, Saints = Liverpool, Man U and City, Everton and Wigan Athletic 

Salford = Predominantly Man U 

Huddersfield = Huddersfield Town with a healthy amount of Leeds United 

 

I think there is a decent amount of crossover in fans attending both, mainly RL fans going to football than the other way, but it does happen. Hull possibly has the best crossover in that sense? 

 

 

[Blind side johnny]

The original Northern Union champions were Manningham who later switched to "soccer" forming what is now Bradford City. They have just been promoted from League 2 (the old fourth division) and had average attendances of c18,000.

Bradford Bulls draw considerably fewer despite their overwhelming success

 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

35 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

The original Northern Union champions were Manningham who later switched to "soccer" forming what is now Bradford City. They have just been promoted from League 2 (the old fourth division) and had average attendances of c18,000.

Bradford Bulls draw considerably fewer despite their overwhelming success

 

 

3 hours ago, wilsontown said:

Similar kind of deal here in York. City have averaged 6,000 + at home this season, while the Knights seem to typically average about 2,000. It's also true that a lot of football fans support Leeds United rather than their local team.

And therein lies the problem we all know only too well. Even low ranked terribly performing football teams usually comfortably outperform RL attendance wise. Just highlights the scale football operates on. The combined attendance for the English Football League and PL was over 36 million for the 23-24 season. SL, Championship and League 1 was just over 2 million. 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

For cross-referencing football affiliation with RL I'd say it goes something like this....

Rhinos, Cas, Wakey = Predominantly Leeds United 

Hull KR/FC = Hull City with healthy amount of Leeds United and then a fair few Man U/Liverpool 

Wigan, Leigh, Warrington, Saints = Liverpool, Man U and City, Everton and Wigan Athletic 

Salford = Predominantly Man U 

Huddersfield = Huddersfield Town with a healthy amount of Leeds United 

 

I think there is a decent amount of crossover in fans attending both, mainly RL fans going to football than the other way, but it does happen. Hull possibly has the best crossover in that sense? 

 

 

There's certainly lots of crossover, as I always love to say its funny seeing folk singing "We all hate Leeds" against the Rhinos for Wakey or Cas then flipping to #MOT #ALAW #WACCOE for LUFC a few hours later. There is an element of Cas and Wakey support though who are in the "anyone but Leeds" category, but that is a very small proportion.

You notice when there is a clash in fixtures between Rhinos and LUFC, or particularly if LUFC aren't at home that week for example, that the RL crowd can be affected in different ways.

[Tommygilf]

Both sports in Northern England have a large cultural crossover. The mass level support is from the same social class, thoigh football has moved more to expand beyond that in both a socio-economic and regional sense.

For example, Leeds may be a 1 club city when it comes to association football, but that is because its 2nd (and indeed 3rd and 4th at times) football clubs play RL instead. Much like Leicester in that sense. With surrounding towns and smaller cities like Batley, Dewsbury, Wakefield, Castleford, Featherstone etc all playing the rugby code too. Whereas in Sheffield its the opposite, with association football dominant, 2 top level city based teams plus Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster all close by. Indeed many of the West Yorkshire based AFCs were conceived by soccer missionaries from South Yorkshire.

Cricket still pretends its an everymans game but that has slipped a lot in the past 30 years at least as dense urban areas have become somewhat of a desert for a lot of Cricket development. So in that sense it is still an everymans game, dependent on where you are in the country.

I've never seen any animosity between the Leeds clubs especially now the football club is neither a basket case and is on another level operationally. Indeed both are mutually linked in community work etc.

[Tommygilf]

In Wakefield, the most popular sports team is LUFC. That sort of dynamic is true in most RL towns.

Cumbria is an interesting dynamic where there is a high level of RL interest but often split amongst non local Super League sides. I don't know enough to comment too much on that though.

[Agbrigg]

I fear RL will also be the minor sport due to the mass media brainwashing of all things Soccer. However as far as I am concerned watching football bores the excrement out of me

[Phil]

There’s not much crossover in Halifax, in fact there’s a great deal of mutual antipathy between the two clubs 

[Luke HKR]

3 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

Hull possibly has the best crossover in that sense? 

