Situated 10 miles apart along the west Cumbrian coast, Whitehaven and Workington are proper rugby league towns.
The nearest significant football team, Carlisle United, is an hour up the road so, in sport, it is all about the 13-player code.
Geographically isolated from the M62 corridor across the north of England that provides most of the teams, these two towns represent an area where the game has always been popular.
Formed within a few years of each other in the 1940s, they tapped into the mining communities and Workington, in particular, made a big impact.
They reached three Challenge Cup finals in seven seasons, winning it in 1952, while they were Premiership Champions the year before.
Whitehaven, too, had special moments including beating a touring Australian side in 1956 and losing in a Challenge Cup semi-final a few months later.
Workington were actually one of the 12 founding clubs of Super League in 1996, but won only two games that season in finishing bottom, were relegated, and have never returned.
