1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season

1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
League Northern Rugby Football League
Champions Leeds
League Leaders Leeds
Top point-scorer(s) David Watkins 473
Top try-scorer(s) John Atkinson 38
Mike Lamb 38
< 1970–71 Seasons 1972–73 >

The 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 77th season of rugby league football. This season saw the entry of rugby league's first sponsors: Joshua Tetley and John Player.[1]

Season summary

This season saw the introduction of the League Cup competition as a major secondary competition to the Challenge Cup. Due to sponsorship it was never commonly known as the League Cup. It began in this year as the Player's No.6 Trophy and finished up as the Regal Trophy before being abandoned after 1995-96 when the sport switched to summer.

Leeds won their third Championship when they beat St. Helens 9-5 in the Championship Final. Leeds also finished the regular season as league leaders.

The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Leeds 16-13 in the final.

Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Halifax who beat Wakefield Trinity 22-11 in the final.[2]

Wigan beat Widnes 15–8 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Castleford 11–7 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Championship

Team Pld W D L Pts
1Leeds34282458
2Bradford Northern34262654
3St Helens34261753
4Wigan34250950
5Salford34250950
6Swinton34232948
7Featherstone Rovers342311047
8Rochdale Hornets342111243
9Wakefield Trinity342101342
10Castleford342011341
11Widnes341931241
12Dewsbury341821438
13Oldham341811537
14Hull Kingston Rovers341801636
15Warrington341631535
16Leigh341701734
17Huddersfield341701734
18Barrow341621634
19Hull341601832
20York341521732
21Halifax341402028
22Bramley341302126
23Whitehaven341202224
24Workington Town341122124
25Blackpool Borough341102322
26Keighley34802616
27Huyton34712615
28Batley34522712
29Doncaster34502910
30Hunslet3420324

Play-offs

Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                           
           
 Leeds  40
 Leigh  2  
 Leeds  20
   Widnes  9  
 Swinton  11
 Widnes  15  
 Leeds  10
   Salford  0  
 Salford  23
 Dewsbury  7  
 Salford  21
   Wigan  9  
 Wigan  18
 Oldham  8  
 Leeds  (2)9
   St Helens  (3)5
 St Helens  25
 Hull K R  5  
 St Helens  17
   Rochdale Hornets  5  
 Rochdale Hornets  18
 Wakefield Trinity  13  
 St Helens  14
   Bradford Northern  10   Third Place
 Featherstone Rovers  14
 Castleford  18  
 Castleford  12    
   Bradford Northern  22      
 Bradford Northern  37
 Warrington  0  

Final

The Championship final was played at Swinton.

Leeds scorers: John Atkinson (1 try), Terry Clawson (3 goals)

St Helens scorers: Les Greenall (1 try), John Walsh (1 goal)

Challenge Cup

The final was played between St Helens and Leeds at London's Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 89,495. The Leeds team was John Holmes, Alan Smith, Syd Hynes, Les Dyl, John Atkinson, Alan Hardisty, Keith Hepworth, Terry Clawson, Tony Fisher, Bill Ramsey, Bob Haigh, Phil Cookson, Ray Batten. Subs: John Langley. The St. Helens team was Geoff Pimblett, Les Jones, Billy Benyon, John Walsh, Frank Wilson, Ken Kelly, Jeff Heaton, Graham Rees, Les Greenall, John Stephens, John Mantle, Eric Chisnall, Kel Coslett. Subs: Alan Whittle, Kelvin Earl. After leading 12-6 at half time, St Helens beat Leeds 16-13. St Helens scorers were Les Jones (1 try), Graham Rees (1 try), and Kel Coslett (5 goals). St Helens forward Kel Coslett was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy as man-of-the-match. This was St Helens’ fourth Cup Final win in eight Final appearances.[3]

References

  1. Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  2. "1971-72 Season summary". Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  3. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

Sources

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