On game days, the players were given time off from their jobs to play the sport. Yet, they were still compensated; in essence, paid to play. This remuneration system became known as "broken time" payments, which the RFU considered an egregious violation of rugby's amateur status.

In 1892, the RFU reproached these northern clubs, threatening serious sanctions unless the payments ceased.  A journalist summed up the allegation: "The Southern Clubs object to the payments as being the thin end of professionalism pure and simple." By 1895, the Yorkshire/Lancashire clubs withdrew to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NU). Twenty-two northern clubs joined the new association. A few of the well-known clubs that would dominate NU play were; Wigan, Halifax, Leeds, Huddersfield, Hull, St. Helens, and Wakefield. 

Soon, the NU totaled more clubs than the RFU, also attracting greater attendance.  Local fans enjoyed the new sport, which emphasized that it had been created explicitly to be a north of England game. Eventually, in 1921, to distinguish the difference between the two rugby codes, the NU was referred to as "League" and the RFU as "Union." In the south of England, Union prevailed with the first League club not coming to London until 1933.  

Realizing after the breakaway that it was now unrestrained from following Union laws, the NU made significant changes to create a new, spectator-friendly rugby. The objective was to offer a faster paced game with more open field offense and continual play. Specifically:

• To reduce players from 15 to 13 (i.e., no flankers);

• To remove rucking and line outs; and,

• To generate a six-tackle set, allowing a team six "downs" to score or cede possession.

In those formative years at the start of the 20th Century, the NU organized the first rugby club knock out competition. This initiated a first ever championship in England that became  known as the Challenge Cup. When played at Wembley Stadium, London, it attracted upward of 90,000 fans. In 1954, the Cup final attendance reached 102,000, a record at that time, and, unequivocally, an emphatic testimonial of League's deep-rooted fan appeal.

World-Wide Success

In 1907, when New Zealand rugby players learned that NU matches attracted 40,000 paying spectators, they decided to tour England. The team would compete for pay as professionals. It was known as the All Golds, referencing their All Blacks association and underscoring the tour's for profit undertaking. The ensuing publicity at home of this successful tour witnessed many Kiwi ruggers soon joining NU clubs in England. This depleted the number of potential players for the newly formed League teams in New Zealand.

In Australia, Rugby League proved a certified success.in both New South Wales and Queensland. The popularity of the sport paralleled a familiar positive reception of working-class fans in northern England. Rugby Union suffered a dramatic loss of interest and lower gate receipts.  By 1908, Union clubs had to give over stadium leases to the burgeoning League clubs.

A sportswriter summed up the reason, "Thirteen-man rugby has shown itself to be a faster, more open game of better athletes than the other code."  

Acceptance of League occurred in France with the formation of the French Rugby League in 1934.  Most of the teams came from the country’s south west cities. Historically, during the time of World War II's Nazi occupation, the governing Vichy regime insisted on a return to Union and banned the usage of the word "League." The sport was renamed Jeu à Treize, or Game of Thirteen.

League's popularity spread to Fiji and to Papua New Guinea. The Fijian Rugby League Federation was founded in 1992. Today, it contains 32 teams across two conferences. Rugby League is the national sport of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The PNG Chiefs joined Australia's National Rugby League.

Uniforms 

Currently, many Rugby League clubs throughout the world use a "V" or chevron as standard on the front of jerseys. In part, this differentiates the uniforms of League and Union clubs (hoops. stripes, squares, solids). See the V chevron example in the attached image from a Papua New Guinea side.

Final Note

In effect, it was the English class system that created Rugby League, a north country working man's sport, comprised of factory clubs. It spread successfully, gaining a more favorable reception in Australia and New Zealand. It offers its own quadrennial World Cup, featuring national sides. And it is played in the public school systems of major countries.

Rugby League failed over time to gain a grounding in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, or the south of England. Ironically, a significant boost to Union arose with the transformation to professionalism in 1995 that created pro leagues world wide. And, the Union game was made more spectator friendly from changes in the lineout and kicking for touch in 1999. 

Today, both codes coexist side by side under the Rugby banner.