Liversedge RFC (Rugby League)
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Liversedge Rugby Football Club |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Exited | c. 1902 |
Liversedge RFC (founded 1877) were a semi-professional rugby league club from Yorkshire, England. They were a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union, precursor to the Rugby Football League.
The club was based in Liversedge, a township in the former parish of Birstall, in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.
There is little evidence about the early Liversedge club other than it was founded in 1877. The club could be found playing in the Yorkshire Rugby Union League in the early 1890s.
Prior to the great schism in rugby, Liversedge, like many other clubs from Yorkshire (and Lancashire), had suffered punishment by the Rugby Football Union for "broken time" payments. As a result, Liversedge, represented by a Mr. J. H. Hampshire, attended a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with the representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a Northern Rugby Football Union.
Liversedge thereby became one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season, 1895–96, the league consisted of 22 clubs and Liversedge finished in 15th position. In season 1896–97, the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Liversedge playing in the former section, where they would stay for the remainder of their semi-professional existence. They did slightly better, finishing in 11th position out of 16 teams. In the following four seasons (1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1900–01), still in the Yorkshire section, they finished bottom in every season except 1898–99, when they managed to finish second bottom, in each case out of the 16 clubs.
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