Where did rugby league get its name?

Answer 1

When Rugby was formalised it became known as the Rugby Football Union (RFU). When a group of northern clubs found that many of its top players in the armature game were moving south for jobs to earn money and this allowed them play the armature game many northern clubs found it difficult to turn out a team as the men were working and from poor backgrounds therefore they couldn't afford to play. The northern clubs wanted to pay players for their match time and thus be able to turn out teams - The RFU rejected this without exception as it breached the rules of armature status. 18 clubs left the Union and started their own League - This became the Rugby League which went on to become the National Rugby League (NRL)