1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season

Rugby league season
  • Keith Fielding (30)
  • Steve Hubbard (30)
Promotion and relegationPromoted from Division 2
Relegated to Division 2
  • Wigan
  • Hunslet
  • York
  • Blackpool Borough

The 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 85th season of rugby league football. Sixteen English clubs competed for the Northern Rugby Football League's first division championship, with Bradford claiming the title by finishing on top of the League.

Season summary

League Tables

Championship

Final Standings

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Bradford Northern 30 23 0 7 448 272 46
2 Widnes 30 22 1 7 546 293 45
3 Hull 30 18 3 9 454 326 39
4 Salford 30 19 1 10 495 374 39
5 Leeds 30 19 0 11 590 390 38
6 Leigh 30 16 1 13 451 354 33
7 Hull Kingston Rovers 30 16 1 13 539 445 33
8 St. Helens 30 15 2 13 505 410 32
9 Warrington 30 15 2 13 362 357 32
10 Wakefield Trinity 30 14 2 14 362 357 30
11 Castleford 30 13 2 15 466 475 28
12 Workington Town 30 12 2 16 348 483 26
13 Wigan 30 9 3 18 366 523 21
14 Hunslet 30 7 1 22 346 528 15
15 York 30 6 1 23 375 647 13
16 Blackpool Borough 30 5 0 25 230 613 10

Second Division

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Featherstone Rovers 26 21 2 3 724 280 44
2 Halifax 26 19 3 4 463 213 41
3 Oldham 26 19 3 4 513 276 41
4 Barrow 26 18 1 7 582 280 37
5 Whitehaven 26 15 1 10 397 276 31
6 Dewsbury 26 13 2 11 408 343 28
7 Rochdale Hornets 26 9 5 12 315 373 23
8 Swinton 26 11 1 14 331 436 23
9 Batley 26 10 2 14 232 370 22
10 Bramley 26 10 1 15 330 451 21
11 Keighley 26 10 0 16 342 396 20
12 Huddersfield 26 10 0 16 363 423 20
13 Huyton 26 5 0 21 209 555 10
14 Doncaster 26 1 1 24 196 733 3
  Champions   Play-offs   Promoted   Relegated

Challenge Cup

The 1980 State Express Challenge Cup culminated in the first Hull Cup final derby, with a heavy entourage of supporters from the East and West of the city making the trip to London.[2] Hull Kingston Rovers defeated Hull 10-5 at Wembley before a crowd of 95,000.[3]

This was Hull Kingston Rovers’ first, and to date, only Cup Final Win in six Final appearances.

The Hull Kingston Rovers’ Prop, Brian Lockwood, won the Lance Todd Trophy.

John Player Trophy

The John Player Trophy Winners were Bradford Northern who beat Widnes 6-0 in the final.

County cups

Widnes beat Workington Town (from Cumbria) 11–0 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Halifax 15–6 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Floodlit Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Hull F.C. who beat city rivals Hull Kingston Rovers 13-3 in the final.

Premiership

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat Bradford Northern 19-5 in the final.

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1979–80 season.[4]

Most tries

Player Team Tries
Keith Fielding Salford 30
Steve Hubbard Hull Kingston Rovers 30
Geoff Munro Oldham 29
Ian Ball Barrow 27
Keith Bentley Widnes 27
Peter Glynn St. Helens 27
Roy Mathias St. Helens 27
John Bevan Warrington 26
David Redfearn Bradford Northern 26
David Smith Leeds 24

Most goals (including drop goals)

Player Team Goals
Steve Quinn Featherstone Rovers 163
Steve Hubbard Hull Kingston Rovers 138
Steve Rule Salford 134
Steve Hesford Warrington 128
Mick Burke Widnes 127
Ian Ball Barrow 119
Steve Diamond Wakefield Trinity 116
Eric Fitzsimons Oldham 108
Mick Parrish Hunslet 98
Jimmy Birts Halifax 97

References

  1. ^ "1979-80 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. ^ Demsteader, Christine (2000-10-01). "Rugby League's home from home". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  3. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Retrieved 2009-08-07. [dead link]
  4. ^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David (27 March 1997). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997. London: Headline. pp. 163–7. ISBN 978-0-7472-7764-4.

Sources

  • 1979-80 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
  • The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website
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