Rugby league: Huddersfield birthplace George Hotel in museum bid

A bid has been made for the birthplace of rugby league to become the national museum for the sport.

Huddersfield's George Hotel hosted the first meeting of the teams that formed the game, in August 1895.

The hotel is now owned by Kirklees Council and it has made an official bid for it to become the museum.

A deadline for bids to organisers, the Rugby League Cares charity, is to expire next Thursday.

Councillor Peter McBride said the hotel would be part of a revitalised St George's Square in the West Yorkshire town.

"It's so important that we have somewhere for the history of this great sport to be celebrated and there is no better place than the birthplace," he said.

Ken Davy, owner of the town's rugby league side Huddersfield Giants, welcomed the move and called it "tremendous news".

"We all know the impact an attractive museum can have," he said.

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Twenty-one clubs voted to break away from the Rugby Football Union and set up the Northern Rugby Football Union, On August 29, 1895.

In 1922, it was renamed the Rugby Football League.

The game does not have a permanent exhibition space although an extensive archive is stored at Heritage Quay in Huddersfield.

Former Great Britain and Dewsbury hooker Mike Stephenson had established a personal museum at the George Hotel but that ended with the hotel's closure.

The George has stood empty since 2013, and was bought by the council for an undisclosed sum.

Bradford was selected as the site of the museum in 2016 but after little progress, Rugby League Cares announced the application process would be re-opened.

No date has been announced for a decision on the museum's new site.

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