1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 84th season of rugby league football. Sixteen English clubs competed for the Northern Rugby Football League's first division championship, with Hull Kingston Rovers claiming the title by finishing on top of the League.

1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Hull Kingston Rovers
Premiership	Leeds
Man of Steel Award	Doug Laughton
Top point-scorer(s)	Sammy Lloyd (373)
Top try-scorer(s)	Steve Hartley (35)
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	Hull New Hunslet York Blackpool Borough
Relegated to Second Division	Barrow Featherstone Rovers Rochdale Hornets Huddersfield
← 1977–78 1979–80 →

Season summary

The 1978 Kangaroo tour took place during the first half of the season and involved matches between a number of clubs.

Hull Kingston Rovers won their third Championship this season.

The Challenge Cup Winners were Widnes who beat Wakefield Trinity 12-3 in the final.

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Leeds who beat Bradford Northern 24-2 in the final.

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat St. Helens 13-7 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were Hull F.C., with a very unusual perfect season. New Hunslet, York and Blackpool Borough were also promoted to the First Division.^[1]

Geoff 'Sammy' Lloyd of Hull F.C. equalled the club match record for scoring goals when he was successful 14 times in the match against Oldham on 10 September 1978. They were part of a club record 170 goals in a season, and a club record 369 points in a season.^[2]

Widnes beat Workington Town (from Cumbria) 15–13 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Bradford Northern beat York 18–8 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

League Tables

Championship Final Standings Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts 1 Hull Kingston Rovers 30 23 0 7 616 344 46 2 Warrington 30 22 0 8 521 340 44 3 Widnes 30 21 2 7 480 322 44 4 Leeds 30 19 1 10 555 370 39 5 St. Helens 30 16 2 12 485 379 34 6 Wigan 30 16 1 13 484 411 33 7 Castleford 30 16 1 13 498 469 33 8 Bradford Northern 30 16 0 14 523 416 32 9 Workington Town 30 13 3 14 378 345 29 10 Wakefield Trinity 30 13 1 16 382 456 27 11 Leigh 30 13 1 16 406 535 27 12 Salford 30 11 2 17 389 435 24 13 Barrow 30 9 2 19 368 536 20 14 Featherstone Rovers 30 8 1 21 501 549 17 15 Rochdale Hornets 30 8 0 22 297 565 16 16 Huddersfield 30 7 1 22 314 725 15

Second Division Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts 1 Hull 26 26 0 0 702 175 52 2 New Hunslet 26 21 1 4 454 218 43 3 York 26 17 1 8 426 343 35 4 Blackpool Borough 26 15 3 8 321 272 33 5 Halifax 26 15 2 9 312 198 32 6 Dewsbury 26 15 0 11 368 292 30 7 Keighley 26 12 2 12 357 298 26 8 Bramley 26 12 1 13 375 342 25 9 Oldham 26 10 1 15 297 435 21 10 Whitehaven 26 8 3 15 297 408 19 11 Swinton 26 7 2 17 349 452 16 12 Doncaster 26 7 0 19 259 547 14 13 Huyton 26 3 3 20 261 513 9 14 Batley 26 4 1 21 194 479 9   Champions   Play-offs   Promoted   Relegated

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1978–79 Challenge Cup

Widnes beat Wakefield Trinity 12-3 in the State Express Challenge Cup Final played at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 5 May 1979, in front of a crowd of 94,218.^[3]

This was Widnes' fifth cup final win in seven Final appearances. To date, this was Wakefield Trinity’s last appearance in a Challenge Cup Final.

The Wakefield Trinity stand-off, David Topliss, won the Lance Todd Trophy.

League Cup

Main article: 1978–79 League Cup (rugby league)

Premiership

Main article: 1978–79 Rugby League Premiership

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1978–79 season.^[4]

Most tries Player Team Tries Steve Hartley Hull Kingston Rovers 35 Stuart Wright Widnes 28 David Barends Bradford Northern 25 Phil Lowe Hull Kingston Rovers 25 Paul Prendiville Hull F.C. 25 Keith Fielding Salford 24 David Redfearn Bradford Northern 23 Roy Mathias St. Helens 22 Graham Bray Hull F.C. 21 Keiron O'Loughlin Wigan 21 Clive Sullivan Hull Kingston Rovers 21

Most goals (including drop goals) Player Team Goals Sammy Lloyd Hull F.C. 172 Steve Hesford Warrington 170 Mick Burke Widnes 140 Iain McCorquodale Workington Town 114 Geoff Pimblett St. Helens 105 Graham Beale Keighley 96 John Woods Leigh 96 Jimmy Birts Halifax 86 George Fairbairn Wigan 86 Paul Norton Castleford 82

Kangaroo Tour

Main article: 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

The months of September, October and November also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1978 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 2–1 by Australia), The Kangaroos played and won matches against 12 club and county representative sides as well as playing Wales in a non-test international.

The 1978 Kangaroos were coached by dual Manly-Warringah NSWRFL premiership coach Frank Stanton who had previously toured as a player in 1963–64. The team was captained by brilliant centre / stand-off Bob Fulton making his second tour after being a part of the 1973 squad.

The 11–10 loss to Widnes at Naughton Park on 25 October remains (as of 2017) the last time that the Kangaroos have lost to an English club or county team.

game	Date	Result	Venue	Attendance
1	30 September	Australia def. Blackpool Borough 39–1	Borough Park, Blackpool	2,700
2	1 October	Australia def. Cumbria 47–7	Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness	5,964
3	4 October	Australia def. Great Britain U/24 30–8	Craven Park, Hull	6,418
4	8 October	Australia def. Bradford Northern 21–11	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	15,755
5	11 October	Australia def. Warrington 15–12	Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington	10,143
6	15 October	Australia def.  Wales 8–3	St Helens Rugby Ground, Swansea	4,250
7	17 October	Australia def. Leeds 25–19	Headingley, Leeds	9,781
8	21 October	Australia def.  Great Britain 15–9	Central Park, Wigan	17,644
9	25 October	Widnes def. Australia 11–10	Naughton Park, Widnes	12,202
10	29 October	Australia def. Hull F.C. 34–2	The Boulevard, Hull	10,723
11	1 November	Australia def. Salford 14–2	The Willows, Salford	6,155
12	5 November	Great Britain def.  Australia 18–14	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	26,761
13	8 November	Australia def. Wigan 28–2	Central Park, Wigan	10,645
14	12 November	Australia def. St Helens 26–4	Knowsley Road, St Helens	16,352
15	14 November	Australia def. York 29–2	Clarence Street, York	5,155
16	18 November	Australia def.  Great Britain 23–6	Headingley, Leeds	30,604

References

1. "1978-79 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
2. "Hull F.C. History". Retrieved 2009-10-23.^{[permanent dead link]}
3. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
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

• 1978-79 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
• The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website