Rugby League

Rugby league is played by two teams which each contain 13 players, with 4 substitutes. The substitutes are used in rolling format throughout the match, and a maximumof 12 subtitutions per match can be employed.

Rugby league was formed in 1895 after a big fallout with their rugby union counterparts. This was due in the main to a difference in opinion abou paying players to take part or not. Many players in the north of England could not afford to take time off work to play rugby and wanted compensating, but rugby union chiefs decided that it should be done for free.

For over a hundred years rugby league was a professional sport whereas rugby union was amateur. Both codes are now professional, but there is still a divide between the sports. This is mainly geographical now, as most rugby union teams are based in the midlands or more south, whereas rugby league is based mainly in the north of England.

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