1948–49 Northern Rugby Football League season

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1948–49 Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
ChampionsGiantscolours.svg Huddersfield
League LeadersWolvescolours.svg Warrington
Top point-scorer(s)Wigancolours.svg Ted Ward 312
Top try-scorer(s)Giantscolours.svg Lionel Cooper 60

The 1948–49 Rugby Football League season was the 54th season of rugby league football. This was Whitehaven's inaugural season in the League.[1]

Season summary[]

Warrington finished the regular season as the league leaders. However, Huddersfield won their sixth Championship when they beat Warrington 13–12 in the championship final.[2] The game, played at Maine Road, Manchester, attracted a crowd of 75,194 and receipts of £11,073 setting new records for both attendances and receipts for a rugby league game played anywhere other than Wembley.[2] Huddersfield's Australian fullback, Johnny Hunter scored 16 tries during the season, breaking the record for a fullback set by Jim Sullivan.[3]

The Challenge Cup winners were Bradford who beat Halifax 12–0 in the final.[4]

Warrington won the Lancashire League, and Huddersfield won the Yorkshire League. Wigan beat Warrington 14–8 to win the Lancashire Cup and Bradford Northern beat Castleford 18–9 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Championship[]

Team Pld W D L Pts
1 Warrington 36 31 0 5 62
2 Wigan 36 28 1 7 57
3 Huddersfield 36 27 0 9 54
4 Barrow 36 25 1 10 51
5 Widnes 36 24 2 10 50
6 Batley 36 23 0 13 46
7 Salford 36 20 5 11 45
8 Workington Town 36 22 1 13 45
9 Swinton 36 21 3 12 45
10 Bradford Northern 36 22 0 14 44
11 St. Helens 36 20 1 15 41
12 Wakefield Trinity 36 19 1 16 39
13 Hull 36 19 0 17 38
14 Leeds 36 18 1 17 37
15 Keighley 36 17 3 16 37
16 Hunslet 36 17 0 19 34
17 Hull Kingston Rovers 36 17 0 19 34
18 Leigh 36 14 5 17 33
19 Castleford 36 16 0 20 32
20 Dewsbury 36 15 1 20 31
21 Belle Vue Rangers 36 14 1 21 29
22 Rochdale Hornets 36 12 3 21 27
23 Oldham 36 12 3 21 27
24 Bramley 36 12 2 22 26
25 Halifax 36 11 3 22 25
26 Featherstone Rovers 36 9 3 24 21
27 Whitehaven 36 6 2 28 14
28 York 36 5 2 29 12
29 Liverpool Stanley 36 3 2 31 8

Play-offs[]

Semi-finals Championship Final
      
1 Warrington 23
4 Barrow 8
Warrington 12
Huddersfield 13
2 Wigan 5
3 Huddersfield 14

Challenge Cup[]

Main article: 1948–49 Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup tournament's final was to be played by Bradford and Halifax at Wembley Stadium. It was the first time tickets to the Challenge Cup final were sold out.[1] Bradford won the game 12–0 in the final played in front of a world record[5] rugby league crowd of 95,050. Trevor Foster and Eric Batten scored the tries for Bradford and Ernest Ward kicked three goals as well as winning the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match.[6]

This was Bradford's fourth Cup Final win in seven Final appearances including one win and one loss during World War II.[7]

Sources[]

  • 1948-49 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
  • "The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website". The Rugby Football League. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009.

References[]

  1. ^ a b "The History Of Rugby League". Rugby League Information. napit.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Huddersfield are Champions". Yorkshire Post. No. 31,735. 16 May 1949. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "Player Profile - Johnny Hunter". yesterdayshero.com.au. SmartPack International Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  4. ^ "1948-49 Season summary". Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  5. ^ "Tom Goodman's League Column". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1950-05-04. p. 9. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  6. ^ "Bradford bulls History". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  7. ^ "RFL All Time Records". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
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