1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season

1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season
First Division
1903–04 Season
Champions Bradford
Top point-scorer(s) James Lomas (Salford) 222
Top try-scorer(s) Andrew Hogg (Broughton Rangers) 34
Second Division
Champions Wakefield Trinity
< 1902–03 Seasons 1904–05 >

The 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the ninth season of rugby league football.

Contents

Season summary

The League Champions were Bradford and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax.[1]

Keighley and Huddersfield were demoted from the top division and replaced by Wakefield Trinity (Champions) and St. Helens.

As the top two teams had finished level on points and Points Difference had not been introduced as a tie breaker yet, despite having a worse points difference, Bradford contested a play-off with Salford, that Bradford won 5-0.

In the Second Division, Manningham and Stockport were replaced by Pontefract, reducing the competition to 17 teams. Birkenhead Wanderers dropped the Wanderers from their name.

The second promotion place had to be decided by a play-off as Points Difference had not yet been introduced as a tie breaker. St. Helens beat Holbeck 7-0.

There was no county league competition this season.

Internationals

On 5 April 1904, the first ever International Rugby League match took place between England and Other Nationalities. It was played at Central Park, Wigan, having originally been scheduled for New Years' Day in Oldham. England lost 3-9 in a twelve sided match, with the opposition made up of ten Welshmen and two Scots. The crowd numbered just 6,000.[2]

Teams

England Other Nationalities
Full Back Full Back
W.B. Little (Halifax) D. Smith (Salford)
Three Quarters Three Quarters
F. Spottiswoode (Oldham) D. Thomas (Salford)
G. Dickenson (Warrington) T.D. Llewellyn (Leeds)
J. Lomas (Salford) D. Harris (Wigan)
J. Fish (Warrington) D.J. Lewis (Oldham)
Half Backs Half Backs
J. Baxter (Rochdale Hornets) E. Davies (Wigan)
J. Morely (Halifax) P.J. Brady (Huddersfield)
Forwards Forwards
A. Starks [c] (Hull K.R.) J. Rhapps (Salford)
P. Tunney (Salford) J.G. Moffatt (Leeds)
J. Riley (Halifax) G. Frater [c] (Oldham)
J.W. Bulmer (Halifax) D. Thomas (Oldham)
J. Ferguson (Oldham) H. Buckler (Salford)

Division One

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Bradford 34 25 2 7 303 96 52
2 Salford 34 25 2 7 366 108 52
3 Broughton Rangers 34 21 4 9 306 142 46
4 Hunslet 34 22 1 11 250 157 45
5 Oldham 34 20 3 11 215 110 43
6 Leeds 34 19 5 10 211 145 43
7 Warrington 34 17 3 14 214 153 37
8 Hull Kingston Rovers 34 17 2 15 191 167 36
9 Halifax 34 14 3 17 125 148 31
10 Wigan 34 11 6 17 177 174 28
11 Swinton 34 12 4 18 139 215 28
12 Batley 34 12 3 19 139 241 27
13 Hull 34 12 3 19 148 258 27
14 Widnes 34 11 5 18 126 243 27
15 Leigh 34 10 5 19 174 250 25
16 Runcorn 34 11 2 21 151 245 24
17 Keighley 34 8 5 21 129 319 21
18 Huddersfield 34 10 0 24 160 353 20

Division two

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Wakefield Trinity 32 27 1 4 389 57 55
2 St. Helens 32 23 3 6 328 105 49
3 Holbeck 32 24 1 7 256 120 49
4 Rochdale Hornets 32 22 2 8 319 104 46
5 York 32 20 1 11 244 97 41
6 Brighouse Rovers 32 19 3 10 192 136 41
7 Castleford 32 18 3 11 185 194 39
8 Bramley 32 16 4 12 181 180 36
9 Barrow 32 16 3 13 219 162 35
10 Pontefract 32 14 6 12 174 150 34
11 Dewsbury 32 12 3 17 185 205 27
12 Millom 32 12 2 18 185 209 26
13 Lancaster 32 8 2 22 129 291 18
14 Birkenhead 32 7 0 25 75 334 14
15 South Shields 32 6 1 25 140 336 13
16 Morecambe 32 5 3 24 72 287 13
17 Normanton 32 4 0 28 105 411 8

Challenge Cup

Halifax beat Warrington 8-3 in the final at Salford before a crowd of 17,041 to become the second team to record back-to-back Cup wins. Halifax wouldn’t reach another final until 1921 nor win the Cup again until 1931.[3]

Sources

References

  1. ^ "1903-04 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=326. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  2. ^ "International". The First International Match. RL1908. http://www.rl1908.com/History/international-rugby.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
  3. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. http://www.therfl.co.uk/challengecup/page.php?areaid=65. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
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