Before 1850, many British kids needed to work six days a week, for more than twelve hours a day. on weekdays (7 p.m. in winter); on Saturdays they had to stop work at 2 p.m. These adjustments meant that working class kids had more time for video games, together with various types of football.

Mauls had been stopped as soon as the ball provider was held, being replaced by a play-the ball-ruck. The separate Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the NRFU merged in 1901, forming the Northern Rugby League, the first time the name rugby league was used formally in …