Oldest rugby footage ever - hardcore match 

Hahahs

🤣

Mhm😂

@IcyMiracle im a tardigrade

I was the referee for that game. Brings back memories ❤

Lol

RL was formed in 1895 in Huddersfield. This is Rugby League , known then as The Northern Union

@@47evo this is Union, there are rucks

This is Rugby Union.

@@Thegrumpycoach : This is Northern Union which was evolving into Rugby League. It was already a lot different from Rugby Union by 1901. What look like rucks are actually quick scrums which had to form when the player was tackled. The play-the-ball didn't come in to league until 1906. In Australia the Northern rules were adopted by the newly formed Rugby League for the 1908 season.

@@newremote If the rules aren't different the sport cannot be different

stfu boomer

@Felix Cobbe Oh, okay. Thanks.

@Felix Cobbe ayhvm

mig196811 At 0:24 there is a ruck.It's union

@@user-qr8js8nq5z the play the ball rule didnt appear until 1906. This is rugby league.

@Alfa&Omega 00000 the split between league and union is more than just play the ball rule.

@Alfa&Omega 00000 the split was between professionalism and amaturism

Rugby has had a lot of prejudice and biasness against it for political reasons over the years and also didn't really get any worldwide EXPOSURE until 1987 with the first world cup then rugby going pro in 1995,to top it off the shorter and smaller version of rugby is in the Olympics,7s rugby which debuted at the last Olympics in Rio 2016 so rugby has really only had worldwide exposure for 33 years yet half the world haven't heard of rugby.I live in NZ and every tourist ive met all said they never heard of rugby until they came here which is what i mean,EXPOSURE is the key.Politics haven't been kind to rugby either with apartheid in SA,seen as an elitest game in many countries and commoners used to be only allowed to play football or something else ,bisaness in Ireland because of the English occupation which is why the GAA sports like Gaelic football and hurling are so popular there,theres biasness in Scotland for the same reason,,even Hitler and Stalin banned rugby for political reasons,these are some of the reasons why rugby isnt as big as it should be but dispite the prejudice,biasness and lack of exposure rugby is still big and it's getting bigger everyday due to the exposure it gets now.

It's frustrating how people seen to think you have to like union OR league, and not both Of course, my problem is that I'm american and no one I talk to in school knows what either one is

When this was filmed, there was no Rugby League. The professional teams (including those in the video) were under the auspices of the Northern Rugby Football Union, while the amateur game was under the Rugby Football Union. Even though only 6 years old at the time of this footage, the laws of the NRFU were already changed enough to be distinctly different from those of the RFU, most notable the abolition of the lineout. One huge difference between 1901 and the modern versions of both codes is that after completion of a tackle, a scrum was formed to restart the game. There was no ruck as in modern RU or play-the-ball as in RL. Scrums were fully contested. Interestingly, this footage shows scrums following the new law limiting the front row to 3 players.

@@richardhall206 you are completely wrong and should delete your comment. Rugby league started in 1895 and a simple Google search would show that 1895 is when the NRFU changed to League and distanced themselves from the RFU

@@tsherwood2112 Wow. What an aggressive and, at the same time, completely erroneous response. While the sport known as Rugby League indeed started in 1895 (as you might realise I would know well given the other knowledge of the history of the sport I shared), it was referred to as Rugby Football in both codes for some decades. The Northern Rugby Football Union organised itself in Leagues, called Rugby Football Leagues, but the sport was not original referred to using the same terminology. It wasn't until 1922 that NRFU and other unions of the professional code adopted the term Rugby League Football.

@@richardhall206 lmao it was almost immediately that they adopted new rules to attract more fans

+mig196811 Actually this was Northern Rugby Football Union and played under RU laws with 15 men per side , however no lineouts and being paid. The game of rugby League hadn't been invented until 1906 when reduced to 13 and the ruck was changed to play the ball. Wasn't until 1922 the name changed to Northern Rugby Football League. So this is considered a rugby union game played in the north under Northern Rugby Football Union rules. Beat that.............

+mig196811 Actually this was Northern Rugby Football Union and played under RU laws with 15 men per side , however no lineouts and being paid. The game of rugby League hadn't been invented until 1906 when reduced to 13 and the ruck was changed to play the ball. Wasn't until 1922 the name changed to Northern Rugby Football League. So this is considered a rugby union game played in the north under Northern Rugby Football Union rules. Beat that.............

League isnt even a sport

Is it hell. Manningham & Dewsbury were in the Northern Union i.e. Rugby League after 1895

How desperate to claim it’s union

Is it after 1895? Therefore it’s northern union rules, not rugby union. Granted it’s not the rules you see in league today, but nontheless

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_rugby_league Have a look yourself, not the same rules, not the same game. Bore off

Rugby league didn't just suddenly birth itself the way it is now in 1895. It wasn't until 1906 - five years after this footage was shot - that the northern union changed the rules to eliminate the ruck. From 1895 to 1897, the only difference between Rugby Union and "Northern Union" was the governing body. The changes that differentiate the two codes didn't start until 1897 (elimination of the lineout).