The Halifax Panthers are a professional rugby league club in Halifax, West Yorkshire, which formed in 1873. Halifax were one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. They have been Rugby League Champions four times and have won the Challenge Cup five times. They were known as the Halifax Blue Sox between 1996 and 2002. They have rivalries with neighbours Bradford and Huddersfield and with fellow Championship side Featherstone Rovers. Known as 'Fax', the club colours are blue and white hoops, white shorts and blue and white socks. They share the Shay stadium with the town's football club, Halifax Town. History 1873–1939: Early years The club was founded as Halifax in 1873. After winning the first Yorkshire Cup in 1878, they went on to win it on another four occasions. Several players were picked for the Yorkshire County side in these years, and five were for the England rugby union team. In 1886, the club moved to Thrum Hall, which would be their home ground for the next 112 years. The first game there was played on 18 September 1886 against Hull F.C. and drew 8,000 spectators. After the 1890-91 season, Halifax along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Liversedge, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own county league starting in 1891 along the lines of a similar competition that had been played in Lancashire. The clubs wanted full control of the league but the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union would not sanction the competition as it meant giving up control of rugby football to the senior clubs. Halifax were founding members of the breakaway Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. In 1896, Halifax lost out on winning the first ever Rugby Football League Championship by a single point, with Manningham becoming the inaugural champions. In 1902–03, they achieved the 'double' by winning the Challenge Cup and finishing top of Division One. They won the cup again the following season, and were the first ever Championship play-off winners in 1906–07. Halifax won their first Wembley Challenge Cup final in 1931, beating York F.C. 22–8. An estimated 100,000 people lined the route to a civic reception at the town hall. Towards the end of the 1937 season, Streatham and Mitcham folded after just one full season in the league. The club had made a number