1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season

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1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season
LeagueChampionship
Teams30
Champions Dewsbury
League Leaders Warrington
Runners-up Leeds
Top point-scorer(s) David Watkins 493
Top try-scorer(s) John Atkinson 39
League reorganisation
Created Second Division

The 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 78th season of rugby league football played in England. It would also be the last season whereby the British championship was decided by a play-off system until Super League III in 1998. Dewsbury were crowned champions after defeating Leeds in the Final. The 1972–73 season was also punctuated by the 1972 Rugby League World Cup which was played in France in October and November. At the end of this season the league re-formed into two divisions. The top 16 in the championship would form Division 1 and the bottom 14 Division 2.

Rule changes[edit]

Number of tackles:

  • The four-tackle rule was altered and a new limit of six tackles was introduced.[1][2] The four-tackle rules had been blamed for making the game seem "disjointed".[2] A scrum was formed at the end of a completed set of the tackles.[2]

Timekeeping:

  • Timekeepers were given responsibility, rather than referees, for controlling time in matches. They signalled using a hooter siren system.

Season summary[edit]

Salford's David Watkins set the record for most goals (including drop goals) in a season with 221. Also, on 19 August 1972, Watkins started his record scoring streak which lasted until 25 April 1974. He totalled 929 points from 41 tries and 403 goals in 92 consecutive matches for one club.

1972-73 also saw the Wigan club celebrate its centenary, having been formed as Wigan F.C. on 21 November 1872. During the season they played a special Centenary Celebration match against an "Australians" side.

Hunslet disbanded at the end of the season, reforming as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season.

Championship[edit]

Final standings[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PAv Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Warrington (L) 34 27 2 5 816 400 2.040 56 Qualification for the Championship play-offs
2 Featherstone Rovers 34 27 0 7 768 436 1.761 54
3 Leeds 34 26 1 7 810 324 2.500 53
4 St Helens 34 24 2 8 623 298 2.091 50
5 Wakefield Trinity 34 25 0 9 814 398 2.045 50
6 Salford 34 25 0 9 723 383 1.888 50
7 Castleford 34 25 0 9 704 404 1.743 50
8 Dewsbury 34 23 0 11 534 354 1.508 46
9 Oldham 34 20 2 12 604 349 1.731 42
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 34 20 1 13 731 522 1.400 41
11 Rochdale Hornets 34 20 1 13 438 426 1.028 41
12 Widnes 34 19 0 15 592 458 1.293 38
13 Leigh 34 18 2 14 479 390 1.228 38
14 Bramley 34 18 1 15 452 465 0.972 37
15 Whitehaven 34 18 1 15 408 512 0.797 37
16 Wigan 34 17 1 16 577 491 1.175 35
17 York 34 17 1 16 586 575 1.019 35 Relegation to Second Division
18 Halifax 34 17 0 17 543 562 0.966 34
19 Batley 34 15 0 19 537 600 0.895 30
20 Keighley 34 15 0 19 451 505 0.893 30
21 Swinton 34 14 1 19 441 458 0.963 29
22 Workington Town 34 12 1 21 444 464 0.957 25
23 Bradford Northern 34 12 0 22 582 685 0.850 24
24 Huddersfield 34 10 2 22 465 598 0.778 22
25 Hull 34 11 0 23 494 693 0.713 22
26 Barrow 34 7 0 27 351 775 0.453 14
27 Doncaster 34 6 0 28 298 911 0.327 12
28 Hunslet 34 5 0 29 371 916 0.405 10
29 Blackpool Borough 34 4 0 30 324 972 0.333 8
30 Huyton 34 3 1 30 243 879 0.276 7
Source: [3]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points average; 3) Number of points scored;
(L) Won League Leader's Trophy

Play-offs[edit]

First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Championship final
            
3 Leeds 45
14 Bramley 8
Leeds 30
Castleford 5
7 Castleford 24
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 12
Leeds 7
St Helens 2
4 St Helens 29
13 Leigh 14
St Helens 28
Wakefield Trinity 0
5 Wakefield Trinity 33
12 Widnes 6
Leeds 13
Dewsbury 22
1 Warrington 30
16 Wigan 15
Warrington 16
Rochdale Hornets 9
6 Salford 10
11 Rochdale Hornets 14
Warrington 7
Dewsbury 12
2 Featherstone Rovers 14
15 Whitehaven 4
Featherstone Rovers 7
Dewsbury 26
8 Dewsbury 29
9 Oldham 14

