 On 27 August 1895, prominent Lancashire clubs declared that they would support their Yorkshire colleagues in their proposal to form a professional organization and the Northern Rugby Football Union, usually called the Northern Union (NU), was formed.The rugby union authorities issued sanctions against clubs, players and officials involved in the offshoot group, including amateurs who played with or against Northern Union sides.After the schism the separate codes were named "rugby union" for the RFU code and "rugby league" for the NU code.