Which is the bigger Rugby League region,East or West of the pennines?

And that's over the long history of our game.

Which has given more to the sport, trophys and produced the best players/teams etc.

South Yorkshire. Two teams, two champions!

Having lived in both, it pains me to say Yorkshire. In the West we are overshadowed by the big Premiership clubs which detracts attention etc.

Difficult one.

Yorkshire has the most clubs in the pro game and isn't overshadowed by football as much.
The North West currently has the three top clubs and have done for the last three years but is in the presence of the biggest football clubs in the world.

Depends what you consider the most important for "success". Wigan and Saints have a bit of a monopoly on the trophies over the last few years. Only Bradford and Leeds recently have challenged that.

West of the pennines punches way above it weight in all sports & has produced chamopions in all major sports ( Man U & city Liverpool, Wigan Saints, Lancs cricket, Even Sale won RU one year, the GB cycle team trained in Manchester for the olympics) but the bigger area for league is east in Yorkshire, but bigest is not always best.

London

North Catalunya

New South Wales!

Yorkshire will have had more participants and active fans over the history of the game.

To the point about trophies and best players - Wigan have probably done more than any club to raise the profile of the game since the 80's.

Leeds Owl, the North West has 3 top clubs (Warrington, Wigan and Saints) True? All have participated in finals in the last 3 years, 7 finals between them and 3 trophies in 3 years I think. They're 'top club' statistics, so I'm not sure what you're basing your argument on as the original post never claimed they were champions every season, merely that they were top clubs. Are they not?

take the number of active particpants by LA district, divide it by the population of each, and the top 2 Districts are...

Allerdale and Copeland

That doesn't make them the biggest which is what the OP asked. Your formula offers a proportionate rate per head.

The South East as it's described has to be the biggest RL region, or the south of France.

What are RL regions?

in participation terms, West Cumbria is as big a 'RL region' as anywhere else.

Yorkshire, as RL has great roots in the major city's of Leeds, Bradford and Hull. In Gods land the city's ignore the sport and its roots lie in the old pit and mill towns, SL is 7/5 and the Championship 8/2. The demise of clubs such as Oldham and Swinton should be a concern, and a lesser degree Rochdale.

Having lived in both camps, id have to say Yorkshire.

I'm basing it on the fact they've been the top three for the last three years, like I said!
2012: 1. Wigan 2. Warrington 3. St Helens
2011: 1. Warrington 2. Wigan 3. St Helens
2010: 1. Wigan 2. St Helens 3. Warrington

Last 3 league leaders shields, last 7 Challenge Cups, all in the NW. Leeds have done very well, but they alone aren't better than what the NW has hauled.


2012 - Wigan (16,043), Leeds (14,94icon_cool.gif
2011 - Wigan (16,124), Leeds (15,099)
2010 - Wigan (15,177), Leeds (15,092)

You've not even had it the last three years! Good job you never put anything on that bet!

He specifically stated since the SL competition began, why select just the last 3 years.

Because it supports his point

Wigan:

96 - 10168
97 - 8859
98 - 10552
99 - 9239
00 - 10536
01 - 11333
02 - 10436
03 - 10216
04 - 12649
05 - 13891
06 - 14445
07 - 16039
08 - 14504
09 - 14077
10 - 15177
11 - 16124
12 - 16043

Total SL Average: 12628 by my maths. The average has been consistently above that since 2004.

This was done a few years ago by a university graduate at Leeds going back to 1897 and up t 2010. On the above parameters the top clubs were:-

1. Wigan
2. St Helens
3. Leeds
4. Widnes

12. Bradford

So on actual success this stacks in the West Region favour, however for actual players playing the game and contributing to the sport, East Region comfortably.

I wonder why it matters.

Yorkshire seems to have the most people who post on RL messageboards but actively dislike the sport. Just ahead of Leigh.

Ah, I misunderstood his point. I thought he were saying Leeds have always had a better average than those from Lancashire, not the combined average. I wouldn't know that, I don't have the figures that go back that far.

Definitely not Salford or Huddersfield, where their general population don't even seem to realise they have a club, never mind take an interest in them.