This tour marked the first game of rugby league in the capital which saw Great Britain lose to New Zealand 18–6 at Stamford Bridge in front of 14,000 fans.

In 1954, at the 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay, the record for the highest attended rugby league fixture was set at the Odsal Stadium with an official crowd of 102,569 watching Warrington claim an 8–4 victory over Halifax.

Great Britain won their second world cup title after losing out to Australia in the previous edition of the tournament.

In 1965, David Attenborough created the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy in order to promote the televising of rugby league.

This marked the end of the longest period of time where the league leaders were crowned champions which had been in place since 1973.

In 2002, London Skolars became the first community team in over 80 years to progress to the professional structure, with 2006 seeing French side Catalans Dragons join the league.

In 2007, Magic Weekend was introduced to the Super League, with the inaugural edition held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the closest a British side had come to winning the competition since 1972, with England losing 6–0 to Australia in the final.

[2] Unlike in most team sports in the United Kingdom, the UK has historically operated a unified national side, nicknamed the GB Lions, since 1908.

[3] The team saw great success, winning the 1954, 1960, and 1972 Rugby League World Cups in addition to achieving a runners up place on four separate occasions.

However, the team did not enter the 1995 tournament in favour of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland competing separately.

Despite this, the GB Lions still competed in other tournaments together such as test series and the Rugby League Tri-Nations, until 2007 where the team was disbanded altogether.

[3] In 2019, the GB Lions were reunited for a tour of the Pacific, playing against New Zealand (twice), Tonga, and Papua New Guinea.

[3][4][5] However the fact that Great Britain lost all four tour matches called people to question the feasibility of the team, with a major criticism being the imbalance in the number of English players to the other nationalities.

This was defended with the justification of a lack of high level domestic league in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

[6][7][8] Women's rugby league has also operated a full UK team nicknamed the GB Lionesses.

Finally, in the third tier League 1, Coventry Bears, London Skolars, and North Wales Crusaders are not from Northern England.

While the Super League South is officially a top-tier competition, participants are not eligible for the Grand Final.

The League Cup (1972–1996) and Charity Shield (1985–1996) have also existed for short periods of time and operated in the same way as the English football competitions of the same name.

The county competitions in Lancashire and Yorkshire were historically a major part of rugby league in the British Isles.

Currently, the RFL has full control over Rugby League in England only with the other organisations operating within their respective home nation.

In 2013 WARLA became fully incorporated into the Rugby Football League which now runs the top tiers of the women's game.

Great Britain Police also have their own rugby league team which, along with those if the armed forces, regularly competes in the Challenge Cup.

The Good Friday derby is also considered a major rivalry with the two teams, Wigan Warriors and St Helens, consistently performing well in the league and cup competitions.

The Big Four consists of Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Leeds Rhinos, and Warrington Wolves.

Prior to 2010, Bradford Bulls was considered a Big Four member, before the rise of Warrington, the club has since dropped in performance level and now plays in the Championship.

[18][19] On Monday evenings, during the UK domestic season, the Super League Show is broadcast in the BBC regions of North East and Cumbria, North West, Yorkshire, and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire which shows highlights of the weekend's matches.

For a dealied summary of summer era coverage from 1996 onwards, see the below table:[23] Ireland is the only home nation to have a national rugby league stadium, two in fact, with Irish home matches being played at Carlisle Grounds and Morton Stadium.

Elland Road has been the most recent home venue for England, Netherdale for Scotland, and the Racecourse Ground for Wales.

The stadium was also used to host the 2020 Super League Grand Final as Old Trafford couldn't accommodate that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.