1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season

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]

1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern 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

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 County Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Castleford 11–7 to win the Yorkshire County 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 16Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
              
 
 
 
 
Leeds40
 
 
 
Leigh2
 
Leeds20
 
 
 
Widnes9
 
Swinton11
 
 
 
Widnes15
 
Leeds10
 
 
 
Salford0
 
Salford23
 
 
 
Dewsbury7
 
Salford21
 
 
 
Wigan9
 
Wigan18
 
 
 
Oldham8
 
Leeds(2)9
 
 
 
St Helens(3)5
 
St Helens25
 
 
 
Hull KR5
 
St Helens17
 
 
 
Rochdale Hornets5
 
Rochdale Hornets18
 
 
 
Wakefield Trinity13
 
St Helens14
 
 
 
Bradford Northern10 Third place
 
Featherstone Rovers14
 
  
 
Castleford18
 
Castleford12 
 
 
 
Bradford Northern22  
 
Bradford Northern37
 
 
Warrington0
 

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
Main article: 1971–72 Challenge Cup

The final was played between St. Helens and Leeds at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 13 May 1972, in front of a crowd of 89,495. 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 the man of the match winning the Lance Todd Trophy. This was St Helens’ fourth Cup Final win in eight Final appearances.[3]

League Cup
Main article: 1971–72 League Cup (rugby league)

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". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. 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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