A national rugby league museum is to be created after the launch of a £2m travelling exhibition – and Huddersfield is in pole position.

The RFL charity Rugby League Cares has brought together the ruling body’s archive and historic artefacts with former GB ace Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson’s collection.

The result is a mobile exhibition – Rugby League Heritage on Tour – which will move around the sport’s northern heartlands over the next 12 months.

But the next phase of the plan is to create a permanent national sporting museum – and Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium is favourite to secure the venue.

Click below for a video from today's tour launch

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Speaking to the Examiner at the launch of the tour, heritage project trustee Steve Ball said rugby league was one of the few sports not to have a national museum.

“When you think of other sports Newmarket is the HQ of British horse-racing, rugby union has Twickenham and rowing has Henley and we want a national heritage centre for rugby league,” he said.

“It’s important to have a permanent base and Huddersfield, as the birthplace of rugby league, is the perfect choice.

“We have had great support from the John Smith’s Stadium and Huddersfield Giants and Huddersfield is the preferred, logical choice. But, of course, they would still have to prove the business case.”

Mr Ball, a former chairman of Batley RLFC and a director at Leeds RLFC, hinted that Huddersfield could face competition from the biggest names in the sport including Leeds, Wigan and St Helens.

But he added: “Huddersfield must be in pole position.”

Click below for pictures from today's tour launch

 

Mr Ball was instrumental in ‘saving’ the Stephenson collection when its home at The George Hotel went bust in January 2013.

With Mr Stephenson out of the country, Mr Ball made sure the items were retrieved and did not become part of the hotel’s administration.

After that Mr Stephenson teamed up with Rugby League Cares and £2m was secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund to catalogue and archive the combined memorabilia – work which was carried out at Huddersfield University.

Under heritage manager Victoria Dawson a new travelling exhibition has been designed – with advice from the National Football Museum in Manchester – and it will go on tour from October.

The collection boasts an array of rare and interesting items and includes grainy home video shot by legendary RL commentator Eddie Waring of the Lions’ tour of Australia in 1946. The exhibition also has the very camera Waring used along with a Northern Union jersey worn by Harry Wilson in 1908, believed to be one of only two left in existence.

There is also a hand-drawn Swinton v Barrow programme from 1925-26, a rattle from 1905 and Fartown rosette dated 1953.

Victoria has also researched the role of women in rugby league for the first time and the exhibition tells the story of Nancy Beaumont, who became the first woman official in the sport when she was elected treasurer of Huddersfield Supporters’ Club in 1961.

Some memorabilia will go on permanent show at Huddersfield University’s new Heritage Quay archive and exhibition centre.

The centre will also house the British Music Collection, the national archive of British contemporary music.

Heritage Key will be officially opened on October 20 and will be open to the public after that.

Prof Tim Thornton, pro vice-chancellor of the university, said as well as rugby league and music the centre would house the university’s political, social and cultural collection and there would be state-of-the-art reading and listening rooms.

“It will blow people away,” he said.

The rugby league travelling exhibition will run from October 1 to 23 at the Hull History Centre in Worship Street, Hull.