1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season

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

1973–74 Rugby Football League season
League	Championship
First Division
Champions	Salford
Runners-up	St Helens
Club Championship	Warrington
Top point-scorer(s)	David Watkins 438
Top try-scorer(s)	Keith Fielding 49
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to Second Division	Oldham Hull Kingston Rovers Leigh Whitehaven
Second Division
Champions	Bradford Northern
Promoted to First Division	Bradford Northern York Keighley Halifax
← 1972–73 1974–75 →

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

Main article: 1973–74 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

Main article: 1973–74 League Cup (rugby league)

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

County Cups

Main article: 1973–74 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1973–74 Yorkshire Cup

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

Main article: Captain Morgan Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Main article: 1973–74 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

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

Club Championship

Main article: Club Championship (rugby league)

Kangaroo Tour

Main article: 1973 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

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. 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. 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.