page_title: St Helens, Merseyside
section_title: Amateur
hierarchical_section_title: St Helens, Merseyside / Sport / Rugby League / Amateur
caption_attribution_description: A recent 2010 U9-U11 Rugby game featuring Blackbrook Royals in St. Helens
context_page_description: St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the 2001 Census.
  St Helens is in the south west of the historic county of Lancashire, 6 miles north of the River Mersey. The town historically lay within the ancient Lancashire division of West Derby known as a "hundred". The town initially started as a small settlement in the township of Windle but by the mid 1700s the town had become synonymous with a wider area, and by 1838 was formally made responsible for the administration of the four townships of Eccleston, Parr, Sutton and Windle. In 1868 the town was created by incorporation as a municipal borough and later became a county borough in 1887 and a metropolitan borough in 1974 with an expanded administrative responsibility for smaller towns and villages in close proximity.
  The area developed rapidly in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries into a significant centre for coal mining and glassmaking.
context_section_description: The town is also home to a large number of amateur rugby league teams comprising Senior and Youth teams. Most notable of these are Blackbrook A.R.L.F.C., Bold Miners, Clock Face Miners, Haresfinch Hawks, Haydock Warriors, Pilkington Recs and Thatto Heath Crusaders. Most of these teams and others in the area compete in the BARLA North West Counties competition (Pilkingtons in the Premier League, Haydock and Blackbrook in Division 1, Thatto Heath and Clock Face in Division 2). Thatto Heath compete in the higher ranked National Conference League.
  The Blackbrook Royals have contributed 26 Lancashire Cup winning sides across 8 age ranges from U12 to U18, with two in the Open Age category and 10 National Cups. Pilkington Recs has 17 wins (and 6 times runner up) and Thatto Heath, 10.
  The St Helens R.F.C. Under 18s and 16s and St Helens R.F.C. Academy teams serve as official feeders to Saints.
caption: A local Rugby League junior game underway