1962–63 Northern Rugby Football League season

1962–63 Northern Rugby Football League season
LeagueFirst Division
Champions Swinton
Top point-scorer(s) Kel Coslett 321
Top try-scorer(s) Ray Glastonbury 41
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division Hunslet
Keighley
Relegated to Second Division Oldham
Bramley
Second Division
Champions Hunslet

The 1962–63 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 68th season of rugby league football.

Season summary

1962–63 season saw the league split into two divisions with each team playing each other team home and away. The introduction of an even league meant the end of season championship play-off was abolished and the team finishing top of the table was declared champions.

1962-63 finished up with huge fixture backlogs similar to 1946-47 after "the Big Freeze" brought heavy snow and postponed most rugby league matches for two and half months.

Swinton won their fifth Championship. Oldham and Bramley were demoted to the Second Division.

The Challenge Cup winners were Wakefield Trinity who beat Wigan 25–10 in the final.

The 2nd Division Champions were Hunslet who were promoted along with second placed Keighley.[1]

Workington Town (from Cumberland) won the Lancashire League, and Wakefield Trinity won the Yorkshire League. St. Helens beat Swinton 7–4 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hunslet beat Hull Kingston Rovers 12–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

First Division

Team Pld W D L Pts
1 Swinton 30 22 1 7 45
2 St. Helens 30 19 1 10 39
3 Widnes 30 19 1 10 39
4 Castleford 30 16 3 11 35
5 Wakefield Trinity 30 16 1 13 33
6 Warrington 30 15 2 13 32
7 Leeds 30 16 0 14 32
8 Wigan 30 14 2 14 30
9 Huddersfield 30 14 0 16 28
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 30 13 1 16 27
11 Featherstone Rovers 30 12 3 15 27
12 Workington Town 30 12 3 15 27
13 Halifax 30 13 1 16 27
14 Hull 30 10 2 18 22
15 Oldham 30 9 1 20 19
16 Bramley 30 9 0 21 18
  Champions   Relegated

Second Division

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1 Hunslet 26 22 0 4 508 214 44
2 Keighley 26 21 0 5 450 187 42
3 York 26 16 1 9 418 243 33
4 Blackpool Borough 26 15 0 11 281 247 30
5 Rochdale Hornets 26 14 1 11 282 243 29
6 Barrow 26 14 0 12 413 280 28
7 Leigh 26 14 0 12 361 264 28
8 Batley 26 13 1 12 275 322 27
9 Whitehaven 26 12 2 12 318 306 26
10 Doncaster 26 10 0 16 283 329 20
11 Liverpool City 26 9 1 16 159 328 19
12 Salford 26 8 1 17 271 442 17
13 Dewsbury 26 8 0 18 200 345 16
14 Bradford Northern 26 2 1 23 163 632 5
  Promoted

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1962–63 Challenge Cup

Wakefield Trinity beat Wigan 25–10 in the challenge Cup Final played at Wembley, in front of a crowd of 84,492.

This was Wakefield Trinity's fifth Cup Final win in their fifth Final appearance and their second in successive seasons.[2] Harold Poynton, their stand-off half was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance.

County championships

Prior to the start of the league season in October, each team played eight fixtures in a regional competition, with teams being split into a Western and Eastern Division. The top four teams in each division competed in the play-offs for the Divisional Championship.

Western Division

Pos Team P W D L PF PA Pts
1 Workington Town 8 8 0 0 230 44 16
2 St Helens 8 7 1 0 216 73 15
3 Widnes 8 7 0 1 180 54 14
4 Wigan 8 7 0 1 213 72 14
5 Swinton 8 7 0 1 158 61 14
6 Warrington 8 6 0 2 171 93 12
7 Oldham 8 5 0 3 137 91 10
8 Barrow 8 3 0 5 81 144 6
9 Whitehaven 8 2 0 6 84 174 4
10 Rochdale Hornets 8 2 0 6 47 172 4
11 Leigh 8 1 0 7 81 154 2
12 Blackpool Borough 8 0 1 7 67 162 1
13 Liverpool City 8 0 0 8 57 204 0
14 Salford 8 0 0 8 71 295 0
Source:[3]

