1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season | |
---|---|
League | Northern Rugby Football League |
Champions | ![]() |
League Leaders | ![]() |
Top point-scorer(s) | ![]() |
Top try-scorer(s) | ![]() ![]() |
The 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 77th season of rugby league football. This season saw the entry of rugby league's first sponsors: Joshua Tetley and John Player.[1]
Season summary
[edit]This season saw the introduction of the League Cup competition as a major secondary competition to the Challenge Cup. Due to sponsorship it was never commonly known as the League Cup. It began in this year as the Player's No.6 Trophy and finished up as the Regal Trophy before being abandoned after 1995-96 when the sport switched to summer.
Leeds won their third Championship when they beat St. Helens 9-5 in the Championship Final. Leeds also finished the regular season as league leaders.
The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Leeds 16-13 in the final.
Championship
[edit]Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PAv | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Leeds (L) | 34 | 28 | 2 | 4 | 750 | 325 | 2.308 | 58 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
2 | Bradford Northern | 34 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 724 | 357 | 2.028 | 54 | |
3 | St Helens | 34 | 26 | 1 | 7 | 661 | 297 | 2.226 | 53 | |
4 | Wigan | 34 | 25 | 0 | 9 | 702 | 314 | 2.236 | 50 | |
5 | Salford | 34 | 25 | 0 | 9 | 720 | 338 | 2.130 | 50 | |
6 | Swinton | 34 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 554 | 368 | 1.505 | 48 | |
7 | Featherstone Rovers | 34 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 632 | 372 | 1.699 | 47 | |
8 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 21 | 1 | 12 | 429 | 306 | 1.402 | 43 | |
9 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 587 | 414 | 1.418 | 42 | |
10 | Castleford | 34 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 488 | 368 | 1.326 | 41 | |
11 | Widnes | 34 | 19 | 3 | 12 | 476 | 388 | 1.227 | 41 | |
12 | Dewsbury | 34 | 18 | 2 | 14 | 431 | 352 | 1.224 | 38 | |
13 | Oldham | 34 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 573 | 480 | 1.194 | 37 | |
14 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 432 | 498 | 0.867 | 36 | |
15 | Warrington | 34 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 537 | 397 | 1.353 | 35 | |
16 | Leigh | 34 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 421 | 407 | 1.034 | 34 | |
17 | Huddersfield | 34 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 394 | 435 | 0.906 | 34 | |
18 | Barrow | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 375 | 508 | 0.738 | 34 | |
19 | Hull | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 488 | 495 | 0.986 | 32 | |
20 | York | 34 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 465 | 498 | 0.934 | 32 | |
21 | Halifax | 34 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 398 | 564 | 0.706 | 28 | |
22 | Bramley | 34 | 13 | 0 | 21 | 333 | 542 | 0.614 | 26 | |
23 | Whitehaven | 34 | 12 | 0 | 22 | 394 | 523 | 0.753 | 24 | |
24 | Workington Town | 34 | 11 | 2 | 21 | 303 | 533 | 0.568 | 24 | |
25 | Blackpool Borough | 34 | 11 | 0 | 23 | 351 | 560 | 0.627 | 22 | |
26 | Keighley | 34 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 330 | 740 | 0.446 | 16 | |
27 | Huyton | 34 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 277 | 610 | 0.454 | 15 | |
28 | Batley | 34 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 249 | 628 | 0.396 | 12 | |
29 | Doncaster | 34 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 234 | 729 | 0.321 | 10 | |
30 | Hunslet | 34 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 300 | 662 | 0.453 | 4 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points average; 3) Number of points scored;
(L) Won League Leader's Trophy
Play-offs
[edit]Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
Leeds | 40 | |||||||||||||
Leigh | 2 | |||||||||||||
Leeds | 20 | |||||||||||||
Widnes | 9 | |||||||||||||
Swinton | 11 | |||||||||||||
Widnes | 15 | |||||||||||||
Leeds | 10 | |||||||||||||
Salford | 0 | |||||||||||||
Salford | 23 | |||||||||||||
Dewsbury | 7 | |||||||||||||
Salford | 21 | |||||||||||||
Wigan | 9 | |||||||||||||
Wigan | 18 | |||||||||||||
Oldham | 8 | |||||||||||||
Leeds | 9 | |||||||||||||
St Helens | 5 | |||||||||||||
St Helens | 25 | |||||||||||||
Hull KR | 5 | |||||||||||||
St Helens | 17 | |||||||||||||
Rochdale Hornets | 5 | |||||||||||||
Rochdale Hornets | 18 | |||||||||||||
Wakefield Trinity | 13 | |||||||||||||
St Helens | 14 | |||||||||||||
Bradford Northern | 10 | |||||||||||||
Featherstone Rovers | 14 | |||||||||||||
Castleford | 18 | |||||||||||||
Castleford | 12 | |||||||||||||
Bradford Northern | 22 | |||||||||||||
Bradford Northern | 37 | |||||||||||||
Warrington | 0 | |||||||||||||
Final
[edit]The Championship final was played at Swinton.
20 May 1972
|
Leeds | 9 – 5 | St Helens |
---|---|---|
Tries: Atkinson Goals: Clawson (3) |
Tries: Greenall Goals: Walsh |
Station Road, Swinton
Attendance: 24,055 Referee: S. Shepherd (Oldham) Player of the Match: Terry Clawson |
Challenge Cup
[edit]The final was played between St. Helens and Leeds at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 13 May 1972, in front of a crowd of 89,495. After leading 12-6 at half time, St Helens beat Leeds 16-13. St Helens scorers were Les Jones (1 try), Graham Rees (1 try), and Kel Coslett (5 goals). St Helens forward Kel Coslett was the man of the match winning the Lance Todd Trophy. This was St Helens’ fourth Cup Final win in eight Final appearances.[3]
Player's No.6 Trophy
[edit]Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Halifax who beat Wakefield Trinity 22-11 in the final.[4]
County cups
[edit]Wigan beat Widnes 15–8 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Castleford 11–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.
References
[edit]- ^ Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
- ^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-96. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-7472-7817-7.
- ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ "1971-72 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
Sources
[edit]- Saxton, Irvin (ed.). History of Rugby League: No.77 1971–1972. League Publications.
- 1971-72 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com Archived 2009-08-26 at the Wayback Machine
- The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website