A £14,000 grant will help to boost the town’s rugby league legacy.

But organisers still need £110,400 more to fund projects.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a development grant of £14,000 to the Sporting Pride Community Trust to work on plans for a project which will safeguard the legacy of Huddersfield Rugby League in the town where it all started.

The grant means the project can now progress to the second stage of the Heritage Lottery Fund application process, to secure all the money that is needed.

Ken Davy, chairman of Huddersfield Giants Rugby League Football Club, said: “The rich and unique heritage of Rugby League in Huddersfield as the very birthplace of the game is a legacy which fully deserves to be properly recorded for this and future generations.

“This is an exciting project which will bring lasting benefits not only to Huddersfield and the wider community of Kirklees, but also across sporting disciplines throughout the country and beyond.”

The birthplace of rugby league can be traced right back to The George Hotel in the centre of town in 1895.

The unique history will be collated and preserved through the project, Huddersfield Rugby League: A Lasting Legacy, which celebrates 150 years of rugby in the town.

It will focus on the Team of All Talents era that centres around the events of the First World War.

Fiona Spiers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Kirklees is one of our priority boroughs for funding in Yorkshire and the Humber and this project illustrates just how rich the borough’s heritage is.

“We’re extremely pleased to give initial support to these plans to explore and preserve the fascinating heritage of rugby league in Huddersfield and we shall watch the developing plans with interest.”

Consultations will begin this summer to support the development phase of the project, but it could be two years before all the funds are in place to further the project.

The project will allow people and communities to share, learn and take a pride in the heritage surrounding the game.

It aims to collect and preserve memories and artefacts since the advent of the game for future generations to enjoy, plus they’ll link in with local schools around the time of the 2014 First World War centenary.

It will boost the work already going on in the town at the Rugby League Heritage Centre in the George Hotel, home to a permanent exhibition celebrating the game’s history with a collection of rare memorabilia, ancient caps and jerseys, valuable medals and trophies and old programmes and pictures.