Rugby Football League | |
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Founded | 29 August 1895 |
Formerly named | Northern Rugby Football Union (1895-1922) |
RLIF affiliation | 1948 |
RLEF affiliation | 2003 |
Responsibility | England |
Headquarters | Leeds, United Kingdom |
Key people |
Brian Barwick(Chair) Nigel Wood (Chief Executive) |
Competitions |
Super League Championship League 1 Rugby League Conference Challenge Cup League 1 Cup World Club Series World Club Challenge |
Website | therfl.co.uk |
As of 30 June 2009
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Governing body | Rugby Football League | ||||||
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Region | Europe | ||||||
Head coach | Wayne Bennett | ||||||
Captain | Sean O'Loughlin | ||||||
Most caps | Kevin Sinfield (34) | ||||||
Top try-scorer | Ryan Hall (24) | ||||||
Top point-scorer | Kevin Sinfield (208) | ||||||
RLIF ranking | 3rd | ||||||
First international | |||||||
England 9–3 Other Nationalities (Wigan, England; 5 April 1904) |
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Biggest win | |||||||
United States 0–110 England (Orlando, Florida, USA; October 2000) |
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Biggest defeat | |||||||
Australia 52–4 England (Melbourne; 2 November 2008) |
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World Cup | |||||||
Appearances | 5 (first time in 1975) | ||||||
Best result | Runners-up, 1975; 1995 |
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Nickname | The Lions | |||||||
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Governing body | Rugby Football League | |||||||
Region | Europe | |||||||
Captain | Jamie Peacock | |||||||
Most caps |
Mick Sullivan (46) Garry Schofield (46) |
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Top try-scorer | Mick Sullivan (41) | |||||||
Top point-scorer | Neil Fox (228) | |||||||
First international | ||||||||
New Zealand 6–14 Great Britain (Headingley, Leeds, England, United Kingdom; 18 January 1908) |
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Biggest win | ||||||||
Fiji 4–72 Great Britain (Suva, Fiji; October 1996) |
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Biggest defeat | ||||||||
Australia 64–10 Great Britain (Sydney, Australia; July 2002) |
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World Cup | ||||||||
Appearances | 9 (first time in 1954) | |||||||
Best result | Winners, 1954; 1960; 1972 |
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisation. This has since been supplanted by Super League, the Championship and League 1.
Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships. The social and junior game is administered in association with the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). The Rugby Football League is a member of the Rugby League European Federation and as a senior Full Member has a combined veto power over the Council with France. The RFL is part of the Community Board, which also has representatives from BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League and Student Rugby League.
Established as the Northern Rugby Football Union (often shortened to Northern Union) in August 1895 by representatives of twenty-one Rugby Football Union clubs at a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Football League, mirroring its sister organisations overseas, the Australian Rugby Football League and New Zealand Rugby Football League. Eventually the "Northern" was dropped from its name at the beginning of the 1980s.