 

 

I would agree with that.  Maybe not in a match going crossover,but certainly in an interest. Alot (including me),are red & white or Black & white, but follow City,or there interest in football is around City. 

[Bostik Bailey]

One interesting snippet, is that in the 70s 80s and 90s Man City fans were very very very rare in the St. Helens area, it was all Liverpool, Man U and Everton. Now however there are a significant amount of City fans.

in my opinion this shows that a well financed successful sports team can pick up interest and support from a low base. So all the naysayers about the NRL plonking a team somewhere, so long as it’s well funded and there for the long term then it is possible to build a supporter following.

[Just Browny]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

There’s not much crossover in Halifax, in fact there’s a great deal of mutual antipathy between the two clubs 

And by far the most popular sporting clubs are Man Utd, Man City, Leeds and Liverpool.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

There’s not much crossover in Halifax, in fact there’s a great deal of mutual antipathy between the two clubs 

Which is a massive shame, they’d be stronger together. 

[Phil]

42 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Which is a massive shame, they’d be stronger together. 

I need to qualify that, I meant between the supporters of each team 

[Leyther_Matt]

6 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

Wigan, Leigh, Warrington, Saints = Liverpool, Man U and City, Everton and Wigan Athletic 

Take out the Man Utd & Liverpool telly clappers and Leigh is very much a Bolton town in terms of match going fans, with a sizeable crossover with Leigh RL fans. City behind that then Everton, and thankfully Latics barely even register.

Edited May 20 by Leyther_Matt

[hunsletgreenandgold]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Take out the Man Utd & Liverpool telly clappers and Leigh is very much a Bolton town in terms of match going fans, with a sizeable crossover with Leigh RL fans. City behind that then Everton, and thankfully Latics barely even register.

I definitely know a few lads from Leigh who support Man U, but Bolton was a glaring omission on that list I accept 

Edit: just re-read what you put - inference been they don't go to games. Gotcha! There's a fair few of them everywhere

Edited May 20 by hunsletgreenandgold

[Griff]

22 hours ago, The Partisan said:

 

Assuming the football team has a longer history in most locations? 

I've no idea where you got that notion.

Particularly as it's untrue for all three towns you mention.

[sweaty craiq]

9 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

For cross-referencing football affiliation with RL I'd say it goes something like this....

Rhinos, Cas, Wakey = Predominantly Leeds United 

Hull KR/FC = Hull City with healthy amount of Leeds United and then a fair few Man U/Liverpool 

Wigan, Leigh, Warrington, Saints = Liverpool, Man U and City, Everton and Wigan Athletic 

Salford = Predominantly Man U 

Huddersfield = Huddersfield Town with a healthy amount of Leeds United 

 

I think there is a decent amount of crossover in fans attending both, mainly RL fans going to football than the other way, but it does happen. Hull possibly has the best crossover in that sense? 

 

 

Leigh had a historical affinity to Bolton. 

[JohnM]

Soccer is far bigger than rugby league, even in so-called rugby towns, if you take into account the pyramid of teams right down to pub-team level.

[Anita Bath]

On 20/05/2025 at 12:10, Father Gascoigne said:

You can see just looking at this forum that there are a fair number of locals who have an interest in both sports. You'd expect people on a rugby league forum to be diehard RL fans, so it probably translates well to the larger casual sports-watching public in Lancashire and Yorkshire. 

In terms of longevity, the RL teams in those cities have a much longer history than the football counterpart. 

Warriors were founded in 1872, the Latics in 1932. 

In Hull, FC were founded in 1865, Robins in 1882, and AFC in 1904. 

In Leeds, the Rhinos were founded in 1870, City in 1904, and United in 1919. 

The other factor at play is interest in clubs outside the city. In Leeds, United is the focal point for football fans, no doubt stemming from a successful period where the club was regarded as part of the elite. You're not going to find many fans of Manchester, Liverpool or Sheffield clubs. But in Wigan, being equidistant between Liverpool and Manchester--and having a historically unsuccessful local team in what is rugby league territory--I'm led to believe the Latics rank fourth or fifth in terms of football interest. 

There was a professional football club in the football league in wigan prior to the latics.