I realise that for many this holds no interest, but this was done in part for my own enjoyment but I hope that those that do read it take pleasure in doing so. It details Rugby League developing far earlier and becoming the most popular sport in England and eventually the Western World. C&C welcomed and appreciated.
Chapter One: An unholy trinity
Before 1863, there was only one game that dominated the British sporting landscape; the earliest variant of football. However it was deeply divided on how the game should be played and it soon became clear that there would have to be a definitive set of rules. Therefore, on the 26th of October, 1863, the football clubs of England met to lay down the laws of the game. There were two factions; those that believed that football should be played exclusively without rough and tumble and those who believed that the ball should be handled and that rough practices, such as hacking, kicking, tripping and holding should be encouraged. By the end of the meeting it was clear that the two could not co-exist. The owner of Blackheath Football Club left the Football Association, followed shortly by a number of others, to form the Rugby Union.
The 21 clubs who left the FA met at the Pall Mall Restaurant in 1871 to form their new game. Very little in the way of laws for the sport were created however, due to the bitter division (here is the POD) over the contentious issue of amateurism. Many of the clubs believed that it was akin to slavery to let their players play without a wage and believed that professionalism should be the stance rugby took. On the other hand, many clubs maintained that nobody was forced to play and that it was a leisure activity and not a job and therefore the players did not deserve pay (many modern day observers agree that greed was in fact the biggest motivator in not paying the players). The argument raged for days, but it was clear that there was not going to be one single winner. A whole two weeks after the start of the meeting the owners of the 8 clubs in support of professionalism (Wimbledon RFC, Gipsies FC, Flamingoes FC, Clapham Rovers, West Kent, Lausanne, The Mohicans and Belsize Park) stormed out to form their own union of clubs, starting the now famous Professional Rugby League, whilst the supporters of amateurism worked together to form the Amateur Rugby Union.
The PRC met six weeks later to create their new rules. The owners of the clubs were, unlike the ARU owners, very concerned in attracting spectators to their games to pay for the wages of the players, and created the rules accordingly. Instead of the ball spending a lot of the time out of the public eye (like it did in the ARU’s game) the owners created the drag-back rule that kept play flowing, giving the team 5 tackles to advance up the field with (expanded to 6 in 1899) and created the scoring system that gave a try (grounding the ball in the opponents end zone, similar to an OTL American Football touchdown) 3 points, a penalty or field goal 2 points (similar to an OTL American Football field goal) and a conversion (similar to an OTL American Football Extra Point) also being worth 2 points. This was different to the ARU’s game which rewarded the conversion more points than the try, a seemingly bizarre move that alienated many potential fans. (Details of OTL Rugby League rules, which are very similar, can be found
here)
After a few well received exhibition games over a period of a couple of years, the clubs decided to step up the organisation and form a league to ensure organised play and a prize at the end to strive for. The owners realised that the public, who were enjoying the exciting, fast paced game much more than Rugby Union and at least as much as Football, would be attracted by a set fixture list so they could attend games regularly and follow the fortunes of their favourite teams. Therefore, in 1876 the original 8 clubs, as well as two additional, newly founded ones (Tottenham RLC and the Internationals) created a league and played out an entire organised season. This was the first league formed by any of the three popular sports, which is considered a primary reason for the success of Rugby League over the rest, as whilst rugby union only had a few haphazard games hastily arranged and football the FA cup which, whilst exciting, did not offer longevity, the Professional Rugby League had a system that could be followed throughout the year. The first season was won comprehensively by the omnipotent Wimbledon RFC who lost only 4 games and garnered an impressive 28 points, far exceeding second place Belsize Park.
In the season each team played every other team twice, once home and once away, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. This system was to endure all the way to 1999. Below is the table for the first ever fully organised season of Rugby League:

The league was extremely successful, with the people enjoying both the sport itself and the league structure which many believed added meaning to the game. This new development in Rugby League persuaded even Rugby Union diehards to convert to the sport and the ARU finally gave in to the PRL on the 7th of January 1877. The following quote is taken from The Times and describes perfectly the situation:
The Union Collapses, the Professional League victorious!
Early yesterday afternoon the Amateur Rugby Union signed their own absolute surrender to the Professional League, a group of clubs that the Union itself had been unable to hold on to. The news comes as no surprise to the punters of the sport, many of whom are merely impressed that the ARU lasted as long as it did. The clubs of the former Union all came humbly to the Professional Rugby League later in the afternoon to ask to convert from amateurism to the previously despised stance of professionalism and be part of their successful league format. With a derogatory sneer, often seen on the face of the victorious, the League resoundingly replied no. There are talks of the Union clubs forming their own league based on the PRL’s rugby rules, but their financial ruin, caused by their love of the amateur game, means that this is an unlikely scenario.
The unholy trinity of sports was broken and with one opponent down, the Professional Rugby League was now keen to become more popular then Football and to expand the games reaches outside of London to truly become the people’s game.