1938–39 Northern Rugby Football League season

1938–39 Northern Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
Teams28
Champions Salford
League Leaders Salford
Top point-scorer(s) Gus Risman 267
Top try-scorer(s) Ray Markham 39

The 1938–39 Rugby Football League season was the 44th season of rugby league football.

Season summary

Salford won their fourth Championship when they defeated Castleford 8–6 in the play-off final. Salford had also ended the regular season as league leaders.

The Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax who defeated Salford 20–3 in the final.

Newcastle dropped out of the competition.[1]

Salford won the Lancashire League, and Castleford won the Yorkshire League. Wigan beat Salford 10–7 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Huddersfield beat Hull F.C. 18–10 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

Team Pld W D L Pts
1 Salford 40 30 3 7 63
2 Castleford 40 29 3 8 61
3 Halifax 40 28 3 9 59
4 Huddersfield 40 28 2 10 58
5 Leeds 40 25 4 11 54
6 Swinton 40 26 1 13 53
7 Warrington 40 26 0 14 52
8 Barrow 40 24 3 13 51
9 Wigan 40 25 0 15 50
10 Widnes 40 22 3 15 47
11 Wakefield Trinity 40 20 5 15 45
12 Hull 40 21 3 16 45
13 Keighley 40 21 1 18 43
14 Oldham 40 20 2 18 42
15 Hunslet 40 19 4 17 42
16 Bradford Northern 40 19 1 20 39
17 Hull Kingston Rovers 40 18 3 19 39
18 York 40 18 2 20 38
19 Liverpool Stanley 40 18 1 21 37
20 Broughton Rangers 40 18 1 21 37
21 St. Helens 40 17 0 23 34
22 Featherstone Rovers 40 13 2 25 28
23 Batley 40 11 1 28 23
24 St Helens Recs 40 11 0 29 22
25 Bramley 40 8 5 27 21
26 Leigh 40 7 3 30 17
27 Dewsbury 40 5 2 33 12
28 Rochdale Hornets 40 4 0 36 8

Championship play-offs

Semi-finals Championship final
      
1 Salford 15
4 Huddersfield 0
Salford 8
Castleford 6
2 Castleford 21
3 Halifax 4

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1938–39 Challenge Cup

Halifax beat Salford 20–3 in the final played at Wembley on Saturday 6 May 1939 in front of a crowd of 55,453. There would be no Challenge Cup competition in 1939–40.

This was Halifax’s fourth Cup Final win in five Final appearances.

This was Salford’s fifth Final appearance and second in consecutive years, having won the Cup the previous season[2]

European Championship

Main article: 1938–39 European Rugby League Championship

The tri-nation tournament was played between November 1938 and April 1939 as single round robin games between England, France and Wales. This was the fourth Rugby League European Championship, and was won by France.[3]
Match details

Date Venue Home team Score Away team
5 Nov 1938 Llanelli Wales 17 - 9 England
25 Feb 1939 St Helens England 9 - 12 France
2 Apr 1938 Bordeaux France 16 - 10 Wales

References

  1. ^ "1938–39 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-04. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. ^ Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995–1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
  3. ^ Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995–1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 424. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.

Sources