ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the contradictions of rugby league as both a globalised sport and as an imaginary, imagined community associated with working-class Leeds of the past. It is based on an analysis of existing archive material published on current official web-sites of the three professional rugby league clubs in Leeds as well as information on league tables from the Rugby Football League. Research findings on the current situation of rugby league in Leeds and elsewhere, the history of the game and its relationship to class and identity, come from twelve semi-structured interviews with key supporters of rugby league in traditional' Leeds. These supporters are individuals known to the researcher for their work in re-establishing Bramley RLFC and volunteering in rugby league for Hunslet RLFC or other amateur clubs in the South Leeds area. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the biggest, most popular version of football in Leeds was the version of rugby played by the Northern Union.
