Editing Rugby league (section)

== Etymology ==
Rugby league football takes its name from the bodies that split to create a new form of rugby, distinct from that run by the Rugby Football Unions, in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand between 1895 and 1908. Within the original meanings of the words, Unions were broad collective organisations with a somewhat greater emphasis on hierarchies beyond merely the clubs, whereas 'Leagues' were essentially formal collections of individual clubs participating on an equal basis in competitions they devised themselves (''see also the use of '[[The Football Association|Football Association]]' in [[association football]], more commonly called 'football' or '[[soccer]]', and compare to the '[[English Football League|Football League]]'  competitions founded in that sport by its clubs'').

The first of these, the [[Rugby Football League|Northern Rugby Football Union]], was established in 1895 as a breakaway faction of England's [[Rugby Football Union]] (RFU). Both organisations played the game under the same rules at first, although the Northern Union began to modify rules almost immediately, thus creating a new simpler game that was intended to be a faster-paced form of rugby football. Similar breakaway factions split from RFU-affiliated unions in Australia and New Zealand in 1907 and 1908, renaming themselves "rugby football ''league''s" and introducing Northern Union rules.<ref>''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100120041946/http://www.crusadersrfl.com/page.php?id=419 Why Rugby League?]}}'' at Crusaders Rugby League website</ref> In 1922, the Northern Union also changed its name to the [[Rugby Football League]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spracklen |first=Karl |title='Black Pearl, Black Diamonds' Exploring racial identities in rugby league |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3NMCF79r6wC&q=%22rugby+league%22 |isbn=978-0-415-24629-3}}</ref> and thus over time the sport itself became known as "rugby league" football.