Leeds & Hunslet Schools' Rugby League

As a full record of county matches is not available in one place, research, through old programmes, handbooks and minute books, has been time-consuming, but very interesting, and has thrown up quite a few anomalies. Different sources show different scores in a number of matches; in each case the most contemporaneous evidence has been used. Different sources suggest a starting date of 1924 or 1925-26. However a programme from 1948 states: The first County game between Lancashire and Yorkshire boys was played in 1920 and This is the fourth County Game to be played at St Helens - the other three occasions being in 1934, 1925 and 1922. On each occasion Lancashire have been successful...

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Up until 1938-39, 16 matches had been played, with nine wins for Yorkshire, six wins for Lancashire and one draw. Research through newspapers, to find the individuals results, will be a long and arduous task for some time in the future!

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The "headline" county matches were between Yorkshire and Lancashire, whilst Cumberland (later Cumbria) also played county matches, often against Yorkshire or Lancashire "B" teams. Counties also played against the visiting French (and on one occasion Australian) tourists.

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Following local government re-organisation of the old county, city and town boundaries, and the creation of metropolitan boroughs, two years earlier, in 1976 the county teams changed their names to North West Counties and East of Pennines (soon to become Yorkshire & Humberside). In 1986 English Schools' Rugby League renamed NWC and Y&H as "regions" and a "county" level, comprising North Lancashire, South Lancashire, Yorkshire and Humberside, was introduced to aid the selection of these teams. Further changes to the county representative system took place in 1997-98, when the North and the South were invited to take part. West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and the South (including Wales) combined as South & East to play against North & West (comprising North Lancashire, South Lancashire and the North (Cumbria and the North East).

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County matches were played at senior level only (Under 14 then Under 15), until the Under 13s were introduced alongside the Under 16s in 1973-74. An Under 11 side was introduced in 1987-88. The Under 11 programme was abandoned (by the RFL) in 1998-99 and (as with city/town teams) the Under 16s reverted to Under 15s in 2000-01, which was the final season of the schools' representative structure.