1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season

Rugby league season
  • Oldham
  • Hull Kingston Rovers
  • Leigh
  • Whitehaven
Second DivisionChampions Bradford NorthernPromoted to First Division
  • Bradford Northern
  • York
  • Keighley
  • Halifax

The 1973–74 Rugby Football League season was the 79th season of rugby league football.

Season summary

1973-1974 saw two division rugby re-introduced. The Championship playoffs were discontinued and the league leaders were declared the champions. A "Club Championship" was played in place of the playoffs but this was a one-off precursor to what became the end of season Premiership. It was a complicated format that involved sides from both divisions.

On 25 April, David Watkins of Salford scored the last of 929 points (41 tries, 403 goals) in a record run of scoring in 92 consecutive games for one club.[1]

Keith Mumby made his début for Bradford Northern this season as the club's youngest ever player, aged 16. In a match against Doncaster this season he scored 12 goals and a try. He went on to become the club's record appearance holder, playing 576 games.[2]

Salford won their fifth Championship. Oldham, Hull Kingston Rovers, Leigh and Whitehaven were demoted to the Second Division.

The Challenge Cup winners were Warrington who beat Featherstone Rovers 24-9 in the final.

The Club Championship was won by Warrington who beat St. Helens 13-12 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were: Bradford Northern, and they York, Keighley and Halifax were promoted to the First Division.[3]

League Tables

Championship

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Salford 30 23 1 6 632 299 47
2 St. Helens 30 22 2 6 595 263 46
3 Leeds 30 20 1 9 554 378 41
4 Widnes 30 18 1 11 431 329 37
5 Warrington 30 16 1 13 414 368 33
6 Dewsbury 30 16 1 13 389 474 33
7 Wakefield Trinity 30 16 0 14 470 411 32
8 Featherstone Rovers 30 14 2 14 443 397 30
9 Castleford 30 12 4 14 420 411 28
10 Rochdale Hornets 30 13 2 15 379 415 28
11 Wigan 30 12 3 15 427 364 27
12 Bramley 30 11 3 16 344 457 25
13 Oldham 30 12 1 17 341 494 25
14 Hull Kingston Rovers 30 9 2 19 428 552 20
15 Leigh 30 7 0 23 326 655 14
16 Whitehaven 30 7 0 23 308 634 14

Second Division

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Bradford Northern 26 24 0 2 607 221 48
2 York 26 21 0 5 429 219 42
3 Keighley 26 20 0 6 439 250 40
4 Halifax 26 18 0 8 460 298 36
5 Workington Town 26 17 0 9 421 310 34
6 Hull 26 16 0 10 465 256 32
7 Swinton 26 15 0 11 405 276 30
8 Batley 26 12 0 14 286 311 24
9 Barrow 26 11 0 15 214 291 22
10 Huddersfield 26 9 0 17 363 394 18
11 New Hunslet 26 7 0 19 272 418 14
12 Blackpool Borough 26 7 0 19 272 585 14
13 Doncaster 26 3 0 23 158 684 6
14 Huyton 26 2 0 24 182 460 4
  Champions   Promoted   Relegated

Cups

Challenge Cup

Warrington defeated Huddersfield, Huyton, Wigan and Dewsbury to reach the final against Featherstone Rovers.[4] Captained by Alex Murphy, Warrington beat Featherstone Rovers 24-9 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 77,400.

This was Warrington’s fourth Cup Final win in ten Final appearances.[1] Derek Whitehead, Warrington's full-back won the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match.

League Cup

The Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Warrington who beat Rochdale Hornets 24-17 in the final.

County Cups

Wigan beat Salford 19–9 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 7–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Captain Morgan Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Bramley who beat Widnes 15-7 in the final.

Club Championship

Kangaroo Tour

From September until December also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1973 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 2–1 by Australia), The Kangaroos played matches against club and county representative sides

The 1978 Kangaroos were captain-coached by champion St George Dragons fullback Graeme Langlands who was making his third tour following from 1963–64 and 1967–68

game Date Result Venue Attendance
1 30 September Australia def. Salford 15–12 The Willows, Salford 11,064
2 3 October Australia def. Wakefield Trinity 13–9 Belle Vue, Wakefield 5,863
3 7 October Australia def. Dewsbury 17–3 Crown Flatt, Dewsbury 5,865
4 10 October Australia def. Castleford 18–10 Wheldon Road, Castleford 2,419
5 14 October Australia def. Widnes 25–10 Naughton Park, Widnes 5,185
6 19 October Australia def. Oldham 44–10 The Watersheddings, Oldham 2,895
7 24 October Australia def. Cumbria Cumberland 28–2 Recreation Ground, Whitehaven 3,666
8 28 October Australia def. Bradford Northern 50–14 Odsal Stadium, Bradford 5,667
9 3 November  Great Britain def.  Australia 21–12 Wembley Stadium, London 9,874
10 7 November Australia def. Hull Kingston Rovers 32–2 Craven Park, Hull 5,150
11 10 November Australia def. Huddersfield 25–9 Fartown Ground, Huddersfield 1,333
12 11 November Australia def. Leigh 31–4 Hilton Park, Leigh 2,607
13 13 November St. Helens def. Australia 11–7 Knowsley Road, St Helens 10,013
14 18 November Australia def. Featherstone Rovers 18–3 Post Office Road, Featherstone 5,659
15 24 November  Australia def.  Great Britain 14–6 Headingley, Leeds 16,674
16 1 December  Australia def.  Great Britain 15–5 Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington 10,019

References

  1. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
  2. ^ "Bradford Bulls History". Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  3. ^ "1973-74 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  4. ^ "Victory parade for Wolves players". BBC News. UK: BBC. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
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