1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season

1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Warrington
League Leaders	Halifax
Top point-scorer(s)	Peter Metcalfe 369
Top try-scorer(s)	Brian Bevan 67

The 1953–54 Rugby Football League season was the 59th season of rugby league football played in England. The championship, which involved thirty teams, started in August, 1953 and culminated in a finals play-off series in April, 1954 which resulted in a championship final between Warrington and Halifax. The season was also punctuated by the 1954 Rugby League World Cup, the first ever, and is also notable for its Challenge Cup final, which was drawn and had to be re-played, attracting a world record crowd for a rugby football match of either code.^[1]

Season summary

The 1953-54 season saw Brian Bevan become the highest try scorer in rugby league history when he passed the 446 tries mark set by Alf Ellaby.

League Champions: Warrington (8-7 v Halifax)
Challenge Cup Winners: Warrington (18-4 v Halifax in replay after 4-4 draw)

Warrington won the Lancashire League, and Halifax won the Yorkshire League. St.Helens beat Wigan 16–8 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Bradford Northern beat Hull F.C. 7–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

Ladder

	Club	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	D	Pts
1	Halifax	36	30	2	4	538	219	+319	62
2	Warrington	36	30	1	5	663	311	352	61
3	St. Helens	36	28	2	6	672	297	+375	58
4	Workington Town	36	29	0	7	604	333	+271	58
5	Hull	36	25	0	11	685	349	+336	50
6	Huddersfield	36	24	0	12	689	417	+272	48
7	Wigan	36	23	1	12	688	392	+296	47
8	Barrow	36	23	0	13	574	377	+197	46
9	Bradford Northern	36	22	0	14	628	414	+214	44
10	Leeds	36	22	0	14	766	517	+249	44
11	Wakefield Trinity	36	19	1	16	671	508	+163	39
12	Oldham	36	17	4	15	504	366	+138	38
13	Leigh	36	19	0	17	547	459	+88	38
14	Featherstone Rovers	36	18	2	16	478	431	+47	38
15	Hunslet	36	19	0	17	455	451	+4	38
16	Widnes	36	16	3	17	420	431	-11	35
17	York	36	17	0	19	412	401	+11	34
18	Keighley	36	15	3	18	473	533	-60	33
19	Rochdale Hornets	36	14	3	19	404	457	-53	31
20	Dewsbury	36	14	3	19	432	508	-76	31
21	Whitehaven	36	14	1	21	362	544	-182	29
22	Salford	36	13	2	21	370	438	-68	28
23	Swinton	36	13	1	22	341	513	-172	27
24	Batley	36	13	1	22	367	658	-291	27
25	Bramley	36	11	3	22	437	746	-309	25
26	Castleford	36	11	1	24	437	728	-291	23
27	Belle Vue Rangers	36	7	2	27	307	714	-407	16
28	Doncaster	36	5	2	29	340	840	-500	12
29	Hull Kingston Rovers	36	5	2	29	298	737	-439	12
30	Liverpool City	36	4	0	32	304	777	-473	8

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Halifax 18, Workington Town 7.
Warrington 11, St Helens 0.

Final

The Championship Final was played between Warrington and Halifax on 8 May (three days after the epic Challenge Cup re-play) at Maine Road before a crowd of 36,519. The match was televised by the BBC and it was a tremendous defensive effort that helped Warrington to a narrow 8-7 win, with Bath kicking 4 goals.

Challenge Cup

Halifax and Warrington, the teams that finished first and second respectively on the Championship ladder (separated by only one competition point), reached the Challenge Cup Final Saturday 24 April 1954. It was played at Wembley and 81,841 spectators saw what turned out to be a lacklustre match. After a couple of penalties, Halifax led 4-0 at half time, then in the second half Warrington drew level, also kicking two penalties. The final score was 4 - 4 and it remains the only time Wembley hasn't seen a single try on Cup Final day. The re-play was scheduled for 5pm on Wednesday 5 May 1954 at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

Around 70,000 spectators were expected at Odsal for the replay which was re-scheduled for a 7pm kick-off to avoid the rush hour traffic. The twenty trains and fifty buses, specially scheduled for the match, as well as the 100 gatesmen and 150 policemen at the ground were therefore believed to be adequate. However the closeness with which the two teams were matched and the prospect of the Challenge Cup decider coming north for the first time in a decade seem to have generated immense interest.

