1975–76 Northern Rugby Football League season

1975–76 Rugby Football League season
Northern Rugby Football League
Champions Salford
Runners-up Featherstone Rovers
Premiership St Helens
Top point-scorer(s) David Watkins (Salford) 47
Top try-scorer(s) Maurice Richards (Salford) 37
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from {{{promote_from}}} Barrow
Rochdale Hornets
Workington Town
Leigh
Relegated to Second Division Dewsbury
Keighley
Huddersfield
Swinton
Second Division
Champions Barrow
< 1974–75 Seasons 1976–77 >

The 1975–76 Rugby Football League season was the eightieth season of rugby league football.

Contents

Season summary

In 1975-76 season the RFL introduced the Premiership Trophy competition. It was played at the end of the season with the top 8 in the league qualifying to play each other in a simple 1st versus 8th, 2nd versus 7th, 3rd versus 6th, and 4th versus 5th system. The final was played on a neutral venue. The competition was played until 1997 when it was scrapped.

Salford won their sixth, and to date last, Championship. Dewsbury, Keighley, Huddersfield and Swinton were demoted to the Second Division.

The Challenge Cup Winners were St. Helens who beat Widnes 20-5 in the final.

Players No.6 Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat Hull 19-13 in the final.

Premiership Trophy Winners were St. Helens who beat Salford 15-2 in the final.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were St. Helens who beat Dewsbury 22-2 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were Barrow, and they, Rochdale Hornets, Workington Town and Leigh were promoted to the First Division.[1]

Widnes beat Salford 16–7 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Hull Kingston Rovers 15–11 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

League tables

First Division Championship

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Salford 30 22 1 7 555 350 45
2 Featherstone Rovers 30 21 2 7 526 348 44
3 Leeds 30 21 0 9 571 395 42
4 St. Helens 30 19 1 10 513 315 39
5 Wigan 30 18 3 9 514 399 39
6 Widnes 30 18 1 11 448 369 37
7 Wakefield Trinity 30 17 0 13 496 410 34
8 Hull Kingston Rovers 30 17 0 13 446 472 34
9 Castleford 30 16 1 13 589 398 33
10 Warrington 30 15 2 13 381 456 32
11 Bradford Northern 30 13 1 16 454 450 27
12 Oldham 30 11 1 18 380 490 23
13 Dewsbury 30 10 1 19 287 484 21
14 Keighley 30 7 0 23 274 468 14
15 Huddersfield 30 5 0 25 370 657 10
16 Swinton 30 3 0 27 238 581 6

Second Division Championship

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Barrow 26 20 3 3 366 213 43
2 Rochdale Hornets 26 19 3 4 347 200 41
3 Workington Town 26 18 4 4 519 228 40
4 Leigh 26 19 1 6 571 217 39
5 Hull 26 19 1 6 577 278 39
6 New Hunslet 26 15 1 10 371 308 31
7 York 26 12 1 13 447 394 25
8 Bramley 26 11 1 14 344 370 23
9 Huyton 26 10 0 16 242 373 20
10 Whitehaven 26 8 2 16 253 347 18
11 Halifax 26 7 1 18 322 460 15
12 Batley 26 6 1 19 228 432 13
13 Blackpool Borough 26 6 1 19 224 460 13
14 Doncaster 26 2 0 24 195 726 4
  Champions   Play-offs   Promoted   Relegated

Premiership final

This was the second end of season Premiership Play-off Final and was played in front of a corwd of 18,082 at Station Road, Swinton between the number four seeds, St Helens, and the number one seeds, Salford[2]. St Helens second row, George Nicholls, was the winner of the Harry Sunderland Trophy as Man of the Match[2].

St Helens - 15

  1. G.Pimblett (3 goals)
  2. L.Jones
  3. Glynn (1 try)
  4. Noonan
  5. Mathias
  6. Benyon
  7. Heaton
  8. Mantle
  9. A.Karalius (1 try)
  10. James
  11. Nicholls
  12. E.Chisnall (1 try)
  13. Coslett
  • Substitute: K.Gwilliam on for Heaton

Referee: M.J.Naughton (Widnes)

Salford - 2

  1. Watkins (2 drop goals)
  2. Fielding
  3. Richards
  4. Hesketh
  5. Graham
  6. Butler
  7. Nash
  8. Coulman
  9. Raistrick
  10. Sheffield
  11. Knighton
  12. Dixon
  13. E.Prescott
  • Substitute: Turnbull for Knighton

Challenge Cup

St Helens, coached by Eric Ashton,[3] beat Widnes 20-5 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 89,982. The winner of the Lance Todd Trophy was St.Helens full back, Geoff Pimblett.[4]

This was St Helens’ fifth Cup Final win in eight Final appearances.[5]

St Helens 20

  1. G Pimblett (3 goals, 2 drop goal)
  2. L.Jones
  3. Cunningham (1 try)
  4. Noonan
  5. Matthias
  6. Benyon
  7. Heaton (1 try)
  8. Mantle
  9. A.Karalius
  10. Coslett
  11. Nicholls
  12. E.Chisnall
  13. Hull
  • Glynn (2 tries) on for Benyon
  • James on for Mantle

Widnes 5

  1. R.Dutton (2 goals)
  2. A.Prescott
  3. Hughes
  4. George
  5. Jenkins
  6. Eckersley
  7. Bowden
  8. Nelson
  9. Elwell (1 drop goal)
  10. Wood
  11. Foran
  12. Adams
  13. Laughton
  • D.O'Neill on for A.Prescott
  • Sheridan on for Foran

Referee: R.Moore (Wakefield)[6]

References

  1. ^ "1975-76 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=396. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  2. ^ a b Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. 1995. p. 225. ISBN 0747278172. 
  3. ^ news.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Eric Ashton". BBC Sport (UK: BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/challenge_cup/3361205.stm. Retrieved 6 March 2011. 
  4. ^ Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. 1995. p. 199. ISBN 0747278172. 
  5. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. http://www.therfl.co.uk/challengecup/page.php?areaid=65. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  6. ^ Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. 1995. p. 193. ISBN 0747278172. 

Sources

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