BARLA.org.uk British rugby league association site providing news & events
Title
The British Amateur Rugby League Association
Description
In 1893 the Committee of the Rugby Football Union began to hear reports that some players in the north were being paid for playing. This was contrary to the strict amateur code of the time and efforts were made to collect hard evidence. The evidence arrived with a complaint by Cumberland County Union that a leading Yorkshire club had induced one of their players to leave for a monetary consideration. The Union set up an inquiry but were warned privately and through letters to the press that if the club was punished all the chief clubs in Lancashire and Yorkshire would break away from the Union - a serious threat because a large proportion of international players were drawn from these counties. The inquiry was held at Preston and the club concerned was suspended.
There followed two large general meetings at which efforts were made by the Northern Union's to carry a resolution that men should be paid for broken time - that is to say when playing football instead of working. The motion was defeated.
In August 1895 twenty-two clubs broke away from the Union and formed the Northern Union at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, only a short punt from the BARLA offices. The loss of the northern clubs to the Northern Union had a serious effect on the international scene and it was several years before the loss could be made up.
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