[3] Founded as St Helens Football Club on 19 November 1873 at the Fleece Hotel by William Douglas Herman,[4] they played their first ever match on 31 January 1874 against Liverpool Royal Infirmary.

[31] The aftermath of the war was still taking its toll on national sport, not merely the club's ability to compete and complete fixtures, on 31 January 1918 'close down' due to a lack of finances following a 22–0 defeat by Widnes.

[59][60] The arrival of Jim Sullivan as head coach in 1952[61] heralded a successful era for St Helens, and helped to establish the club as a respected force in British and eventually world rugby league.

Sullivan took Saints to their first victory in the Challenge Cup final (against Halifax in 1956),[7][64] On Saturday 24 November 1956, St Helens inflicted a touring Australia its biggest ever defeat with a 44–2 win.

With a galaxy of stars including Tom van Vollenhoven, Alex Murphy, Dick Huddart, Cliff Watson, Ray French and Vince Karalius, the 1960s was a decade of great success for the Saints.

[citation needed] They won the Lancashire Cup in the 1961–62 season, with a 25–9 success over Swinton (at Central Park, Wigan) seeing yet more silverware come St Helens' way under the management of Prescott.

[81] St Helens were beaten by Wakefield Trinity in the 1967 Rugby Football League Championship Final at Station Road, Swinton on 10 May 1967 by 20 points to 9 in a replay,[82] after a 7–7 draw 4 days earlier.

[61][114] Not in-keeping with several of his predecessors, Benyon did not enjoy any success in his first season as St Helens coach, losing the Lancashire Cup final of that year to Warrington.

[134][135] The lack of trophies in the St Helens cabinet, after the club had suddenly become so accustomed to success, would need to change in the "new" brand Super League that formed in 1996; hence Hughes' departure in 1996 and replacement with Australian Shaun McRae.

In 2004 they beat arch—rivals Wigan 32–16 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff in front of a capacity crowd of 73,734 people to win the Challenge Cup,[155] Long gaining his second of an eventual three Lance Todd Trophies.

Mick Potter was announced as the successor to Anderson, which received many plaudits from the St. Helens fans and the European game as a whole, as the year previous he had led the Catalans Dragons to a record—high third—placed finish in the league.

This defeat naturally came as a shock to the St Helens faithful, after so often in the last 15 years seeing the team reach the pinnacle of this competition and go on to win the cup.

One of the finest finals of the Super League era was anticipated,[195] but the flamboyant Saints that the fans saw so rarely under Potter once more failed to materialise, and, in front of a near sell—out crowd of 71,526, they fell to a 22–10 loss to rivals Wigan.

[196] It was not the romantic finish to the Saints careers of Potter, Cunningham or any of the departing members of the squad that many had hoped for, but nevertheless, a new era was just around the corner, as Simmons' reign began.

A number of serious injuries to further key players such as Leon Pryce and Ade Gardner meant the team was facing an uphill battle on the field all season.

However, despite all the problems faced, St Helens defied the odds to reach their 11th Challenge Cup semi-final in a row, and at the end of the season they qualified for their sixth consecutive Grand Final.

Following St Helens's defeat by Wigan in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup, which ended a run of 11 consecutive semi-final appearances, it was announced that Nathan Brown would be taking over as head coach for 2013, with Rush moving back into his previous role.

[198] During the Super League XXIV season, St Helens reached the Challenge Cup final against Warrington but lost the match 18–4 at Wembley Stadium.

[204] They then went on to defeat Catalan Dragons 12–10 in a hotly-contested Grand Final, securing the club's first league and cup double since 2006 and an historic 'three-peat' - becoming only the second team in the summer era to win three consecutive championships.

On 26 July 2024, St Helens were defeated by Leigh 46-4 which meant the club had lost five matches in a row for the first time since the Super League era began.

More early examples of players that made the grade following on form their stints in the academy and reserves (previously known as the "St Helens Colts") include Steve Prescott,[212] Paul Forber,[213] Gary Connolly,[214] and Chris Arkwright.

Remarkably, the first encounter between the fierce rivals ended in a 0–0 draw at Knowsley Road,[218] The games were traditionally played on Boxing Day, however were moved to Good Friday, during the busy Easter period in rugby league.

Especially recently, with incidents like the Ryan Bailey "chicken wing" tackle on Maurie Fa'asavalu in 2008, the presence of James Graham when the two meet, as well as the numerous fights that have broken out between the two sets of players, the game is certainly regarded as a feisty one, as well as one that produces entertaining rugby.

Such activities off the field and between games like fights between supporters, has led to some fans being discouraged from attending the fixture at Knowsley Road; shown by somewhat disappointing crowd figures, such as an example of 11,048 in 2010.

A recent survey showed fan bases in Australia, the United States, France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, the Middle East, Chile and Greece.

This new crest drew criticism from large sections of the St Helens faithful, who were afraid of the club losing its connection to the town to attract a wider fan base.

[290] Previous main sponsors have included St Helens Glass (1986–87, 2000–01), McEwan's Lager (1987–98), John Smith's (1999), Caledonia (2002), Comodo (2003), All Sports (2004–05), Earth money (2006–07), Pilkington Activ (2008–09), Frontline (2010), Medicash (2011), Typhoo (2012 - 2016), RCMA Group (2017), and Cash Converters[291] (2018 - 2021).

After the great schism of 1895, and St Helens joining the NRFU, their first game at Knowsley Road under traditional rugby league rules was against Rochdale, in front of 3,000 spectators.

[296] It was announced that the new complex, to be built on an unused glass site in Peasley Cross, was to feature at least 12,000 seats, a large car park, and a Tesco store next to the ground.

[301] 1 Kel Coslett – FB 2 Tom van Vollenhoven – WG 3 Doug Greenall – CE 4 Paul Newlove – CE 5 Darren Albert – WG 6 Les Fairclough – SO 7 Alex Murphy – SH 8 Alan Prescott – PR 9 Keiron Cunningham – HK 10 Cliff Watson – PR 11 Dick Huddart – SR 12 Chris Joynt – SR 13 Vince Karalius – LF 14 Sean Long – SH 15 George Nicholls – LF 16 Paul Sculthorpe – LF 17 Paul Wellens – FB 18 players have had benefit years or testimonials at St Helens, organised jointly by the club and the RFL.