England

In 1965, representatives from the Cumberland, Lancashire and Yorkshire associations began talks which resulted in the official inauguration of the English Schools' Rugby League in 1967.

The first international, against France, took place in Perpignan in November 1967. County games had been played since 1920; ESRL now coordinated the organisation of these matches.

As well as inter-town/city competitions in Yorkshire and Lancashire, representative sides had been playing cross-county games since the earliest days of schools' rugby. However, it was also 1967 when the first nationally-organised inter-town/city competition took place.

The first champion schools match took place in 1981.

The Rugby Football League's ending of schools' representative rugby league in 2001, their taking over of the champion schools competition in 2002 and their re-branding of the international side in 2010, ensured the slow demise of English Schools' Rugby League, which finally became part of the RFL in November 2011.

The sub-pages of this section give details of all ESRL finals, league winners and internationals. There are only a few gaps in the information. If you can provide any of the missing details, please contact L&HSRL on the email address below.