Beginner's Guide

In 1895, when 12 clubs decided to split from the Northern Rugby Football Union, few could have envisaged that 100 years later, the game of rugby league would become the second most popular spectator sport in Britain and spread as far and wide as Australia, New Zealand and even Papua New Guinea.

The emergence of Super League has created a huge interest in the game both nationally and internationally. The switch to summer has meant that crowds have flocked to the grounds to see a game which is highly conducive and purpose made for hard fast grounds and warm weather. With the introduction of National League’s 1 & 2 the game now has the structure to develop and compete on an equal footing with any major summer sport.

The game is given global exposure, via the Sky network and various cable and satellite networks which show live and delayed transmissions of our product. The game via the visual media, is flourishing.

Rugby league is simply all about - entertainment. This theory applies both on and off the field and is of paramount importance if rugby league is to flourish and reach its undoubted explosive potential.

The major contributory factor to the entertainment philosophy is the actual game itself. So, for those of you who are new to the sport, here are some of the basic and most vital rules of rugby league.

Two teams take part in a game of rugby league with 13 players on each team at "kick off". Each team also have 4 substitutes/replacements available to bring on at any appropriate moment in the game. Each teams "13" is made up of 7 "backs" and 6 "forwards". The backs are generally regarded as the attacking players and usually have more pace than the bigger more powerful forwards who are usually the "yard" makers.