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1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
League Northern Rugby Football League
Champions Leeds
League Leaders Leeds
Top point-scorer(s) David Watkins 473
Top try-scorer(s) John Atkinson 38
Mike Lamb 38

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

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

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
Source: [2]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points average; 3) Number of points scored;
(L) Won League Leader's Trophy

Play-offs

 
Round of 16Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
              
 
 
 
 
Leeds40
 
 
 
Leigh2
 
Leeds20
 
 
 
Widnes9
 
Swinton11
 
 
 
Widnes15
 
Leeds10
 
 
 
Salford0
 
Salford23
 
 
 
Dewsbury7
 
Salford21
 
 
 
Wigan9
 
Wigan18
 
 
 
Oldham8
 
Leeds9
 
 
 
St Helens5
 
St Helens25
 
 
 
Hull KR5
 
St Helens17
 
 
 
Rochdale Hornets5
 
Rochdale Hornets18
 
 
 
Wakefield Trinity13
 
St Helens14
 
 
 
Bradford Northern10
 
Featherstone Rovers14
 
 
 
Castleford18
 
Castleford12
 
 
 
Bradford Northern22
 
Bradford Northern37
 
 
Warrington0
 

Final

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

Main article: 1971–72 Challenge Cup

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

Main article: 1971–72 Player's No.6 Trophy

Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Halifax who beat Wakefield Trinity 22-11 in the final. [4]

County cups

Main article: 1971–72 Lancashire Cup
Main article: 1971–72 Yorkshire Cup

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

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-96. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 293. ISBN  978-0-7472-7817-7.
  3. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  4. ^ "1971-72 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.

Sources

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