High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Widnes Vikings RLFC is a professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They play in the Co-Operative Championship, which is the second tier of European Rugby League. Widnes was one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, making them one of the world's first rugby league teams. Their traditional nickname is 'The Chemics' after the main industry in Widnes, but the club also use their more modern nickname in 'The Vikings'. They have a strong rivalry with Warrington and resisted the idea of merger with their rivals at the beginning of Superleague in 1995. Before Super League they were one of the strongest teams in British rugby league and they were dubbed "Cup Kings" after going to Wembley nearly every year in the late 1970s and early 1980s.