British Amateur Rugby League Association HQ

Images of Britain: The British Amateur Rugby League Association

The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) has its HQ in Huddersfield. It is an organization for social and recreational rugby league created in 1973.

Since its foundation the association has reorganized teams in regional leagues and created new cup competitions and the National Conference League. The NCL is the fourth tier of the male British rugby league pyramid.

The headquarters is about 5 minutes on foot from Huddersfield Station and St Peter's Parish Church.

Huddersfield is the spiritual home of Rugby League. In 1895, 22 clubs from Lancashire and Yorkshire met at the George Hotel in Huddersfield and broke away from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to form the Northern Rugby Football Union, which would later become the Rugby Football League (RFL).

This new organization introduced rules and regulations to professionalize the sport, distinguishing it from Rugby Union, which remained strictly amateur for many years. Rugby League adopted changes such as reducing the number of players on each team from 15 to 13 and modifying the play-the-ball rule, which increased the game's pace and appeal to spectators.

The schism within the sport of rugby football occurred due to disputes over player compensation, which were especially contentious in the industrial regions of Northern England, where many players came from working-class backgrounds and required compensation for time missed from work.

Address: BARLA Headquarters, West Yorkshire House, 4 New North Parade, Huddersfield HD1 5JP; Tel: 01484 461 707.