Editing Warrington Wolves (section)

===Early years: 1876–1895===
Although the official foundation date for the club is given as 1876,<ref name="earlyhistory">{{Cite web|url=https://www.warringtonrugbyheritage.com/history|title=Warrington Rugby Heritage: History|website=Warringtonrlheritage|access-date=10 June 2022}}</ref> rugby football was certainly played in the town before that date and there was an earlier club bearing the name of Warrington Football Club. Under the heading 'Outdoor Sports – Football' the Widnes Guardian of 25 January 1873 reports on a recent game between Warrington and [[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]] at the unnamed ground of the former. On 6 December 1873 that same newspaper carried details of a match involving Warrington and Zingari (probably a Withington, Manchester club of that name) and in subsequent weeks there were matches with Sale and Free Wanderers. This club folded after its ground was lost to development work.<ref name="Warrington Rugby Heritage">{{Cite web|url=https://www.warringtonrugbyheritage.com/history|title=Warrington Rugby Heritage|website=Warrington Rugby Heritage|access-date=2017-02-13}}</ref>

''Warrington Zingari Football Club'' was formed in 1876 by seven young local men. Zingari is the Italian word for gypsies and was commonly adopted by clubs that lacked a permanent base. The team initially played on a field in the Howley Wharf area. Warrington Zingari's first recorded game was an away game against Penketh on 28 October 1876, resulting in a defeat by a goal to nil. When the earlier Warrington club folded, Warrington Zingari decided to take the vacant Warrington Football Club name for the start of the 1877–8 season.<ref name="Warrington Rugby Heritage"/>

Over the next seven years, Warrington Zingari would have five new homes – off Sankey Street at two different sites, off Wilderspool Causeway at two different sites and Slutchers Lane. Amalgamations followed with Padgate Excelsior in 1881 and Warrington Wanderers in 1884 but the team retained the name Warrington.

Both the Lancashire and Cheshire Rugby Unions suspended all their competitions in the 1880s, clubs such as Warrington, St Helens, Widnes, Wigan and Runcorn that wanted to play in cup competitions formed a West Lancashire and Border Towns Union which ran a league competition until 1895 and competitions for a few years after 1895. In 1886, Warrington won their first silverware, the West Lancashire and Border Towns Trophy.<ref name="earlyhistory" /> 
Whilst Warrington were founder members of the West Lancashire League in 1889, they decided not to play in the competition in the 1890-1 and 1891–2 seasons, but became inaugural members of the Lancashire Club Championship First Class Competition in 1892–3.

On 28 August 1895, the committee decided to join with 21 other clubs throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire to form a new 'Northern Union' and resigned from the [[Rugby Football Union|RFU]].<ref name="northernunion">{{cite web|title=Northern Union|url=http://www.warringtonwolves.org/northern-union|publisher=Warrington Wolves|access-date=24 February 2012}}</ref>