1942–43 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season

1942–43 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1942–43 Season
Champions	Wigan
Runner-up	Dewsbury

The 1942–43 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the fourth season of the rugby league’s Wartime Emergency Leagues necessitated by the Second World War.
As in the previous (third) Wartime season, the clubs each played a different number of games and several clubs dropped out. In fact for this season only 14 of the original clubs remained (and still only Oldham, St Helens and Wigan from west of the Pennines).
The League remained as one single amalgamated Championship.

General Comments

Season summary

The 1942–43 season began on Saturday 5 September 1942.
As last season, there are still only the three Lancashire clubs who have not had to close down and withdraw from the League, the Northern Rugby League continued with a single (now) 14 club single Competition. As the clubs are still playing different number of marches, the league positions and the title would be decided on a percentage basis...
At the completion of the regular season Wigan were on top of the league with 26 points from 16 games and a percentage success of 81.25% and Dewsbury were a close second (25 points from 16 games @ 78.13%).
Although Bradford Northern finished with most points (27 points from 19 games) their percentage success was only 71.05%, and consequently they finished third.
St Helens finished 14th out of the 14 clubs with only 2 wins from 15 and 4 points.
Dewsbury went on to defeat Halifax 33-16 on aggregate in the play-off final. and win the Championship (for the second consecutive season).
However the Championship was declared Null and Void as the winners Dewsbury fielded an ineligible player in the Championship Final.
The Wartime Emergency Leagues did not count as an official league championship.
In the Rugby league Challenge Cup Final, Dewsbury beat Leeds 16-15 on aggregate over two legs in front of an aggregate crowd of 26,470.
The Lancashire County Cup, suspended for season 1940–41 remained so for the rest of the war and again Wigan competed in the Yorkshire Cup.
Dewsbury beat Huddersfield by 7-2 on aggregate before an aggregate crowd of 17,252 in the two low scoring legs of the Final of the Yorkshire County Cup,

Change in Club participation

Previous withdrawals

The following clubs had withdrawn from the League, before this 1942–43 seasons completion began :-
St Helens Recs – who folded before the war started
Barrow – withdrew after the end of the first (1939–40) season finished and did not rejoin until the 1943–44 season.
Hull Kingston Rovers – who withdrew after the end of the first (1939–40) season finished and did not rejoin until the 1945–46 season.
Rochdale Hornets – As Hull Kingston Rovers.
Widnes – As Hull Kingston Rovers.
Broughton Rangers – withdrew after the end of the second 1940–41 season finished and did not rejoin until the 1945–46 season.
Liverpool Stanley – As Broughton Rangers.
Salford – As Broughton Rangers. In November 1942, manager Lance Todd was killed in a car crash.
Swinton – As Broughton Rangers.
Warrington – As Broughton Rangers.
Leigh - During the Second World War, the club was forced to leave its ground as the adjacent cable factory extended onto the land. The townsfolk of Leigh, acting on chairman James Hilton's inspiration, cleared some fields on the edge of the town, and built a new stadium, including moving and rebuilding the old grandstand from the original ground. -
In 1941–42, Leigh quit the wartime Lancashire league and would not return to the league until 1946–47 when they played as a temporary measure at the Athletic Ground, Holden Road before moving to Kirkhall Lane (which was later officially renamed Hilton Park after James Hilton).

New withdrawals

Bramley – withdrew after the end of the third 1941–42 season finished and did not rejoin until the 1945–46 season.
Castleford – withdrew after the end of the third 1941–42 season finished and did not participate for two seasons, re-joining for the 1944–45 season.
Hunslet – withdrew after the end of the third 1941–42 season finished and did not participate for this season, re-joining for the next 1943–44 season.

Dewsbury had a relatively successful time during the war years. Managed by Eddie Waring, and with the side boosted by the inclusion of a number of big-name guest players, the club won the Wartime Emergency League in 1941–42 and again the following season 1942–43 (though that championship was declared null and void when it was discovered they had played an ineligible player). They were also runners-up in the Championship in 1943–44, Challenge Cup winners in 1943 and Yorkshire Cup Final appearances in this season 1940–41 and winners in 1942–43.

Championship

	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	diff	Pts	%	Note	ref
1	Wigan	16	13	0	3	301	142	159		26
2	Dewsbury	16	12	1	3	270	114	156		25
3	Bradford Northern	19	13	1	5	312	183	129		27
4	Halifax	19	13	0	6	297	149	148		26
5	Leeds	17	11	1	5	337	145	192		23
6	Huddersfield	18	12	0	6	215	189	26		24
7	Wakefield Trinity	19	11	1	7	267	192	75		23
8	Featherstone Rovers	19	10	1	8	179	138	41		21
9	Keighley	18	5	2	11	145	235	-90		12
10	Batley	15	4	0	11	159	294	-135		8
11	Hull	15	4	0	11	125	295	-170		8
12	Oldham	19	4	0	15	142	306	-164		8
13	York	17	3	1	13	109	311	-202		7
14	St. Helens	15	2	0	13	108	273	-165		4

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Championship Play-Off

Championship Play-Off:
Qualifying Game:

• Bradford Northern 16 beat Huddersfield 13 (Odsal)

Semifinals:

• Bradford Northern 8 beat Dewsbury 3 (Odsal)

(Bradford Northern were disqualified for fielding an inelligible player)

• Wigan 3 lost to Halifax 13 (Central Park)

Final (two legs):

• Dewsbury 11 beat Halifax 3 (Crown Flatt)
• Halifax 13 lost to Dewsbury 22 (Thrum Hall)
• Dewsbury won 33-16 on aggregate

The Championship was declared null and void because Dewsbury fielded an ineligible player.