People had started queuing a good hour before the shuttle buses started running from 4:25pm. The gates opened at 5.00pm, and by that time some people had already been queuing for an hour and a half. At an hour before kick off there were already an estimated 60,000 in the ground. The traffic on the roads in the surrounding area was at a standstill as more and more spectators converged on the stadium. Some squatted around the pitch, while others climbed onto rooftops for a better view. Fences around the ground had collapsed, as more people struggled to cram into the bowl of Odsal before kick-off. The official figure for the crowd at the match was 102,575,^[2] easily the biggest number to see a rugby football match of either code. However it is widely believed that the real figure for spectators present is closer to 120,000.^[3]

The match itself was another low-scoring struggle, but an improvement on the last one. Jim Challinor opened the scoring with a try for Warrington after nine minutes. Half an hour later, Tyssul Griffiths kicked a penalty for the Halifax side, who had also had two tries disallowed. This meant a half time score of 3 - 2 in favour of Warrington. The third quarter of the match saw additional goals kicked by both Griffiths and Harry Bath, bringing the score to 5 - 4, still just one point in favour of Warrington. Then Gerry Helme scored a try, which Bath couldn't convert, putting Warrington four points clear of Halifax, but still within a converted try. Controversy reared just before full-time, when Halifax had a third try disallowed by referee Ron Gelder. Warrington had claimed their 4th Challenge Cup, with Helme winning the Lance Todd Trophy for his match-winning performance, the first player to do so twice.

Warrington squad – 1954 Challenge Cup Final winners

The Warrington team from the preceding 4-4 draw with Halifax at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 24 April 1954 (italicised = did not play in the replay)
1 Eric Frodsham (c) · 2 Brian Bevan · 3 Jim Challinor · 4 Arnold Stevens · 5 Stan McCormick · 6 Raymond Price · 7 Gerry Helme
· 8 Danny Naughton · 9 Frank Wright · 10 Gerry Lowe · 11 Harry Bath · 12 Austin Heathwood · 13 Bob Ryan
· Coach: Cecil Mountford

Halifax squad – 1954 Challenge Cup Final runners-up

The Halifax team from the preceding 4-4 draw with Warrington at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 24 April 1954 (italicised = did not play in the replay)
1 Tyssul Griffiths · 2 Arthur Daniels · 3 Tom Lynch · 4 xPeter Todd · 5 Dai Royston Bevan · 6 Ken Dean · 7 Stan Kielty
· 8 John Thorley · 9 Alvin Ackerley (c) · 10 Jack Wilkinon · 11 Albert Fearnley · 12 Derrick Schofield · 13 Des Clarkson
· Coach:

Sources

↑ Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
↑ "The History Of Rugby League". Rugby League Information. napit.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
↑ Hadfield, Dave (2004-05-06). "Mud, blood and memories of the day when 102,575 made history at Odsal". The Independent. UK: Independent News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-12-27.

Rugby Football League seasons

Rugby Football League era
(1895–1996)

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Super League era
(1996–present)

					1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
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Warrington Wolves
Est. 1876 in Warrington, England
The Club	Players Coaches
Home grounds	Sankey Street Wilderspool Halliwell Jones Stadium
Hall of Fame	Brian Bevan Alex Murphy
League	Super League
Championships (3)	1947–48 1953–54 1954–55
Challenge Cup (8)	1904–05 1906–07 1949–50 1953–54 1973–74 2009 2010 2012
Other honours	1–time Premiership Champions 4–time Regal Trophy Champions 9–time Lancashire County Cup Champions 8–time Lancashire League Champions
Seasons	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Culture	NRFU Founder Super League Founding Member
Affiliation	Rugby Football League (1895)

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