History

Rugby league's roots can be traced to early football history, like most forms of football, through the playing of ball games, which bear little resemblance to modern games.

During the period when private schools were the most important players of football, each school had its own rules based on the playing field that was available to them. However, each school could generally be categorised as playing either handling or kicking forms of football. The kicking and handling forms were later codified by the Football Association and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) respectively.

Rugby football later incurred the schism of 1895 which resulted in the formation of the rebel Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU). It was this schism and similar movements in other countries that lead to a division in rugby football. The NRFU's rules soon changed, and organisations allied to the NRFU changed their names from union to league, hence the names, rugby league and rugby union.