1974–75 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1974–75 Rugby Football League season was the 80th season of competition between the clubs of England's Northern Rugby Football League. The season's First Division Championship featured 16 clubs and was won by St. Helens. The Challenge Cup was won by Widnes.

1974–75 Rugby Football League season
League	Championship
Champions	St. Helens
Premiership	Leeds
Top point-scorer(s)	Neil Fox (333)
Top try-scorer(s)	Gerald Dunn (42)
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	Huddersfield Hull Kingston Rovers Oldham Swinton
Relegated to Second Division	York Bramley Rochdale Hornets Halifax
← 1973–74 1975–76 →

Rule change

• Drop goals became worth one point.^[1] Drops had previously been worth two points.

Season summary

St. Helens won their seventh Championship. York, Bramley, Rochdale Hornets and Halifax were demoted to the Second Division.

The Challenge Cup Winners were Widnes who beat Warrington 14–7 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were Huddersfield, and they, Hull Kingston Rovers, Oldham and Swinton were promoted to the First Division.^[2]

League Tables

First Division Championship Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts 1 St. Helens 30 26 1 3 561 229 53 2 Wigan 30 21 0 9 517 341 42 3 Leeds 30 19 1 10 581 359 39 4 Featherstone Rovers 30 19 1 10 431 339 39 5 Widnes 30 18 1 11 382 305 37 6 Warrington 30 17 1 12 428 356 35 7 Bradford 30 16 1 13 393 376 33 8 Castleford 30 14 3 13 393 376 31 9 Salford 30 14 1 15 451 351 29 10 Wakefield Trinity 30 12 5 13 440 419 29 11 Keighley 30 13 0 17 300 424 26 12 Dewsbury 30 11 0 19 350 506 22 13 York 30 10 0 20 359 498 20 14 Bramley 30 9 0 21 338 493 18 15 Rochdale Hornets 30 8 0 22 219 400 16 16 Halifax 30 5 1 24 269 676 11

Second Division Championship Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts 1 Huddersfield 26 21 0 5 489 213 42 2 Hull Kingston Rovers 26 20 1 5 628 249 41 3 Oldham 26 19 0 7 406 223 38 4 Swinton 26 17 1 8 399 254 35 5 Workington Town 26 16 0 10 371 275 32 6 Whitehaven 26 14 1 11 285 234 29 7 Huyton 26 12 2 12 301 291 26 8 Hull 26 12 1 13 344 309 25 9 Barrow 26 11 2 13 338 315 24 10 Leigh 26 11 1 14 302 348 23 11 New Hunslet 26 10 2 14 309 384 22 12 Blackpool Borough 26 7 1 18 261 417 15 13 Batley 26 4 1 21 197 520 9 14 Doncaster 26 1 1 24 147 745 3   Champions   Promoted   Relegated

Cups

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1974–75 Challenge Cup

Widnes beat Warrington 14–7 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 85,998.^[3]

This was Widnes’ fourth Cup Final win in sixth Final appearances.^[4]

League Cup

Main article: 1974–75 League Cup (rugby league)

Players No.6 Trophy Winners were Bradford Northern who beat Widnes 3–2 in the final.

Premiership

Main article: 1974–75 Rugby League Premiership

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Leeds who beat St. Helens 26–11 in the final.

County cups

Main article: 1974–75 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1974–75 Yorkshire Cup

Widnes beat Salford 6–2 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Wakefield Trinity 16–13 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Main article: 1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Salford who beat Warrington 10–5 in a replay after a 0–0 draw in the final.

Sources

• 1974-75 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
• The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website

References

1. de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009), "Top ten: Rugby league rules", Rugby League World, no. 340, Brighouse, UK: League Publications (published August 2009), p. 61, ISSN 1466-0105
2. "1974-75 Season summary". Retrieved 2009-08-08.
3. Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
4. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.