rugby league in the town was originally represented by castleford, unrelated to castleford rufc, who did not participate in the schism in english rugby and still exist, nor were they predecessors of the current castleford tigers who were founded in 1926. the original castleford rugby league club played in the northern union (rugby football league) from 1896–97 to 1905–06, and it had one player named isaac cole who won a cap for england in 1906 against other nationalities.