Semi-finals

9 October 1962
St Helens 9 – 10 Widnes
Tries: Watson
Goals: Coslett (3) 		[4]
 Tries: Myler, Measures
Goals: Randall (2)
Knowsley Road
Attendance: 20,200
15 October 1962
Workington Town 27 – 9 Wigan
Tries: Pretorius, O'Neill (3), Archer, W. Martin, Glastonbury
Goals: Ferreira (3) 		[5]
 Tries: Carlton (2), Davies

Final

10 November 1962
Widnes 9 – 9 Workington Town
Tries: Thompson
Goals: Randall (3)
 [6]
 Tries: Pretorius
Goals: Lowdon (3)
Central Park, Wigan
Attendance: 13,588
Referee: M. Coates (Pudsey)
Replay
21 November 1962
Widnes 0 – 10 Workington Town
[7]
 Tries: Pretorius, Glastonbury
Goals: Lowdon (2)
Central Park, Wigan
Attendance: 7,584
Referee: D.S. Brown (Dewsbury)

Eastern Division

Pos Team P W D L PF PA Pts
1 Huddersfield 8 8 0 0 211 44 16
2 Hull Kingston Rovers 8 8 0 0 189 72 16
3 Featherstone Rovers 8 7 0 1 181 71 14
4 Halifax 8 7 0 1 166 73 14
5 Leeds 8 6 1 1 177 65 13
6 Wakefield Trinity 8 6 0 2 193 65 12
7 Castleford 8 4 0 4 117 137 8
8 Hunslet 8 4 0 4 109 144 8
9 Bramley 8 3 0 5 108 130 6
10 York 8 2 0 6 128 139 4
11 Hull 8 2 0 6 96 142 4
12 Keighley 8 2 0 6 79 155 4
13 Batley 8 1 1 6 63 132 3
14 Bradford Northern 8 1 0 7 86 236 2
15 Doncaster 8 1 0 7 40 160 2
16 Dewsbury 8 1 0 7 56 234 2
Source:[3]

Semi-finals

10 October 1962
Huddersfield 17 – 0 Halifax
Tries: Bowman (3)
Goals: Dyson (4) 		[8]
Fartown
Referee: N.T. Railton
15 October 1962
Hull Kingston Rovers 27 – 11 Featherstone Rovers
Tries: Paul (3), A. Burwell, Hatch
Goals: Kellett (6) 		[9]
 Tries: Greatorex
Goals: Clawson (4)
Craven Park
Attendance: 9,500
Referee: J. Manley

Final

10 November 1962
Huddersfield 10 – 13 Hull Kingston Rovers
Tries: Heywood, Smales
Goals: Dyson (2) 		[10]
 Tries: Paul (2), Harris
Goals: Kellett (2)
Headingley, Leeds
Attendance: 6,822
Referee: T. W. Watkinson (Manchester)

County cups

Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1962–63 Lancashire Cup

Yorkshire Cup

Main article: 1962–63 Yorkshire Cup

References

  1. ^ "1962-63 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  3. ^ a b "Swinton Slip At The Last". The Guardian. 1 October 1962. p. 12. ProQuest 184809657.
  4. ^ "Widnes, Inspired by Myler, Reach Final". The Guardian. 10 October 1962. p. 6. ProQuest 184890717.
  5. ^ "Teamwork earns Workington Town a place in final". The Guardian. 16 October 1962. p. 10. ProQuest 184847246.
  6. ^ "Lowdon Just Saves The Day For Workington Town". The Guardian. 12 November 1962. p. 13. ProQuest 184841962.
  7. ^ "Widnes Can Make Little Use Of Superior Hooking". The Guardian. 22 November 1962. p. 12. ProQuest 184841962.
  8. ^ "Huddersfield Defeat Halifax In Disappointing Semifinal". The Guardian. 11 October 1962. p. 14. ProQuest 184809657.
  9. ^ "Hull KR emphasise their mastery over Featherstone". The Guardian. 16 October 1962. p. 10. ProQuest 184878898.
  10. ^ "Hull Kingston Reserves Show Their Mettle". The Guardian. 12 November 1962. p. 13. ProQuest 184877046.

Sources