1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season

1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season
League Northern Rugby Football League
Champions Wigan
League Leaders Wakefield Trinity
Top point-scorer(s) Neil Fox (Wakefield Trinity) 453
Top try-scorer(s) Tom van Vollenhoven (St Helens) 54
< 1958–59 Seasons 1960–61 >

The 1959–60 Rugby Football League season was the 65th season of rugby league football played in England. The championship, which involved thirty teams, started in August, 1959 and culminated in a finals play-off series in May, 1960 which resulted in a championship final between Wigan and Wakefield Trinity.

Contents

Season summary

A number of clubs complained to the Rugby Football League over BBC televising rugby league matches live on TV, stating that it was affecting attendances.

St.Helens won the Lancashire League, and Wakefield Trinity won the Yorkshire League. Warrington beat St.Helens 5–4 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Featherstone Rovers beat Hull 15–14 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Championship

Final Standings

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 St. Helens 38 34 1 3 947 343 +604 69
2 Wakefield Trinity 38 32 0 6 831 348 +483 64
3 Hull 38 28 1 9 758 474 +284 57
4 Wigan 38 27 2 9 828 390 +438 56
5 Featherstone Rovers 38 27 0 11 730 437 +293 54
6 Whitehaven 38 22 3 13 594 533 +61 47
7 Warrington 38 22 2 14 650 482 +168 46
8 Swinton 38 22 2 14 654 503 +151 46
9 Oldham 38 22 1 15 744 461 +283 45
10 Hunslet 38 21 3 14 595 488 +107 45
11 Leigh 38 20 4 14 600 502 +98 44
12 Huddersfield 38 21 1 16 603 510 +93 43
13 Hull Kingston Rovers 38 20 1 17 517 575 -58 41
14 Leeds 38 20 0 18 641 573 +68 40
15 Salford 38 19 2 17 629 583 +46 40
16 Batley 38 18 3 17 476 506 -30 39
17 Widnes 38 18 1 19 598 519 +79 37
18 Castleford 38 18 0 20 561 630 -69 36
19 Workington Town 38 18 0 20 448 530 -82 36
20 Keighley 38 17 1 20 575 659 -84 35
21 York 38 17 0 21 579 698 -119 34
22 Halifax 38 15 2 21 627 561 +66 32
23 Rochdale Hornets 38 15 0 23 435 519 -84 30
24 Barrow 38 13 1 24 422 562 -140 27
25 Bramley 38 10 2 26 393 673 -280 22
26 Bradford Northern 38 9 3 26 450 645 -195 21
27 Liverpool City 38 9 3 26 383 720 -337 21
28 Blackpool Borough 38 9 1 28 400 819 -419 19
29 Dewsbury 38 4 1 33 337 982 -645 9
30 Doncaster 38 2 1 35 284 1,084 -800 5

Play-offs

  Semi-finals Championship Final
                 
1  St. Helens 9  
4  Wigan 19  
     Wigan 27
   Wakefield Trinity 3
2  Wakefield Trinity 24
3  Hull 4  

Final

The Championship Final was played at 3 o'clock on a warm afternoon on Saturday, 21 May 1960 at Odsal Stadium, Bradford. A crowd of 83,190 turned out for the game which was refereed by Eric Clay (Leeds).

Tries (5): Billy Boston (2), Eric Ashton (2), Bill Sayer
Goals: Fred Griffiths (6)

Try: Frederick "Fred" Smith

Challenge Cup

The 1959-60 Challenge Cup ended in a final between Wakefield Trinity and Hull. The match was played at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 79,773, with Wakefield Trinity winning 38 - 5. Despite being on the losing team, Hull's hooker, Tommy Harris was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance.

Neil Fox of Wakefield Trinity scored a Cup Final record 20 points (two tries and seven goals) in the final for Wakefield, a feat that would not be repeated for another 39 years 1999.

Sources

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