They have or have had rivalries with Warrington, Leeds, Bradford, Keighley Cougars, Halifax, Oldham, Rochdale, Wakefield Trinity,Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams.

Hepworth won a closely fought game which "exhibited the usual amount of confusions, bloody noses, etc" and took the prize of £5 which had been jointly donated by each side.

At this time the gymnasium was the only venue in the town where young men could take part in physical activities, it offered the opportunity to participate in fencing, swimming, bowling, cricket and many other sports.

In an advertisement headed "Huddersfield Athletic Club" they invited "gentlemen desirous of becoming members" to a public meeting at 8 o'clock on the evening of 16 November 1864 at the Queen Hotel.

Initially the football section stayed at Rifle Field, but alterations made in the summer of 1878 meant that rugby could begin at the start of the 1878–79 season with the visit of Manchester Rangers on 2 November.

The club has seen many ups and downs in its long history, but for the first 60 years of rugby league it was one of the powerhouses of the game, with only Wigan as rivals in terms of trophies won.

They were impressed enough with stand-off Albert Rosenfeld to sign him up that evening along with Australian Dual Code International Pat Walsh one of the best forwards of the Kangaroos.

Two members of the team, centre Harold Wagstaff and wing Albert Rosenfeld were honoured by inclusion in the original Rugby League Hall of Fame.

[2] Huddersfield won the League Championship in 1949, beating Warrington 13–12 in the final at Maine Road, Manchester in front of what was at the time a world record crowd of 75,194.

On Saturday 17 November 1951, in an ordinary league game, Australian Lionel Cooper scored a club record ten tries, as Huddersfield defeated Keighley 48–3 at Fartown.

In 1962, the league was split into East and West of the Pennines; Huddersfield and Hull Kingston Rovers met at Headingley, Leeds in the first final of the Eastern Division Championship on Saturday 10 November 1962.

As well as beginning to improve the playing staff, the new owners also carried out a considerable amount of work on the Fartown stadium and by the end of the 1989–90 season significant progress was being made.

The club won 6 and drew one of the remaining 14 games, only finishing bottom of the table after Wakefield Trinity's appeal against a 4-point salary cap deduction was successful.

The team won the Buddies Cup, as it was then known, and also the NFP Grand Final against Leigh in October 2002, which secured promotion back to the Super League for the 2003 season.

In 2003 under Smith, Huddersfield Giants finally established themselves as a Super League club, earning notable wins over Leeds (first time since 1965 ending a remarkable streak of 30 defeats), Wigan and St Helens and finishing 10th, above Wakefield Trinity and Halifax.

After guiding Huddersfield back to Super League, Smith and assistant coach Brian McDermott moved onto Headingley to take control of Leeds.

For the kick off of the 2006 season the club unveiled a host of new signings to strengthen the squad, including the iconic New Zealand international scrum-half Robbie Paul.

After a convincing victory over Salford in the quarter final, the Giants faced Leeds (ironically coached by Tony Smith) in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Odsal, Bradford.

Against all the odds, massive underdogs Huddersfield pulled out what is regarded as possibly their best performance of modern times, Stuart Donlan and Chris Nero with 2 tries apiece and Michael De Vere with a try and five goals steering them to a 30–12 victory.

The start of the 2007 season saw Huddersfield make some exciting signings, including Wests Tigers trio, Jamahl Lolesi, John Skandalis and Shane Elford, as well as Ryan Hudson.

Huddersfield had a Challenge Cup quarter-final to look forward to and had been on their longest ever winning streak since joining the Super League, nine games including two wins in the Challenge Cup including a 36–12 victory over Bradford in front of the Sky Television cameras on 18 May, Huddersfield's first victory over Bradford since 1972 and ending a run of 20 consecutive defeats in the Super League era.

Following the 2006 Challenge Cup Final appearance, Giants continued their progress by beating Wakefield Trinity for the 9th consecutive occasion to qualify for the play-offs for the first time and a match against Hull F.C.

2013 was seen as somewhat of a transition season, with Anderson able to mould his own team after taking over midway through a tumultuous period the previous year, however, Anderson's charges got off to a flyer, recording their first win at St Helens since 1978 with a 40–4 drubbing, that form kept up and Huddersfield found themselves in the top 2 for most of the season, a 30–12 hammering of Wigan, signalled the end of Wigan's challenge and Huddersfield won the League Leader's Shield, the first time they have finished top of the league in 81 years by hammering Rivals Wakefield 40–0.

It was announced in September that Giants' prop Sebastine Ikahihifo had achieved a place in the Super League Dream Team after a highly impressive performance that season.

Only 3 years after forming, Huddersfield Giants Women won the Super League shield final in October 2021 by beating Featherstone Rovers 24–22 at Headingley[20] and reached the Challenge Cup quarter final in 2022 but lost to reigning champions St Helens Following a disappointing start to the 2018 season in which Huddersfield only won two of their opening seven games, head coach Rick Stone was sacked.

[24] In the 2024 Super League season, Huddersfield had a decent start, winning seven of their first ten games but the season would soon mirror the previous year, Watson was now under serious pressure, with his methods, performance and results scrutinised, following a run of one win in nine games, including a humiliating 46–10 pasting by Warrington in a cup semi final and with crowds dwindling rapidly, Watson was relieved of his duties following another (0–48) defeat at Warrington.

[26] Despite not being one of the bigger or successful clubs in Super League, the Giants have a very good academy system, backed by the Supporters Association, who provide volunteers to run and promote the games and raise vital funds, in 2018, the academy team, under head of youth Andy Kelly and head coach Luke Robinson, and nicknamed "Baby Giants" by the supporters, made it to the top 4 grand final play off semi final for the first time.

[21] Some of that team have now made the step up to first grade level and as of 2022 Jake Wardle, Oliver Russell, Innes Senior, Louis Senior, Sam Hewitt, Jon Luke Kirby, Matty English, Oliver Wilson, Ronan Michael, Dom Young have all made the step up to first grade rugby.

Other graduates from the Giants academy in the recent past include Huddersfield legends Leroy Cudjoe, Michael Lawrence and Jermaine McGillvary, also, Kruise Leeming, Jake Connor, Darnell McIntosh Sam Wood .

[27] The club's Academy, scholarship and Reserves side currently use the facilities at the Laund Hill complex which is home to Huddersfield YMCA Rugby Union club Despite not having the largest fanbase in super league they have a dedicated and loyal fanbase and a consistent following of around 200–300 dedicated away fans and average 4,000+ at a majority of the home games, the fans have been nicknamed "the Cowbell Army" due to the presence of Cowbells amongst the crowd.