Following a complaint from the Cumberland County Union that another club had lured one of their players away with monetary incentives. The Union established a committee of enquiry consisting of F. I. Currey, W. Cail and A. M. Crook which attempted to obtain evidence. The rugby union was warned that if the club involved was punished, all the chief clubs in Lancashire and Yorkshire, from which a large proportion of international players were drawn, would secede from the Union.
The matter came to a head at a general meeting of the rugby union on September 20th, 1893 at the Westminster Palace Hotel. At that meeting a proposal was made by J. A. Millar, of Yorkshire County and seconded by M. Newsome, also of Yorkshire (both members of the RU committee) that "players be allowed compensation for bona fide loss of time". This was opposed by G. Rowland Hill, Honorary secretary of the union since 81/82, supported by R. S. Whalley of Lancashire, a vice president, moved the following amendment: "that this meeting, believing that the above principle is contrary to the true interest of the game and its spirit, declines to sanction the same". This amendment was carried by 282 to 136 votes despite the Northerners traveling down to the meeting en mass in two special trains. H. E. Steed of Lennox F. C. had polled all the clubs in the union and had proxies for 120 clubs against professionalism.
The matter did not however end there and there was another general meeting held immediately afterwards where careful revisions were carefully prepared to crush and attempts to start professionalism in any form. By-law #1 for example was changed to declare that "the name of the society shall be called the 'Rugby Football Union' and only clubs comprised entirely of amateurs shall be eligible for membership, and its headquarters shall be London where all general meetings shall be held."
The issue of "broken time" payments then reached boiling point at the RFU's AGM. Hornby - a true amateur - argued for broken time payments because "the so-called amateur sides ask for large guarantees, publish no balance sheets and distribute expenses far larger than would be paid to a professional player".
Yorkshire complained that, although there are more rugby clubs in the North of England than in the South, more Southerners than Northerners populate the RFU Committee. Also, Committee meetings are held in London at times that are not suitable for Northern folk to attend.
More revisions were to be planned and implemented in 1895.
However, by the end of July 1895, Huddersfield, Batley, Dewsbury, Bradford, Manningham, Leeds, Halifax, Brighouse Rangers, Hull, Liversedge, Hunslet and Wakefield had announced their resignation from the Yorkshire Union. They were now rugby outcasts.
On Tuesday, August 20, at a meeting at the Mitre Hotel, Leeds, the 12 clubs agreed they should form a Northern Union, but at the same time made it clear they wished to retain their links with the Yorkshire Union. It was decided that a five-man panel would meet a sub-committee of the Yorkshire Union to place before them a scheme for the settlement of the dispute.' The Union, however, immediately rejected the proposal.
The clubs decided to break all links with the union and to form the Northern Rugby Football Union NRFU (on amateur lines, but with the acceptance of the principle of payment for broken time). It was also agreed to hold a joint meeting of Yorkshire and Lancashire clubs at the George Hotel, Huddersfield on Thursday, August 29, when the formation of the NRFU could be officially announced.
On September 19. 1895 at a general meeting of the RFU, further by-law changes were made to guard against professionalism which had been growing fast in the leagues of North England. Union clubs were forbidden to play Northern Union clubs and stricter rules against player payments were introduced. It was a very bitter severance of rugby into two rival camps and acrimony continued for close to a century.
The Northern Union was a run-away success with 59 teams being present at the first AGM on August 27th, 1876 and many more applications flooding in.
In the 1896/7 season the Northern Union introduced a challenge cup with all teams allowed to enter which caused great excitement and the final was held on May 1st 1897 between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley. Batley won 10 - 3 watched by between 13,000 to 14,000 fans who paid 620 pounds between them.
From 1895 to 1908 the most significant changes to the rules were made and Rugby League was transformed into an entirely different and unique game.
