High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 1895–96 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the first ever season of semi-professional rugby football, which formed the foundation of the modern-day sport of rugby league. Twenty-two Northern English teams from both sides of the Pennines broke away from the Rugby Football Union to create and compete in their own competition. The inaugural championship ran from September, 1895 until April, 1896. The Northern Union`s first season would prove so popular that the following season saw the addition of several more clubs, and the tournament was split into two separate county competitions.