Rugby football was first played in Rochdale in 1867 when a group of business owners, self-employed men and a magistrate expressed an interest in playing for and created a rugby football team.  In 1871, a variety of teams from across the borough joined together to form a senior team that would represent the town, and they decided to use the name Rochdale Hornets. As the club played on an enclosed field, they were able to insist on gate money, which was rarely heard of at the time. In 1894 the team moved to the Athletic Grounds, and the following year were founder members of the Northern Union league.

The Law Cup made its debut in 1921, when it was known as the Infirmaries Cup. The following year, Rochdale Hornets won the Northern Union cup, beating Hull 10-9 at Headingley, Leeds. This is the only Challenge Cup final Hornets have participated in. in the 1940-41 season, Hornets dropped out of the wartime Lancashire League, and returned to League competition in 1945.

In 1947 and 1958 Hornets made it to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, only to have their Wembley dreams denied by Wigan on both occasions. The highest attendance for a League match was set on 16^th October 1954 when 19,654 spectators saw Rochdale lose to local rivals Oldham. The Hornets' appeared in the 1965 final of the Lancashire Cup when 19,000 saw them lose to Warrington at Knowsley Road, St Helens. The team reached the Players No 6 final 1974, losing to Warrington 27-16 at Central Park, Wigan.

During the 1980s, the Hornets found themselves in financial trouble, and sold the Athletic Grounds to Morrisons supermarket for £2.7m, moving to their current, Spotland Stadium, which they share with Rochdale AFC. In 1989, Hornets gained promotion from the Second Division, and the club's record attendance at Spotland was set on Boxing Day of that year, when 8,150 saw the team beat Oldham. In 1991 Hornets appeared in the final of the Lancashire Cup, losing 24-14 to St Helens.

In 1996, the decision was made to sack coach Steve Gibson after the team only took 1 point from their first six games of the First Division season. In 1998, a ten match losing streak ended at Featherstone, only for Rochdale to finish second-bottom of the league. Martin Hall became the Hornets' coach in 2000, and guided the team to third place finishes in two consecutive seasons in the Northern Ford Premiership. He left the club after a failed takeover bid and his contract expired. Bobbie Goulding became player-coach in 2003, and was in charge for the following two seasons, during each he was nominated for Coach of the Year. After Goulding's departure, Darren Abram and Shaun Gartland held the position of head coach during a two year spell, before Goulding returned in September 2007. After a run of six consecutive defeats, Darren Shaw replaced Goulding until his departure in November 2009. John Stankevitch is the current Hornets head coach, with Des Drummond as assistant coach/conditioner.

In January 2009, shareholders voted to place Rochdale Hornets into administration. An Industrial and Provident Society (a co-operative) was created and recognised by the Rugby Football League, and the club was re-formed under the name "Hornets Rugby League".