The club share big long-standing West Yorkshire Derby rivalries with Huddersfield Giants and Bradford Bulls.

In 1888 the Cardigan Estate was sold at auction and Lot 17a was purchased by a group of Leeds citizens, who intended to form the city's leading sports club.

A special general meeting was held in 1895 that voted decisively to support the breakaway Northern Union as a founder member, resulting in two resignations from the club.

Leeds was not admitted until the following year when it was placed in the newly formed second division and quickly gained promotion as runners-up to Keighley.

Leeds reverted to rugby union during the First World War to play a one-off challenge game against the Royal Navy Depot from Plymouth in 1917.

The Navy won the union game 9–3 on Christmas Eve but proved equally adept at league recording a 24–3 win on 28 December.

Four days later the two clubs drew again, with Leeds eventually lifting the trophy after a second replay, the only occasion it took three attempts to settle a Yorkshire Cup Final.

Vic was regarded as a major loss to the Australian game and this contributed to the RFL imposing a ban on international transfers, which lasted until 1940.

The match was played at the Elland Road football ground, to accommodate a huge demand from the city's rugby league supporters.

Following the Second World War, Leeds club struggled to make a serious impact in rugby league despite having a financial advantage over the majority of other teams.

Their confrontations on the field during the Leeds v Bradford Northern local derby games are part of rugby league folklore.

It was not until the late 1950s, when in 1957 the club secured its first post-war Challenge Cup victory, that the young side being built began to show signs of what was to come.

Joe Warham came to Leeds as coach in 1958 and a Yorkshire Cup triumph followed, but the side still lacked enough quality to compete at the top of the Lancashire section of the competition in which it was then playing.

In 1960 Dai Prosser was appointed to assist Joe Warham with the coaching duties and the club signed a new back three of Jack Fairbank, Brian Shaw and Dennis Goodwin to strengthen the forward pack.

The recruitment paid off: the club was crowned Champions for the first time in 1961 with Lewis Jones leading them to a 25–10 victory over Warrington in the Championship Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

This success was repeated in 1978, in a classic final against St Helens at Wembley Stadium with Leeds completing what was then a record comeback, from 10–0 down.

Iestyn Harris joined Leeds that year for a record-breaking £350,000 transfer and was appointed captain in his first full season at the age of only 21.

Leeds experienced great financial difficulty and even flirted with relegation as they won only six matches all year and finished third from bottom in Super League, above only Oldham and Paris.

In 1998 Graham Murray replaced Bell and joined the Leeds Rhinos as head coach and the team reached the inaugural Grand Final, at Old Trafford, being beaten by Wigan.

[15] In 2003, despite being top of the table at the time, Leeds announced Tony Smith would replace Darryl Powell as head coach for the 2004 season.

[19] As champions of the previous year, Leeds played in the 2005 World Club Challenge beating the 2004 Australian premiers Canterbury Bulldogs.

[21] Further success followed in 2008 when Leeds again beat Australian opposition in the 2008 World Club Challenge, Melbourne Storm the defeated opponents on this occasion.

[26] After failing to win a trophy in 2010, Leeds started the 2011 season in mixed form, and by July appeared to be in danger of missing out on the play-offs completely.

Leeds' victory in the 2015 Grand Final was the final competitive game of Rugby League for three long serving players of the game, as Jamie Peacock & Kylie Leuluai retired at the end of the season and Kevin Sinfield joined Leeds' sister club in Rugby Union, Yorkshire Carnegie.

Between 2017 and 2019 the stadium was extensively redeveloped with both the South and North Stands being demolished and replaced by modern constructions, the latter in co-operation with Yorkshire CCC.

In 2023 the club signed a three-year extension with Leeds Building Society, making it the longest shirt sponsorship deal of any English rugby team in both codes.

played against each other in the 'all Leeds' 1938 Championship Final at Elland Road, won by Hunslet, which attracted a still-record Rugby League attendance for the city of 54,112.

Leeds also have West Yorkshire derbies with Castleford Tigers and with Wakefield Trinity, who they play every Boxing Day in the annual Festive Challenge.

Introduced in 1946, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in a road accident during the Second World War.

The Golden Boot is given, usually in December after the conclusion of all the year's matches, to the player adjudged to be the best in the world, as determined by a ballot of international media representatives.