Final[edit]

The 1973 Final was to be the last time a play-off system would be used to determine the British champions until 1998's Super League season. The match was played on 19 May 1973 at Bradford's Odsal Stadium between the previous season's champions, Leeds and first-time finalists, Dewsbury. Dewsbury had suffered a county cup record defeat 36–9 at the hands of Leeds in the Yorkshire County Cup Final earlier in the season. Also Leeds had finished 3rd on the ladder and Dewsbury 8th. However, Dewsbury opened up a 12–4 lead by the interval with tries by the hooker Mike Stephenson and Allan Agar and two goals and a drop-goal from the boot of centre Nigel Stephenson. Leeds captain Alan Hardisty was sent off for the first time in his career for a high tackle on John Bates.

A second try from Mike Stephenson on 44 minutes extended Dewsbury's lead and though Leeds hit back with tries by Graham Eccles, Phil Cookson and Les Dyl, it was not to be with Nigel Stephenson converting his own try to complete a resounding 22-13 success. Leading journalist Jack Winstanley wrote at the time: "Dewsbury's win sprung from a superb team effort that paid ample tribute to the coaching and inspiration of (coach) Tommy Smales. They bewildered a jaded Leeds outfit with a series of scissors moves and dummy passes that might have looked grossly over-elaborate had they not worked to such perfection." The Harry Sunderland Trophy for man-of-the-match went to Mike Stephenson. Greg Ashcroft, Jeff Grayshon and Alan Bates also played in the champion Dewsbury side.

19 May 1973
Dewsbury 22 – 13 Leeds
Tries: M. Stephenson (2), N. Stephenson, Agar
Goals: N. Stephenson (5)
 Tries: Dyl, Cookson, Eccles
Goals: Clawson, Hynes
Odsal Stadium, Bradford
Attendance: 18,889
Referee: Harry Hunt (Prestbury)
Player of the Match: Mike Stephenson
Dewsbury Number Leeds
Teams
Adrian Rushton 1 John Holmes
Greg Ashcroft 2 Alan Smith
John Clarke 3 Syd Hynes
Nigel Stephenson 4 Les Dyl
Terry Day 5 John Atkinson
Allan Agar 6 Alan Hardisty
Alan Bates 7 Keith Hepworth
Harry Beverley 8 Terry Clawson
Mike Stephenson 9 Tony Fisher
Trevor Lowe 10 Geoff Clarkson
Jeff Grayshon 11 Phil Cookson
John Bates 12 Graham Eccles
Joe Whittington 13 Bob Haigh
Subs
Steve Lee 14 David Ward (for Fisher)
Brian Taylor (for Beverley) 15 John Langley (for Clarkson)
Tommy Smales Coach Derek Turner

Challenge Cup[edit]

Main article: 1972–73 Challenge Cup

The 1973 Challenge Cup Final was won by Featherstone Rovers who beat Bradford Northern 33–14 at Wembley Saturday 12 May 1973 before a crowd of 72,395. Featherstone Rovers' Great Britain scrum half-back, Steve Nash put in a man-of-the-match performance to win the Lance Todd Trophy. Cyril Kellett scored 8-conversions for Featherstone Rovers, the most in a Challenge Cup Final (equalled by Iestyn Harris in 1999).

Players No.6 Trophy[edit]

Main article: 1972–73 Player's No.6 Trophy

This was the second season of the League Cup, which was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons. Leeds won the trophy by beating Salford 12-7 in the final. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield. The attendance was 10,102 and receipts were £4563.

County cups[edit]

Main article: 1972–73 Lancashire Cup
Main article: 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup

Salford beat Swinton 25–11 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Dewsbury 36–9 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Phil Clarke (2008-09-03). "Changing the law". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  2. ^ a b c de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009), "Top ten: Rugby league rules", Rugby League World, no. 340, Brighouse, UK: League Publications (published August 2009), p. 61, ISSN 1466-0105
  3. ^ "Rugby League: Final Placings". Sports Mail. Hull Daily Mail. 28 April 1973. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Sources[edit]

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