Liversedge RFC

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Liversedge RFC was a (semi) professional rugby league club.
The club was based in Liversedge, a township in the former parish of Birstall,^[1] in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.

The club was involved in the momentous meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895.
And after the schism, the club became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League) and played for seven seasons from 1895–96 to 1901–02

Only limited County League information is available for season (1901–02).

History

Early Days

There is little evidence about the early Liversedge club other than it was founded in 1877.

Yorkshire Rugby Union League

1892-93 Finished 7th, P18 W7 L9 D2 PF130 PA108 PTS16 1893-94 Finished 4th P22 W11 L8 D3 PF166 PA106 PTS25

Northern Union

Prior to the Schism, Liversedge, like many other clubs from Lancashire (and Yorkshire), had suffered punishment by the RFU for “broken time“ payments.
And so Liversedge, represented by a Mr. J H Hampshire, attended a meeting at The George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with the with representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a Northern Rugby Football Union.

After the Great Schism^[2] in 1895, Liversedge were 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, seasons 1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–00 & 1900–01 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 the final season, 1901–02 they yet again won the wooden spoon, finishing 14th out of 14 teams, with only six points.

Liversedge dropped out of the league after the end of season 1901–02, (or as described in Cherry and White "disappeared”).^[3]

Successor Clubs

A local article states “Although Liversedge RFC were founder members of the Rugby League, strangely they have no team now, and no particular Rugby League heritage. The game is still popular locally with many supporting other local teams namely Bradford Bulls. Dewsbury Rams & Batley Bulldogs although strangely not Huddersfield Giants”, which maybe shows that the club were just in the right place at the right time (or maybe “wrong” time).^[4]

And the history of Liversedge F.C. states that “Liversedge Football Club was founded in 1910 following the demise of the old Liversedge Rugby Club which had been a member of the Northern Union which, in turn, was the forerunner to the Rugby League. It was one of a number of clubs which switched codes around that time”.^[5]
If this statement is true, it could be assumed that after losing the position in the Yorkshire Senior Competition, the club played for several years in a lower league.

Today the town is represented by Liversedge ARLFC who play at Primrose Lane (off Bradford Road)^[6]

Players of Note

Harry Varley (b 25/11/1867 to d 21/11/1915) played rugby union for England v Scotland 1892 and at club level for Liversedge.
He later played Rugby League for Liversedge (1889-92?) and Oldham.

Robert "Bob" Wood (b 1873) played rugby union for England v Ireland in 1894 and at club level for Liversedge. He later played Rugby League for Liversedge (1891-?).

Club Scoring Record

In a Season
	Details	Season	Competition		Notes	Ref
Highest League Position	15	1895–96	RL	out of 22 clubs
Lowest League Position	16	1897–98	Yorks Sen	out of 16 clubs
and	16	1899–00	Yorks Sen	out of 16 clubs
and	16	1900–01	Yorks Sen	out of 16 clubs
Most League Points	34	1895–96	RL	out of possible 84 = 41%
or	16	1896–97	Yorks Sen	out of possible 60 = 43%
Least League Points	6	1900–01	Yorks Sen	out of possible 60 = 10%
Most Points Scored (PF)	261	1895–96	RL	In 42 games = 6.21/game
Most Points Conceded (PA)	449	1897–98	Yorks Sen	In 30 games = 2.53/game
Least Points Scored (PF)	43	1900–01	Yorks Sen	In 30 games = 1.43/game
Least Points Conceded (PA)	233	1896–97	Yorks Sen	In 30 games = 5.87/game
Best Points Difference	-57	1896–97	Yorks Sen	In 30 games
Worst Points Difference	-343	1900–01	Yorks Sen	In 30 games

Club Trophies

The club did not win any trophies. But got to the Rugby Union final in the Yorkshire Challenge Cup (1888-89 season v Otley) Lost by Otley G1,T1,M4 18v16 Liversedge G1,T0,M4. (g)A Goal Kick from Try=5 points,Dropped Goal/Goal Kick=4 points,(t)Try=2 points,(m)Miner=3 points.