Trophies

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup Competition had been suspended for season 1939–40, but after being re-introduced for the following season 1940–41 continued again this season.
Each round including the final was played in two legs on a home and away basis
Below are given some of the fixtures and results from this year’s Challenge Cup competition.
Barrow who had not entered the League programme, took part in this competition.

Date	Stage	Home Team	score	Away Team	Venue	agg	att	rcts	Note	ref
1st Round
CC R1 1st leg	13-03-1943	Hull	0-21	Dewsbury	Boulevard
CC R1 1st leg	13-03-1943	Wigan	6-5	Bradford Northern	Central Park
CC R1 1st leg	13-03-1943	St. Helens	13-2	Barrow	Knowsley Rd
CC R1 2nd leg	20-03-1943	Dewsbury	21-12	Hull	Crown Flatt	42-12
CC R1 2nd leg	20-03-1943	Bradford Northern	18-3	Wigan	Odsal	23-9
CC R1 2nd leg	20-03-1943	Barrow	4-0	St. Helens	Barrow	6-13
2nd Round
CC R2 1st leg	27-03-1943	Oldham	17-12	St. Helens	Watersheddings
CC R2 1st Leg	Sat 27-03-1943	Keighley	beat	Bradford Northern	Lawkholme Ln
CC R2 2nd leg	03-04-1943	St. Helens	5-20	Oldham	Knowsley Rd	18-37
CC R2 2nd Leg	Sat 03-04-1943	Bradford Northern	Lost to	Keighley	Odsal	Lost
Final
CC F 1st leg	09-05-1943	Dewsbury	16-9	Leeds	Crown Flatt		10,470	£823.0.0
CC F 2nd leg	16-05-1943	Leeds	6-0	Dewsbury	Headingley	15-16	16,000	£1,521.0.0
Dewsbury are winners of the Challenge Cup

In the Final of the Rugby league Challenge Cup, Dewsbury beat Leeds 16-15 on aggregate over two legs in front of an aggregate crowd of 26,470.

Lancashire Cup

The Lancashire County Cup, suspended for season 1940–41 remained so for the rest of the war and again Wigan competed in the Yorkshire Cup.

Yorkshire Cup

Below are given some of the fixtures and results from this year’s Yorkshire Cup competition.

Date	Stage	Home Team	score	Away Team	Venue	agg	att	rcts	Note	ref
1st Round
YC R1 1st leg	Sat 17-10-1942	Featherstone Rovers	0-0	Hull	Post Office Road
YC R1 2nd leg	Sat 24-10-1942	Hull	8-0	Featherstone Rovers	Boulevard	8-0
2nd Round
YC R2 1st leg	Sat 24-10-1942	St. Helens	21-8	Wigan	Knowsley Rd		3,000
YC R2 1st leg	Sat 31-10-1942	Hull	12-10	Dewsbury	Boulevard
YC R2 2nd leg	07-11-1942	Wigan	32-11	St. Helens	Central Park	40-32	7,235		**
**	AET - 80 Mins Score was 19-6 (27-27 on Agg)
YC R2 2nd leg	07-11-1942	Dewsbury	23-7	Hull	Crown Flatt	33-19
Semi-Final
YC SF 1st leg	14-11-1942	Dewsbury	11-3	Wigan	Crown Flatt
YC SF 2nd leg		Wigan	0-6	Dewsbury	Central Park	17-3
Final
YC F 1st leg	00-12-1942	Dewsbury	7-0	Huddersfield	Crown Flatt		11,000	£680.0.0
YC F 2nd leg	01-12-1942	Huddersfield	2-0	Dewsbury	Fartown	2-7	6,252	£618.0.0
Dewsbury are winners of Yorkshire Cup

In the Final of the Yorkshire County Cup, Dewsbury beat Huddersfield in two low scoring legs by 7-2 on aggregate before an aggregate crowd of 17,252.

See also

British rugby league system
1939–40 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1940–41 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1941–42 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1942–43 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1943–44 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1944–45 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
The Great Schism – Rugby League View
The Great Schism – Rugby Union View
List of defunct rugby league clubs
Dewsbury

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• Cherry and white
• Hull&Proud
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review
• Warrington History
• [Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91 by Raymond Fletcher and David Howes]