1969–70 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1969–70 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 75th season of rugby league football in Britain.

1969–70 Northern Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
Champions St. Helens
League Leaders Leeds
Top point-scorer(s) Colin Tyrer 385
Top try-scorer(s) John Atkinson 38

Rule change

edit
  • Tactical substitutions were now allowed to occur after half time during a game, they had been permitted before half time since 1964.[1]

Season summary

edit

Leeds had ended the regular season as league leaders for the fourth successive season. St. Helens won their fifth Rugby Football League Championship when they beat Leeds 24-12 in the final. Frank Myler was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

The Challenge Cup winners were Castleford who beat Wigan 7-2 in the final.

Wigan won the Lancashire League, and Leeds won the Yorkshire League. This was the last season in which the Lancashire League and Yorkshire League titles were awarded, as the competitions were abolished following a vote on fixture reform during the season.[2]

Championship

edit
Team Pld W D L Pts
1 Leeds 34 30 0 4 60
2 Castleford 34 25 1 8 51
3 St. Helens 34 23 1 10 47
4 Wigan 34 23 0 11 46
5 Hull Kingston Rovers 34 22 2 10 46
6 Salford 34 22 1 11 45
7 Leigh 34 21 3 10 45
8 Featherstone Rovers 34 22 1 11 45
9 Swinton 34 20 4 10 44
10 Widnes 34 21 2 11 44
11 Hull 34 20 2 12 42
12 Bradford Northern 34 19 0 15 38
13 Whitehaven 34 18 2 14 38
14 Warrington 34 17 2 15 36
15 Huddersfield 34 17 1 16 35
16 Halifax 34 16 0 18 32
17 Batley 34 15 1 18 31
18 Bramley 34 14 1 19 29
19 Barrow 34 14 1 19 29
20 Rochdale Hornets 34 13 3 18 29
21 Wakefield Trinity 34 13 2 19 28
22 Dewsbury 34 13 1 20 27
23 Hunslet 34 13 1 20 27
24 Workington Town 34 12 2 20 26
25 Keighley 34 13 0 21 26
26 York 34 11 1 22 23
27 Doncaster 34 7 0 27 14
28 Huyton 34 5 3 26 13
29 Oldham 34 6 0 28 12
30 Blackpool Borough 34 6 0 28 12
Champions Play-offs

Play-offs

edit

Final

edit
16 May 1970
St Helens 24 – 12 Leeds
Tries: Prescott (2), Walsh, Sayer
Goals: Coslett (4), Walsh (2)
Tries: Smith, Cowan
Goals: Holmes (3)
Odsal Stadium, Bradford
Attendance: 26,358
Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield)
Player of the Match: Frank Myler

Challenge Cup

edit

Castleford beat Wigan 7-2 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 95,255.

This was Castleford’s third Cup Final win in three Final appearances and their second in successive years. It was also the lowest winning score in a Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.[3]

County cups

edit

Swinton beat Leigh 11–2 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull F.C. beat Featherstone Rovers 12–9 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

edit

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Leigh who beat Wigan 11-6 in the final.[4]

References

edit
  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. ^ Mather, Harold (6 February 1970). "Plan by York adopted". The Guardian. London. p. 21. ProQuest 185401549.
  3. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  4. ^ "1969-70 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.

Sources

edit