1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season
League | Northern Rugby Football League | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Champions | Salford | |||
Club Championship | Warrington | |||
Top point-scorer(s) | David Watkins 438 | |||
Top try-scorer(s) | Keith Fielding 49 | |||
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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 play offs were done away with and the league leaders were declared the champions. A "Club Championship" was played in place of the play offs 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 Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Warrington who beat Rochdale Hornets 24-17 in the final.
The Club Championship was won by Warrington who beat St. Helens 13-12 in the final.
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Bramley who beat Widnes 15-7 in the final.
2nd Division Champions were: Bradford Northern, and they York, Keighley and Halifax were promoted to the First Division.[3]
Wigan beat Salford 19–9 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 7–2 to win the Yorkshire Cup.
League Tables
Championship
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Second Division
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Challenge Cup
Warrington defeated Huddersfield, Huyton, Wigan and Dewsbury to get to 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.
References
- 1 2 Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
- ↑ "Bradford Bulls History". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ↑ "1973-74 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ↑ "Victory parade for Wolves players". BBC News. UK: BBC. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.