Club League Record

Season	Competition	Pos	Team Name	Pl	W	D	L	PW	PA	Diff	Pts	No of teams in league
1895–96	RL	15	Liversedge	42	15	4	23	261	355	–94	34	22
1896–97	Yorks Sen	11	Liversedge	30	13	0	17	176	233	-57	26	16
1897–98	Yorks Sen	16	Liversedge	30	3	1	26	76	449	-373	7	16
1898–99	Yorks Sen	15	Liversedge	30	5	3	22	131	439	-308	13	16
1899–00	Yorks Sen	16	Liversedge	30	5	1	24	94	303	-209	11	16
1900–01	Yorks Sen	16	Liversedge	30	2	2	26	43	386	-343	6	16
1901–02	Yorks Sen	14	Liversedge								6	14
Only limited County League information is available for this season.

Heading Abbreviations
Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures & results

The following are a selection of Liversedge's fixturesfrom the seven seasons in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League :- ^[3] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10]

Season	Date	Competition	Opponent	Venue	H/A	Result	Score	Notes	Ref
1895–96	Sat 14–09-1895	RL	Wigan	H	H	Lost	0-3		^[3]
1895–96	Sat 21–09-1895	RL	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-3		^[9]
1895–96	12-10-1895	RL	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Won	15-5	2	^[7]
1895–96	Sat 04–01-1896	RL	Hull	H	H	Lost	0-15		^[9]
1895–96	11–01-1896	RL	Warrington	unknown	?	Won	8-3		^[10]
1895–96	22–02-1896	RL	Warrington	unknown	?	Lost	4-27		^[10]
1895–96	Sat 07–03-1896	RL	Wigan	Folly Fields	A	Lost	0-25	1	^[3]
1895–96	07–04-1896	RL	Widnes	H	H	Won	6–0		^[3]
1895–96	Thu 16–04-1896	RL	St Helens	H	H	Won	7-14		^[8]
1895 –96	Thu 16–04-1896	RL	St Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Lost	13-3		^[8]
1896–97	Sat 26–0 9-1896	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	0-5		^[9]
1896–97	Sat 02–01-1897	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-13		^[9]
1896–97	03–04-1897	CC R3	Warrington	Wilderspool	A	Lost	0-6		^[10]
1897–98	Sat 30-10-1897	YSC	Hull	H	H	Won	3–0		^[9]
1898–99	Mon 02–01-1898	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	0-8		^[9]
1897–98	Sat 05–02-1898	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-25		^[9]
1897–98	26–02-1898	CC R1	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	0-26	2	^[7]
1898–99	Tue 11-10-1898	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	2-36		^[9]
1899–00	Sat 07-10-1899	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	10-11		^[9]
1899–00	Sat 13–01-1900	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-32		^[9]
1900–01	Sat 08-12-1900	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-30		^[9]
1900–01	Mon 08–04-1901	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	3-16		^[9]

Heading Abbreviations
CC Rx = Challenge Cup Round x; YC Rx =Yorkshire Cup Competition; YSC =Yorkshire Senior Competition

Notes and Comments

1 - Folly Fields is the stadium used by Wigan at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below - Note 3.
2 - Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by Widnes. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton - and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997.
3 - Wigan became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at Central Park being constructed.

References

↑ Genuki.org.uk - BIRSTALL: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1868.
↑ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 34 and 35.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Cherry and White".
↑ "Liversedge – not a bad place to live".
↑ "History of Liversedge FC".
↑ "Liversedge ARFC official website".
↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Widnes History".
↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Saints Heritage Society".
↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.10 9.11 9.12 "Hull&Proud".
↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 "Warington History".

External links

v t e The Rugby Football League

Chairmen	Rodney Walker Richard Lewis Brian Barwick

Presidents	Les Bettinson Colin Hutton Harry Jepson Maurice Lindsay Bev Risman

Founder members	Batley FC Bradford FC Brighouse Rangers RFC Broughton Rangers FC Halifax FC Huddersfield FC Hull FC Hunslet FC Leeds FC Leigh FC Liversedge RFC Manningham FC Oldham FC Rochdale Hornets FC Runcorn RFC Stockport RFC St Helens FC Tyldesley FC Wakefield Trinity FC Warrington FC Widnes FC Wigan FC

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