Rugby league county leagues

The Yorkshire League and the Lancashire League formed two sections of the Rugby League Championship for much of its history. Initially, the 22 clubs that broke away in 1895 played in one combined league, however the following season saw the addition of many clubs, and the League was split into two separate county competitions.

This situation endured until 1901-02, when the top teams in each league resigned and formed a new combined first division. The following season, the remaining clubs formed a second division. From then until 1907, when there was another re-organisation, the county leagues were not played.

The new structure initiated for the 1907-8 season saw the clubs playing every other team in their own county home and away, and playing once each against the clubs from the other county. Results from all games counted towards the Rugby League Championship, whilst results within the county counted towards the respective county leagues.

The championship often included teams from outside the Yorkshire and Lancashire heartlands; these were allocated to a county league on a practical basis. Briefly, in the 1908-09 season, there were enough clubs from Wales to add a third Welsh League to the structure. The sole winner of this title were Merthyr Tydfil.

The Yorkshire and Lancashire Leagues were abandoned in 1970.

Championship winners

Season	Lancashire League	Yorkshire League
1895-96	Runcorn	Manningham
1896-971	Broughton Rangers	Brighouse Rovers
1897-981	Oldham	Hunslet
1898-991	Broughton Rangers	Batley
1899-001	Runcorn	Bradford
1900-011	Oldham	Bradford
1901-022	Wigan	Leeds
1902-07	"No competition"
1907-08	Oldham	Hunslet
1908-09	Wigan	Halifax
1909-10	Oldham	Wakefield Trinity
1910-11	Wigan	Wakefield Trinity
1911-12	Wigan	Huddersfield
1912-13	Wigan	Huddersfield
1913-14	Wigan	Huddersfield
1914-15	Wigan	Huddersfield
1915-18	"No competition due to World War I"
1918-19	Rochdale Hornets	Hull
1919-20	Widnes	Huddersfield
1920-21	Wigan	Halifax
1921-22	Oldham	Huddersfield
1922-23	Wigan	Hull
1923-24	Wigan	Batley
1924-25	Swinton	Hull Kingston Rovers
1925-26	Wigan	Hull Kingston Rovers
1926-27	St Helens Recs	Hull
1927-28	Swinton	Leeds
1928-29	Swinton	Huddersfield
1929-30	St Helens	Huddersfield
1930-31	Swinton	Leeds
1931-32	St Helens	Hunslet
1932-33	Salford	Castleford
1933-34	Salford	Leeds
1934-35	Salford	Leeds
1935-36	Liverpool Stanley	Hull
1936-37	Salford	Leeds
1937-38	Warrington	Leeds
1938-39	Salford	Castleford
1939-45	"No competition due to World War 2"
1945-46	Wigan	Wakefield Trinity
1946-47	Wigan	Dewsbury
1947-48	Warrington	Bradford
1948-49	Warrington	Huddersfield
1949-50	Wigan	Huddersfield
1950-51	Warrington	Leeds
1951-52	Wigan	Huddersfield
1952-53	St Helens	Halifax
1953-54	Warrington	Halifax
1954-55	Warrington	Leeds
1955-56	Warrington	Halifax
1956-57	Oldham	Leeds
1957-58	Oldham	Halifax
1958-59	Wigan	Wakefield Trinity
1959-60	St Helens	Wakefield Trinity
1960-61	Swinton	Leeds
1961-62	Wigan	Wakefield Trinity
1962-633	Workington Town	Wakefield Trinity
1963-643	St Helens	Halifax
1964-65	St Helens	Castleford
1965-66	St Helens	Leeds
1966-67	St Helens	Hull Kingston Rovers
1967-68	Warrington	Leeds
1968-69	St Helens	Leeds
1969-70	Wigan	Leeds

Footnotes

# During the period 1896-1901 the county leagues were titled "senior competitions". There was no national league championship during this period.
# For the 1901-02 season the top teams from each senior competition resigned to form a single league championship. The lower clubs continued to contest separate county leagues for that year only.
# During the 1962-3 and 1963-4 two division campaigns the county leagues were officially retitled "Eastern" and "Western divisions".

ee also

* Rugby league county cups
* Rugby League Championship
* Superleague
* All Four Cups