rugby leaguen.

1. Chiefly with the and capital initials. Any of various associations of rugby clubs playing the rules of the Northern Union (later the Rugby Football League); a competition organized by or played under the rules of such an association.Originally called the Northern Union (more fully the Northern Rugby Football Union), the organization was founded by a group of rugby clubs in northern England who wished to make payments to players by way of compensation for time missed at work due to playing or training commitments, a practice not permitted by the Rugby Football Union, which insisted on the purely amateur status of the game.The Northern Union became the Rugby Football League in 1922, but competitions in England and governing bodies in other countries which followed Northern Union rules were frequently referred to as rugby league before this date, following the formation of the Northern Rugby League, the code's main competition, in 1901.

2. Also occasionally with capital initials. The game of rugby played according to the rules of the Rugby Football League.The rules of rugby league have diverged considerably from those of rugby union since the split between the two codes in 1895. Rugby league is now played with a team of 13 players, and such features as contested scrums, mauls, rucks, and line-outs have been abolished, resulting in fewer stoppages of play, and a generally faster game in which more tries are scored.Rugby league also differs from rugby union in that it has always allowed professionalism (see the note at sense 1).