Leeds Rhinos Foundation are encouraging Rugby League fans in take part in a special walk this summer to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Rugby League.
From July 19 to July 24, representatives of every section of the Rugby League community can participate in the Founders’ Walk, a historic 120-mile journey taking in the homes of the original 22 members of the Northern Union.
Organised by Rugby League Cares, the fund-raising walk commemorates the birth of Rugby League at a historic meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield on August 29, 1895 and will see the sport come together to celebrate its glorious past.
RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood will be doing the walk which will begin in Hull and end in St Helens, taking in the 20 other original sites of the game’s founding clubs in between.
Each day will feature defined stages to give fans and community club players of all ages and abilities the opportunity to take part and raise funds for the sport’s charity, Rugby League Cares, their own local good cause or club.
It is hoped the walkers will include sporting celebrities, current and past players, club officials and fans whose efforts will raise £120,000 for worthy causes within the game.
Leeds Rhinos Chief Executive Gary Hetherington, who will take part in the walk on Tuesday 21st July, which covers Hunslet and Leeds said: “The Founders Walk is a wonderful way to commemorate this significant anniversary and it is fitting that it will involve visiting the clubs that played such an important role in the history of our game. I hope many members of the Rugby League community join us in supporting this walk and taking part in these unique celebrations.”
To register for the Founders Walk please contact Rugby League Cares Operations Manager Katie Irwin on katharine.irwin@rlcares.org.uk
You can register to walk as a club or as a team and you will need to have at least one adult walker per 10 walkers aged 16 and under to ensure safety.
It is £5 to register and each walker plus each responsible adult will be issued with a specially created 120th Anniversary wrist band which must be worn on the day.
The itinerary for the Founders Walk is as follows:
Sunday July 19 – Hull
Monday July 20 – Huddersfield, Batley, Dewsbury, Wakefield
Tuesday July 21 – Hunslet, Leeds, Bradford, Halifax
Wednesday July 22 – Rochdale, Oldham
Thursday July 23 – Salford, Leigh, Wigan
Friday July 24 – Warrington, Widnes, St Helens
The Northern Union’s 22 founding clubs were Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Broughton, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull FC, Hunslet, Leeds, Leigh, Liversedge, Manningham, Oldham, Rochdale, Runcorn, St Helens, Stockport, Tyldesley, Wakefield Trinity, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan.
Four clubs still play in, or on the site of, the stadium used in the first Northern Union season of 1895: Batley, Leeds, Wakefield and Widnes.