Halifax Panthers Rugby League

Halifax Rugby League Club was formed way back in 1873. It was a Rugby Union club in those days, as all rugby clubs were before the birth of Rugby League in 1895, and was very successful in that code. After becoming the first ever winners of the Yorkshire Cup in 1878, Halifax went on to win it on four further occasions. Several players were supplied for the Yorkshire County side in these years, and five were picked for the full England Rugby Union team. The club moved into their previous home of Thrum Hall in 1886, their home for the next 112 years until the move in 1998 to the re-developed Shay Stadium to ground-share with local footballing neighbours, Halifax Town AFC (now FC Halifax Town). Halifax were founder members of the Rugby League (then known as the Northern Union) in 1895. They continued to be very successful, producing one of their best ever teams in the early years of the twentieth century. In season 1902-03 they achieved the double by winning the Challenge Cup and...