Rugby League

Rugby League is a variant of rugby, with different rules from Rugby Union. The game was developed out from Rugby Union by Northern England and Scottish clubs. The players in these clubs were largely working-class, unlike the clubs in Southern England whose players were middle or upper class. Since, the Rugby Union competition at the time did not allow paying players any salary; the working-class players felt they could not afford time off to train and play.

In 1892, charges of professionalism were laid against clubs in Bradford and Leeds, Yorkshire after they compensated players for missing work. On August 29, 1895 representatives of the northern clubs met in the George Hotel, Huddersfield to form the "Northern Rugby Football Union", a professional Union which would eventually become the Rugby Football League in 1922. By 1907, when the first league was formed, the new Unions rules had diverged from those Rugby Union, most noticeably in the reduction of players from 15 to 13; the "play the ball" (heeling the ball back after a tackle) rather than rucking and mauling; a maximum of five tackles allowed per possession before kicking the ball away, scoring, or losing possession on the next tackle; and slightly different scoring. Around this time a similar schism, and for similar reasons, opened up in the Union establishment of Australia, where the term Rugby League was first used for the new game.

Points are scored by:

touching the ball down over the opponents goal line (a try, worth 4 points)
kicking the ball above the crossbar and between the uprights of a large 'H' shaped set of posts. This may either be done from a place kick following a rule infringement (a penalty goal) or kicked from the hand, providing the ball strikes the ground before being kicked (a field goal, or drop goal). A penalty goal is worth 2 points and a drop goal is worth 1.
A conversion, which is attempted after a try has been scored, from in line with where the try was scored along the axis of the goal line. A conversion is worth 2 points.

The game is played for two forty minute halves. Recent rules changes have led to the introduction of a "golden point" rule similar to that used in other professional sports. If both teams are tied at the end of the regulation 80 minutes of playing time, an overtime period of 10 minutes is played split into two 5-minute halves. The first team to score any points whatseover wins the game and brings the overtime to an end. This most commonly is achieved through the kicking of a field goal for a one point margin of victory.

Rugby League, while a hugely popular professional sport in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, has struggled to assert itself as an international sporting code particularly in the aftermath of the disastrous "Super League" war for control of the code in the late 1990s.

The premier international competition is the Rugby League World Cup, first held in 1954. The format has changed over the years, but it is currently held every 5 years. Australia has dominated the competition, winning for the fourth time in 1975, and has defended it 5 times since then.