League | Northern Rugby Football League | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Champions | St. Helens | |||
League Leaders | St. Helens | |||
Top point-scorer(s) | Harry Bath (Warrington) 379 | |||
Top try-scorer(s) | Brian Bevan (Warrington) 72 | |||
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The 1952–53 Rugby Football League season was the fifty-eighth season of rugby league football.
Contents |
St Helens won their second Rugby Football League Championship when they beat Halifax 24-14 in the play-off final. They also ended the regular season as league leaders.
The Challenge Cup Winners were Huddersfield who beat St. Helens 15-10 in the final.
Cardiff dropped out of the league.[1]
St.Helens won the Lancashire League, and Halifax won the Yorkshire League. Leigh beat St.Helens 22–5 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Huddersfield beat Batley 18–8 to win the Yorkshire Cup.
Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | St Helens | 36 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 769 | 273 | 66 |
2 | Halifax | 36 | 29 | 2 | 5 | 620 | 309 | 60 |
3 | Bradford Northern | 36 | 28 | 0 | 8 | 700 | 329 | 56 |
4 | Huddersfield | 36 | 27 | 2 | 7 | 747 | 366 | 56 |
5 | Barrow | 36 | 27 | 1 | 8 | 585 | 322 | 55 |
6 | Leeds | 36 | 24 | 0 | 12 | 690 | 452 | 48 |
7 | Leigh | 36 | 23 | 2 | 11 | 556 | 377 | 48 |
8 | Oldham | 36 | 22 | 2 | 12 | 599 | 280 | 46 |
9 | Warrington | 36 | 20 | 1 | 15 | 733 | 486 | 41 |
10 | Whitehaven | 36 | 19 | 3 | 14 | 465 | 486 | 41 |
11 | Wigan | 36 | 19 | 2 | 15 | 673 | 414 | 40 |
12 | Hunslet | 36 | 20 | 0 | 16 | 485 | 358 | 40 |
13 | Salford | 36 | 20 | 0 | 16 | 508 | 441 | 40 |
14 | Swinton | 36 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 441 | 401 | 36 |
15 | Hull | 36 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 461 | 451 | 36 |
16 | Workington Town | 36 | 16 | 2 | 18 | 453 | 460 | 34 |
17 | Keighley | 36 | 16 | 1 | 19 | 465 | 547 | 33 |
18 | Wakefield Trinity | 36 | 16 | 0 | 20 | 410 | 595 | 32 |
19 | Dewsbury | 36 | 15 | 1 | 20 | 410 | 440 | 31 |
20 | Castleford | 36 | 15 | 0 | 21 | 392 | 502 | 30 |
21 | Batley | 36 | 14 | 2 | 20 | 405 | 579 | 30 |
22 | Rochdale Hornets | 36 | 13 | 3 | 20 | 443 | 536 | 29 |
23 | Widnes | 36 | 13 | 2 | 21 | 336 | 478 | 28 |
24 | Featherstone Rovers | 36 | 12 | 1 | 23 | 415 | 535 | 25 |
25 | York | 36 | 10 | 0 | 26 | 370 | 496 | 20 |
26 | Doncaster | 36 | 10 | 0 | 26 | 377 | 665 | 20 |
27 | Belle Vue Rangers | 36 | 10 | 0 | 26 | 301 | 705 | 20 |
28 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 36 | 9 | 1 | 26 | 337 | 646 | 19 |
29 | Bramley | 36 | 6 | 0 | 30 | 293 | 898 | 12 |
30 | Liverpool City | 36 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 225 | 837 | 8 |
Play-offs |
Semi-finals | Championship Final | |||||||
1 | St Helens | 46 | ||||||
4 | Huddersfield | 0 | ||||||
St Helens | 24 | |||||||
Halifax | 14 | |||||||
2 | Halifax | 18 | ||||||
3 | Bradford Northern | 16 |
A club record 69,429 people watch the Challenge Cup 3rd Round tie at Odsal between Bardford Northern and Huddersfield. Larger crowds had watched matches at Odsal, but this was the largest involving the home side.[2]
In the Final, Huddersfield beat St Helens 15-10 at Wembley in front of a crowd of 89,588. This produced a record gate taking for a Challenge Cup final of £31,000.[3]
This was Huddersfield’s sixth Cup Final win in seven Final appearances, including one win during World War II.[4] Peter Ramsden, their stand-off half, became the youngest player to win the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match at 19.[5]
This was the thirteenth European Championship and was won for the first time by the Other Nationalities on points difference.[6]
17 September |
England | 19–8 | Wales | Wigan |
---|---|---|---|---|
18 October |
Other nationalities | 31–12 | England | Huddersfield |
---|---|---|---|---|
25 October |
Wales | 22–16 | France | Leeds |
---|---|---|---|---|
23 November |
Other nationalities | 29–10 | France | Marseilles |
---|---|---|---|---|
11 April |
England | 15–13 | France | Paris |
---|---|---|---|---|
15 April |
Wales | 18–16 | Other nationalities | Warrington |
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Played | Won | Drew | Lost | For | Against | Diff | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other nationalities | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 76 | 40 | +36 | 4 |
Wales | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 51 | +7 | 4 |
England | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 46 | 52 | −6 | 4 |
France | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 39 | 66 | −27 | 0 |