1939–40 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season

1939–40 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
League Northern Rugby League Wartime Emergency League
1939–40 Season
Lancashire League Champions Swinton
Yorkshire League Champions Bradford Northern
< 1938-39 Seasons 1940-41 >

The 1939-40 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the first season of the rugby league’s Wartime Emergency League necessitated by the Second World War.
In this first Wartime season the clubs each played the same number of fixtures (with just a few exceptions), unlike the following seasons when the clubs played literally as and when they could, with more and more clubs withdrawing .

Contents

Events leading up to World War Two

Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played three fixtures (on Saturday 26th, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).

During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner.
These competitions started (for most clubs) on 7 October 1939.
The Wartime Emergency Leagues did not count as an official league championship.
The Challenge Cup was suspended for season 1939-40.

Season summary

The 1939-40 Wartime Emergency season began just a month after Britain had declared War on Germany following their invasion of Poland in early September.

Bradford Northern finished the regular season as clear leaders on top of the Yorkshire League while Swinton finished on top of the Lancashire League, beating Salford on points difference (+220 to +157). In a two legged play-of between the two.
Bradford Northern took the title.[1]

The Challenge Cup was suspended for the season.

Swinton beat Widnes by an aggregate score of 24-15 over two ties to win the Lancashire Cup, and Featherstone Rovers beat Wakefield Trinity at Odsal, before a small crown of 7077 by a score of 12-9 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Yorkshire Section

Team P W D L PF PA diff Pts % Note ref
1 Bradford Northern 28 21 0 7 574 302 272 42
2 Huddersfield 28 19 1 8 545 340 205 39
3 Hull 26 18 0 8 378 265 113 36
4 Halifax 28 17 0 11 462 339 123 34
5 Hunslet 28 16 1 11 430 339 91 33
6 Castleford 28 16 1 11 364 300 64 33
7 Featherstone Rovers 28 15 0 13 373 365 8 30
8 Wakefield Trinity 28 14 0 14 479 314 165 28
9 Leeds 28 14 0 14 390 330 60 28
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 27 13 0 14 343 434 -91 26
11 Dewsbury 27 11 2 14 291 406 -115 24
12 York 28 10 3 15 349 467 -118 23
13 Batley 27 8 0 19 255 406 -151 16
14 Keighley 27 6 2 19 221 476 -255 14
15 Bramley 28 4 0 24 248 617 -369 8
goal difference error of 2

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Lancashire Section

Despite their success on the pitch, St Helens Recs played their last game on 29 April 1939. The game was away at Hull KR and Recs lost 25-12.
The club had been suffering for a while on falling attendances and the economic depression and it appeared that it was not possible for the town to sustain two teams.
On completion of the season 1938-39 the club folded and did not take part in the 1939-40 season.[2]

Team P W D L PF PA diff Pts % Note ref
1 Swinton 22 17 0 5 378 158 220 34
2 Salford 22 16 2 4 328 171 157 34
3 Wigan 22 16 1 5 301 157 144 33
4 Widnes 22 15 2 5 305 176 129 32
5 Warrington 22 11 1 10 281 258 23 23
6 St Helens 22 11 1 10 288 224 64 23
7 Barrow 22 10 1 11 303 286 17 21
8 Oldham 21 8 2 11 241 242 -1 18
9 Rochdale Hornets 21 8 0 13 197 306 -109 16
10 Leigh 22 6 1 15 188 346 -158 13
11 Liverpool Stanley 22 4 3 15 152 350 -198 11
12 Broughton Rangers 22 2 0 20 153 441 -288 4
St Helens Recs did not compete[2]

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Championship Play-Off

The Championship was decided by a two leg play off between the Champions of the Yorkshire and Lancashire (the winners of the two Leagues) on a home and away basis.
1st leg – Swinton lost to Bradford Northern 13-21 at Station Rd in front of a crowd of 4,800 (receipts £237.0.0)[3]
2nd leg - Bradford Northernbeat Swinton 16-9 at Odsal with an attendance of 11,721 (receipts £570.0.0)[3]
Champions - Bradford Northern won 37-22 on aggregate.

Trophies

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup Competition was still suspended for this season, (it re-appeared during the following season), but the Northern Union managed to fit in the two County Cups.

Lancashire Cup

Below are given some of the fixtures and results from this year’s Lancashire Cup competition. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Date Stage Home Team score A way Team Venue agg att rcts Note ref
1st Round
Sat 02-03-1940 LC R1 1st leg Widnes 10-7 Warrington Naughton Park [7][8]
Sat 02-03-1940 LC R1 1st leg St Helens 26-7 Broughton Rangers Knowsley Rd [4]
Sat 09-03-1940 LC R1 2nd leg Warrington 2-4 Widnes Wilderspool 9-14 [7][8]
Sat 09-03-1940 LC R1 2nd leg Broughton Rangers 10-3 St Helens Belle Vue Stadium 17-29 [4]
2nd Round
Sat 16-03-1940 LC R2 1st leg Wigan 5-0 St Helens Central Park [4][5]
Sat 29-03-1940 LC R2 2nd leg St Helens 10-4 Wigan Knowsley Rd 10-9 [4][5]
Semi-Final
Sat 06-04-1940 LC SF 1st leg St Helens 7-5 Widnes Knowsley Rd [4][7]
Sat 13-04-1940 LC SF 2nd leg Widnes 13-0 St Helens Naughton Park 18-7 [4][7]
Final
Sat 20-04-1940 LC F 1st leg Widnes 4-5 Swinton Station Rd 5500 269 [3][7]
Sat 27-04-1940 LC F 2nd leg Swinton 16-11 Widnes Naughton Park 24-15 9000 446 [3][7]
Swinton are winners of Lancashire Cup 24-15 on aggregate

Yorkshire Cup

In the 1st round, on Saturday 8 June 1939, Wakefield Trinity beat Hull at Belle Vue 27-3[6]

In the Final of the Yorkshire County Cup, Featherstone Rovers| beat Wakefield Trinity at Odsal, Bradford, by 12 points to 9[3]

Notes and Comments

See also

British rugby league system
1939–40 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1940-41 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1941-42 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1942-43 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1943-44 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
1944-45 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
The Great Schism – Rugby League View
The Great Schism – Rugby Union View
List of defunct rugby league clubs
St Helens Recreation

References

  1. ^ "Cherry and White". http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=358. 
  2. ^ a b "St Helens Recreation". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilkington_Recs. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 356 17851 X. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Saints Heritage Society". http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9. 
  5. ^ a b c "Cherry and white". http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php. 
  6. ^ a b <"Hull&Proud". http://www.hullfc.com/fixturesandresults.aspxProud. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f g sonreview.php?mid=2010&smid=2010&mids=2010 "Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review". http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/sea sonreview.php?mid=2010&smid=2010&mids=2010. 
  8. ^ a b c "Warrington History". http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1900. 

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