Rugby League War of the Roses

The first War of the Roses was contested in 1895 between Yorkshire and Lancashire since rugby league was founded in Yorkshire and mostly played in the heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. It was held almost annually until 1991 and occasionally was contested in a series.

In 1985, an annual fixture between Lancashire and Yorkshire was proposed as a replacement for the County Championship which had last been played in 1982–83. The fixture became known as the Rodstock War of the Roses, and the first game was played in September 1985. The series lasted until 1991, when it was scrapped due to lack of interest.

The fixture was revived in 2001 under the name of the Origin Series, inspired by the success of Australia's State of Origin series between New South Wales and Queensland.[1]

Player eligibility for the Origin Series was based on the player's region of birth, but players born outside of Yorkshire and Lancashire were also eligible for selection, based on the region where they first played rugby league at professional level.

The Origin Series was reduced to a one-off Origin Game in 2003 due to the British hosting the touring Australia, New Zealand A and as well the kick off of the Rugby League European Nations Cup. So together with the Challenge Cup, WCC and Rugby Super League, the Rugby Football League (RFL) felt that too many Origin matches would be too much strain on the top players. The tournament was then rested due to apathy from rugby league supporters.

The series has in effect been replaced by the International Origin series, where England take on the "Exiles" – a team composed of the best overseas players in Super League.

Both Lancashire and Yorkshire have played numerous matches against touring Australian and New Zealand teams.[2][3] From the 1967–68 Kangaroo Tour, both Lancashire and Yorkshire were taken off the Australian's itinerary with the only county side they played being Cumbria.

Lancashire

Game No.	Date	Result	Venue	Attendance	Notes
1	18 January 1908	Lancashire def. New Zealand 20–4	Watersheddings, Oldham		1907–08 All Golds tour
2	25 November 1908	Australia def. Lancashire 20–6	Central Park, Wigan	4,000	1908–09 Kangaroo Tour
3	8 March 1909	Lancashire def. Australia 19–14	Wheater's Field, Broughton	4,000
4	2 October 1911	Australasia def. Lancashire 25–12	Ewood Park, Blackburn	5,000	1911–12 Kangaroo Tour
5	30 November 1921	Australasia def. Lancashire 29–6	Goodison Park, Everton	17,000	1921–22 Kangaroo Tour
6	14 December 1921	Lancashire def. Australasia 8–6	Wilderspool, Warrington	6,000
7	3 January 1927	Lancashire def. New Zealand 28–3		7,000	1926–27 New Zealand Kiwis tour
8	26 September 1929	Australasia def. Lancashire 29–14	Wilderspool, Warrington	24,000	1929–30 Kangaroo Tour
9	20 September 1933	Australia def. Lancashire 33–7	Wilderspool, Warrington	16,576	1933–34 Kangaroo Tour
10	29 September 1937	Lancashire def. Australia 7–5	Wilderspool, Warrington	16,250	1937–38 Kangaroo Tour
11	8 December 1948	Lancashire def. Australia 13–8	Central Park, Wigan	11,788	1948–49 Kangaroo Tour
12	22 November 1951	Lancashire def. New Zealand 13–12			1951–52 New Zealand Kiwis tour
13	30 November 1952	Australia def. Lancashire 36–11	Wilderspool, Warrington	5,863	1952–53 Kangaroo Tour
14	23 September 1959	Lancashire def. Australia 30–22	Knowsley Road, St. Helens	15,743	1959–60 Kangaroo Tour
15	25 September 1963	Lancashire def. Australia 13–11	Central Park, Wigan	15,068	1963–64 Kangaroo Tour
16	30 November 1967	Australia def. Lancashire 14–2	The Willows, Salford	9,369	1967–68 Kangaroo Tour

Yorkshire

Game No.	Date	Result	Venue	Attendance	Notes
1	18 December 1907	New Zealand def. Yorkshire 23–4	Belle Vue, Wakefield		1907–08 All Golds tour
2	5 November 1908	Australia def. Yorkshire 21–11	The Boulevard, Kingston upon Hull	3,500	1908–09 Kangaroo Tour
3	25 September 1911	Australasia def. Yorkshire 33–13	Bramall Lane, Sheffield	4,000	1911–12 Kangaroo Tour
4	7 December 1921	Australasia def. Yorkshire 24–8	Belle Vue, Wakefield	6,000	1921–22 Kangaroo Tour
5	15 December 1926	Yorkshire def. New Zealand 17–16	Fartown, Huddersfield	3,000	1926–27 New Zealand Kiwis tour
6	20 November 1929	Australasia def. Yorkshire 25–12	Belle Vue, Wakefield	7,011	1929–30 Kangaroo Tour
7	13 September 1933	Australia def. Yorkshire 13–0	Headingley, Leeds	10,309	1933–34 Kangaroo Tour
8	6 October 1937	Australia def. Yorkshire 8–4	Odsal, Bradford	7,570	1937–38 Kangaroo Tour
9	24 November 1948	Yorkshire def. Australia 5–2	Headingley, Leeds	5,310	1948–49 Kangaroo Tour
10	5 December 1951	New Zealand def. Yorkshire 10–3		2,958	1951–52 New Zealand Kiwis tour
11	26 November 1952	Australia def. Yorkshire 55–11	Fartown, Huddersfield	3,737	1952–53 Kangaroo Tour
12	28 September 1959	Yorkshire def. Australia 47–15	Clarence Street, York	7,338	1959–60 Kangaroo Tour
13	18 September 1963	Yorkshire def. Australia 11–5	Craven Park, Kingston upon Hull	10,324	1963–64 Kangaroo Tour
14	4 October 1967	Yorkshire def. Australia 15–14	Belle Vue, Wakefield	19,370	1967–68 Kangaroo Tour

In 2015, the RFL department of Women's Rugby League announced that they would stage the inaugural Women's "War of the Roses", between Lancashire Ladies and Yorkshire Ladies. The match, which took place at Thatto Heath Crusaders, St. Helens, saw Yorkshire Ladies and Lancashire Ladies share the honours after a 22–22 draw, with an attendance of around 500.[4]

The match, held on 18 October 2015, followed a Lancashire Girls vs Yorkshire Girls under 18s match, which finished 34–0 in favour of the Yorkshire side.

Results

Year	Winner	Score	Venue	Attendance
2015	Draw	22–22	St. Helens	500

In 2017, Rugby AM announced a charity game between Yorkshire and Lancashire legends at Headingley Stadium in Leeds, which saw Yorkshire defeat Lancashire 14–12. The following year Yorkshire retained their Origin Legends title with a 32–14 victory over Lancashire in Castleford. 28 August 2019 saw the return of the game at Headingley and notable players including Gary Connolly, Denis Betts and Sean Long for Lancashire and Jason Robinson, Stuart Fielden and Rob Burrow for Yorkshire. The game was won 21–18 by Lancashire

• International Origin

• Rleague.com: War of Roses