1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season

1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season

Division 1
1902–03 Season
Champions	Halifax
Top point-scorer(s)	Wharton Davies 136
Top try-scorer(s)	Evans 27
Division 2
Champions	Keighley
< 1901–02 Seasons 1903–04 >

The 1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the eighth season of rugby league football.

Season summary

League Champions: Halifax

Challenge Cup Winners: Halifax (7-0 v Salford)

2nd Division Champions: Keighley^[1]

There was no county league competition this season.

Notable events

• Four of the top five clubs from the 1901–02 Lancashire Senior Competition; Hull Kingston Rovers (although based in Yorkshire, and having played in the Yorkshire Senior Competition for the 1899–1900 and 1900–01 seasons, they had played the 1901–02 season in the Lancashire Senior Competition), St. Helens, Widnes, and Wigan joined the 14-clubs from the previous season's 1901–02 Northern Rugby League to make an 18-club Division 1, the exception was Barrow who despite finishing fourth in the 1901–02 Lancashire Senior Competition joined Division 2.
• At the end of the season Manningham Rugby Club decided to switch to Association Football and became Bradford City A.F.C., whilst staying at Valley Parade.^[2][3]

Division 1

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Halifax	34	23	3	8	199	85	49
2	Salford	34	20	5	9	244	130	45
3	Swinton	34	18	7	9	254	119	43
4	Runcorn	34	19	4	11	239	139	42
5	Broughton Rangers	34	17	7	10	222	97	41
6	Oldham	34	20	0	14	200	128	40
7	Bradford	34	16	5	13	220	161	37
8	Warrington	34	14	7	13	148	164	35
9	Hunslet	34	16	3	15	185	220	35
10	Hull	34	16	2	16	204	192	34
11	Batley	34	15	4	15	176	214	34
12	Leigh	34	12	5	17	136	178	29
13	Widnes	34	13	2	19	131	167	28
14	Hull Kingston Rovers	34	13	2	19	155	215	28
15	Huddersfield	34	13	2	19	116	196	28
16	Wigan	34	10	6	18	125	174	26
17	St Helens	34	9	2	23	125	309	20
18	Brighouse Rangers	34	7	4	23	79	270	18

Division 2

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Keighley	34	27	2	5	270	92	56
2	Leeds	34	26	1	7	334	98	53
3	Millom	34	22	3	9	238	118	47
4	Rochdale Hornets	34	20	6	8	323	88	46
5	Holbeck	34	20	5	9	213	83	45
6	Barrow	34	22	0	12	230	140	44
7	Wakefield Trinity	34	18	2	14	263	196	38
8	Bramley	34	16	4	14	179	151	36
9	Birkenhead Wanderers	34	14	6	14	125	140	34
10	Manningham	34	14	5	15	141	170	33
11	Lancaster	34	13	4	17	123	214	30
12	Normanton	34	12	4	18	160	228	28
13	York	34	11	4	19	111	190	26
14	South Shields	34	10	2	22	158	264	22
15	Castleford	34	9	4	21	105	268	22
16	Dewsbury	34	8	5	21	123	245	21
17	Morecambe	34	9	2	23	88	220	20
18	Stockport	34	5	1	28	69	348	11

Challenge Cup

Halifax beat Salford 7-0 in the final at Leeds before a crowd of 32,507 ^[4]

Sources

• 1902-03 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
• The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website

References

1. "1902-03 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
2. "Bradford City History". Transformation of Valley Parade. Bradford City Football Club. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
3. "Valley Parade History". The Dawn of Football at Valley Parade. The Bradford City Football Club Museum. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
4. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-07.