What is a yard?
A yard is 3 feet or 36 inches. In the US you mostly see it on football fields, which run 100 yards between the goal lines, and in the UK short road distances are still signed in yards.
The yard is traditionally the distance from the nose of King Henry I of England to the thumb of his outstretched arm, though its length varied from place to place for centuries. It was only fixed internationally in 1959, at exactly 0.9144 meters.
Nearly every other country uses the meter instead. In the US, bulk soil and mulch are still sold by the cubic yard, which is 27 cubic feet.
What is a US league?
A US league is three miles or 15,840 feet. The word comes from the Late Latin leuca, a Gaulish measure traditionally taken as an hour's walk.
The league was used for the distance between towns and for a ship's run at sea. The mile and the kilometer replaced it, and it now mostly turns up in older books. A US league of three miles is about 4.83km.