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Rugby
Rugby in the Liverpool City Region is a thriving sport with an equally passionate – if not quite as big or vocal – following to football.
The region has a particularly strong Rugby League tradition, Rugby League being an arguably more entertaining version of the sport for spectators than Rugby Union.
Rugby League, in fact, first developed in the region in the late 19th century, after 21 clubs in the north of England broke away from Rugby Union’s governing body because they wanted to play professionally and be paid. The Rugby League game has different on-field rules from its better-known Rugby Union counterpart, with just 13-a-side instead of 15 and a distinctively fluid play-the-ball movement with fewer scrums.
St.Helens Rugby and Widnes Vikings are the region’s leading Rugby League teams. St.Helens RLFC, known as The Saints, are one of the oldest members of the sport and a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union. They play in the European Super League, the elite competition of European domestic rugby league made up of 12 England teams, one from Wales and one from France. St Helens Rugby are also the second most successful side to compete in the Challenge Cup.
Widnes Vikings are also one of the world’s first Rugby League teams and have a similarly massive following to The Saints. Like The Saints, The Vikings were one of the original 21 rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, and today they play in the Co-Operative Championship, which is the second tier of European Rugby League.
