Liversedge RFC


Liversedge RFC were a semi-professional rugby league club from Liversedge, Yorkshire, England. They were a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union, precursor to the Rugby Football League.

History

Early Days

Liversedge was founded in 1877.
After the 1890-91 season, Liversedge along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own county league starting in 1891 along the lines of a similar competition that had been played in Lancashire. The clubs wanted full control of the league but the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union would not sanction the competition as it meant giving up control of rugby football to the senior clubs. The club played in the Yorkshire Senior competition in the early 1890s.

Northern Union

Prior to the great schism in rugby, Liversedge, like many other clubs from Yorkshire, 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, 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.
In their final season, 1901–02 they yet again won the wooden spoon, finishing 14th out of 14 teams with only six points. They dropped out of the league after the end of the 1901–02 season..

Successor clubs

Although Liversedge RFC were founder members of the Rugby League, the town does not have the rugby league heritage of other towns in the area. Following the demise of the original club, an Association Football club, Liversedge F.C., was founded in its stead in 1910, one of a number of instances of code switching around that time.
Today the town is represented by Liversedge ARLFC who play at Primrose Lane in the Third Division of the Pennine Amateur Rugby League.

Notable players

played rugby union for England v Scotland in 1892 while with Liversedge. He went on to play under the new code for Liversedge and Oldham.
Robert "Bob" Wood played rugby union for England v Ireland in 1894 and at club level for Liversedge.

Statistics

Club Records

Club Trophies

Liversedge did not win any trophies, although reached the final of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup in 1888–89 during their rugby union days. They lost 18–16 to Otley.

League Record (incomplete)

SeasonCompetitionPositionPlWDLPFPADiffPts%No of teams in leagueRef
1892–93Yorkshire Rugby Union7187291301082216
1893–94Yorkshire Rugby Union42211381661066025
1894–95
1895–96Championship154215423261355−943422
1896–97Yorkshire Senior113013017176233−572616
1897–98Yorkshire Senior1630312676449−373716
1898–99Yorkshire Senior15305322131439−3081316
1899–1900Yorkshire Senior1630512494303−2091116
1900–01Yorkshire Senior1630222643386−343616
1901–02Yorkshire Senior14614

Fixtures & Results (incomplete)

The following are a selection of Liversedge's fixtures from the seven seasons in which they played semi-professional Rugby League:
SeasonDateCompetitionOpponentVenueH/AResultScoreAttendanceNotesRef
1895–9614 Sep 1895RLWiganHHLost0–3
1895–9621 Sep 1895RLHullBoulevardALost0–3
1895–9612 Oct 1895RLWidnesLowerhouse LaneAWon15–5
1895–964 Jan 1896RLHullHHLost0–15
1895–9611 Jan 1896RLWarringtonunknown?Won8–3
1895–9622 Feb 1896RLWarringtonunknown?Lost4–27
1895–967 Mar 1896RLWiganFolly FieldsALost0–25
1895–967 Apr 1896RLWidnesHHWon6–0
1895–9616 Apr 1896RLSt. HelensHHWon7–14
1895 –9616 Apr 1896RLSt. HelensKnowsley RdALost13–3
1896–9726 Sep 1896YSCHullHHLost0–5
1896–972 Jan 1897YSCHullBoulevardALost0–13
1896–973 Apr 1897CC R3WarringtonWilderspoolALost0–6
1897–9830 Oct 1897YSCHullHHWon3–0
1898–992 Jan 1898YSCHullHHLost0–8
1897–985 Feb 1898YSCHullBoulevardALost0–25
1897–9826 Feb 1898CC R1WidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0–26
1898–9911 Oct 1898YSCHullBoulevardALost2–36
1899–007 Oct 1899YSCHullHHLost10–11
1899–0013 Jan 1900YSCHullBoulevardALost0–32
1900–018 Dec 1900YSCHullBoulevardALost0–30
1900–018 Apr 1901YSCHullHHLost3–16