Rugby league museum: Plea to keep Huddersfield George Hotel as venue

The George Hotel, rugby league's birthplace, is currently closed and being refurbished by owner Kirklees Council

A row has broken out over the venue of the National Rugby League Museum amid suggestions the game's birthplace might be snubbed.

Huddersfield's George Hotel - where the breakaway competition was established - beat rivals to be chosen last year.

But recent reports suggested Kirklees Council has not ruled out other locations in the town centre.

Charity Rugby League Cares (RLC) said housing the museum anywhere else was "misguided and uninformed".

Huddersfield fought off bids from Bradford, Leeds and Wigan last year to win the right to host the museum, and campaigners expected the hotel to become the new home for a permanent exhibition.

The George Hotel, the site of an 1895 meeting of Yorkshire and Lancashire sides which led to the creation of rugby league, was central to its bid.

Kirklees Council angered RLC, which is set to run the museum, after it published details of a planned town centre revamp this month.

Within the proposals, dubbed the Huddersfield Blueprint, was a "cultural heart" featuring a new library and other visitor attractions such as an art gallery.

Councillor Peter McBride said the authority believed "the rugby museum could have a home in the town centre".

"We are working with Rugby League Cares to establish a way forward that best delivers our and their aspirations for Huddersfield town centre," he added.

The George was awarded the rugby league museum in June 2020

RLC denied it was considering proposals for a new location, expressing "surprise and disappointment" at the suggestion.

"This is simply not the case", a RLC spokesperson said.

"Any proposals to house the [museum] in Kirklees anywhere other than the George Hotel are both misguided and uninformed", they said.

The success of Kirklees Council's application was based on the museum being at game's birthplace, the charity added.

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Prof Tony Collins, a leading sports historian, said in a tweet that the hotel was "a place of pilgrimage" for rugby league fans from all over the world.

"The George is Huddersfield's unique link to the history of the game," he said.

"Without it, Huddersfield's rugby league heritage would be like Star Trek without the USS Enterprise."

The hotel, close to the town's railway station, closed in 2013, was bought by the council and is currently undergoing renovations.

An online petition calling on the museum to stay at the George has also been launched.