1968–69 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1968–69 Rugby Football League season was the 74th season of rugby league football.

1968–69 Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Leeds
League Leaders	Leeds
Top point-scorer(s)	Bev Risman 345
Top try-scorer(s)	Bill Francis 40
← 1967–68 1969–70 →

Season summary

Leeds had finished the regular season as League leaders for the third season in a row. They then won their second Championship when they beat Castleford 16-14 in the Championship Final. Bev Risman was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

The Challenge Cup winners were Castleford who beat Salford 11-6 in the final.

St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Leeds won the Yorkshire League.

Championship

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts
1	Leeds	34	29	2	3	60
2	St. Helens	34	27	2	5	56
3	Wigan	34	25	2	7	52
4	Castleford	34	24	2	8	50
5	Swinton	34	23	0	11	46
6	Salford	34	19	5	10	43
7	Featherstone Rovers	34	21	1	12	43
8	Workington Town	34	21	0	13	42
9	Leigh	34	19	4	11	42
10	Hull Kingston Rovers	34	20	0	14	40
11	York	34	20	0	14	40
12	Wakefield Trinity	34	19	1	14	39
13	Hull	34	18	3	13	39
14	Widnes	34	19	1	14	39
15	Keighley	34	18	1	15	37
16	Oldham	34	18	0	16	36
17	Warrington	34	17	1	16	35
18	Halifax	34	16	2	16	34
19	Bradford Northern	34	16	0	18	32
20	Barrow	34	13	1	20	27
21	Rochdale Hornets	34	13	0	21	26
22	Dewsbury	34	12	1	21	25
23	Hunslet	34	11	0	23	22
24	Doncaster	34	11	0	23	22
25	Huddersfield	34	9	1	24	19
26	Batley	34	8	1	25	17
27	Huyton	34	8	0	26	16
28	Bramley	34	7	0	27	14
29	Blackpool Borough	34	7	0	27	14
30	Whitehaven	34	6	1	27	13

Champions

Play-offs

Play-offs

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Leeds	32
	Oldham	12
					Leeds	18
					Workington	10
	Workington	11
	Leigh	9
									Leeds	22
									Salford	12
	Wigan	26
	Widnes	10
					Wigan	21
					Salford	26
	Salford	13
	York	7
													Leeds	16
													Castleford	14
	Swinton	9
	Wakefield Trinity	5
					Swinton	8
					Castleford	50
	Castleford	14
	Hull	10
									Castleford	18
									St Helens	6
	Featherstone Rovers	16
	Hull KR	5
					Featherstone Rovers	4
					St Helens	47
	St Helens	25
	Keighley	7

Final

Leeds	16 – 14	Castleford
Tries: Cowan, Atkinson Goals: Risman (4), Ramsey	[1]	Tries: Hardisty, Dickinson Goals: Redfearn (3), Hardisty

24 May 1969

Odsal Stadium, Bradford Attendance: 28,442 Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield) Player of the Match: Bev Risman

Leeds	Number	Castleford
	Teams
Bev Risman	1	Derek Edwards
Ron Cowan	2	Trevor Briggs
Syd Hynes	3	Keith Howe
Bernard Watson	4	Tony Thomas
John Atkinson	5	Alan Lowndes
Mick Shoebottom	6	Alan Hardisty
Barry Seabourne	7	Keith Hepworth
Mick Clark	8	Dennis Hartley
Tony Crosby	9	Clive Dickinson
Kenny Eyre	10	Johnny Ward
Mick Joyce	11	Mick Redfearn
Bill Ramsey	12	Brian Lockwood
Ray Batten	13	Mal Reilly
	Subs
John Langley (for Seabourne)	14	Trevor Bedford
David Hick (for Clark)	15	Frank Fox (for Reilly)
	0
Joe Warham	Coach	Derek Turner

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1968–69 Challenge Cup

Castleford beat Salford 11-6 in the final played at Wembley before a crowd of 97,939. Salford were captained by David Watkins.

This was Castleford’s second Cup Final win in two Final appearances.

This is Salford’s most recent appearance in a Challenge Cup Final.^[2]

County cups

Main article: 1968–69 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1968–69 Yorkshire Cup

St. Helens beat Oldham 30–2 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Castleford 22–11 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Main article: 1968–69 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Wigan who beat St. Helens 7-4 in the final.^[3]