1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
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The 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 77th season of rugby league football. This season saw the entry of rugby league's first sponsors: Joshua Tetley and John Player.[1]
Leeds
David Watkins 473| 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Northern Rugby Football League |
| Champions | Leeds |
| League Leaders | Leeds |
| Top point-scorer | David Watkins 473 |
| Top try-scorer(s) | John Atkinson 38 Mike Lamb 38 |
Season summary
This season saw the introduction of a new knock-out competition, the Player's No.6 Trophy, as a major secondary competition to the Challenge Cup. It began in this year as the Player's No.6 Trophy and finished up as the Regal Trophy before being abandoned after 1995-96 when the sport switched to summer.
Leeds won their third Championship when they beat St. Helens 9–5 in the Championship Final. Leeds also finished the regular season as league leaders.
The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Leeds 16–13 in the final.
Championship
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PAv | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leeds (L) | 34 | 28 | 2 | 4 | 750 | 325 | 2.308 | 58 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 2 | Bradford Northern | 34 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 724 | 357 | 2.028 | 54 | |
| 3 | St Helens | 34 | 26 | 1 | 7 | 661 | 297 | 2.226 | 53 | |
| 4 | Wigan | 34 | 25 | 0 | 9 | 702 | 314 | 2.236 | 50 | |
| 5 | Salford | 34 | 25 | 0 | 9 | 720 | 338 | 2.130 | 50 | |
| 6 | Swinton | 34 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 554 | 368 | 1.505 | 48 | |
| 7 | Featherstone Rovers | 34 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 632 | 372 | 1.699 | 47 | |
| 8 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 21 | 1 | 12 | 429 | 306 | 1.402 | 43 | |
| 9 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 587 | 414 | 1.418 | 42 | |
| 10 | Castleford | 34 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 488 | 368 | 1.326 | 41 | |
| 11 | Widnes | 34 | 19 | 3 | 12 | 476 | 388 | 1.227 | 41 | |
| 12 | Dewsbury | 34 | 18 | 2 | 14 | 431 | 352 | 1.224 | 38 | |
| 13 | Oldham | 34 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 573 | 480 | 1.194 | 37 | |
| 14 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 432 | 498 | 0.867 | 36 | |
| 15 | Warrington | 34 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 537 | 397 | 1.353 | 35 | |
| 16 | Leigh | 34 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 421 | 407 | 1.034 | 34 | |
| 17 | Huddersfield | 34 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 394 | 435 | 0.906 | 34 | |
| 18 | Barrow | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 375 | 508 | 0.738 | 34 | |
| 19 | Hull | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 488 | 495 | 0.986 | 32 | |
| 20 | York | 34 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 465 | 498 | 0.934 | 32 | |
| 21 | Halifax | 34 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 398 | 564 | 0.706 | 28 | |
| 22 | Bramley | 34 | 13 | 0 | 21 | 333 | 542 | 0.614 | 26 | |
| 23 | Whitehaven | 34 | 12 | 0 | 22 | 394 | 523 | 0.753 | 24 | |
| 24 | Workington Town | 34 | 11 | 2 | 21 | 303 | 533 | 0.568 | 24 | |
| 25 | Blackpool Borough | 34 | 11 | 0 | 23 | 351 | 560 | 0.627 | 22 | |
| 26 | Keighley | 34 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 330 | 740 | 0.446 | 16 | |
| 27 | Huyton | 34 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 277 | 610 | 0.454 | 15 | |
| 28 | Batley | 34 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 249 | 628 | 0.396 | 12 | |
| 29 | Doncaster | 34 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 234 | 729 | 0.321 | 10 | |
| 30 | Hunslet | 34 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 300 | 662 | 0.453 | 4 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points average; 3) Number of points scored;
(L) Won League Leader's Trophy
Play-offs
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| Leeds | 40 | |||||||||||||
| Leigh | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Leeds | 20 | |||||||||||||
| Widnes | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Swinton | 11 | |||||||||||||
| Widnes | 15 | |||||||||||||
| Leeds | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Salford | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Salford | 23 | |||||||||||||
| Dewsbury | 7 | |||||||||||||
| Salford | 21 | |||||||||||||
| Wigan | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Wigan | 18 | |||||||||||||
| Oldham | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Leeds | 9 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 5 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 25 | |||||||||||||
| Hull KR | 5 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 17 | |||||||||||||
| Rochdale Hornets | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Rochdale Hornets | 18 | |||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 13 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 14 | |||||||||||||
| Bradford Northern | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Featherstone Rovers | 14 | |||||||||||||
| Castleford | 18 | |||||||||||||
| Castleford | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Bradford Northern | 22 | |||||||||||||
| Bradford Northern | 37 | |||||||||||||
| Warrington | 0 | |||||||||||||
Final
The Championship final was played at Swinton.
20 May 1972 |
Station Road, Swinton Attendance: 24,055 Referee: S. Shepherd (Oldham) Player of the Match: Terry Clawson |
| Leeds | Number | St Helens |
|---|---|---|
| Teams | ||
| John Holmes | 1 | Geoff Pimblett |
| Alan Smith | 2 | Les Jones |
| John Langley | 3 | Billy Benyon |
| Les Dyl | 4 | John Walsh |
| John Atkinson | 5 | Frank Wilson |
| Alan Hardisty | 6 | Ken Kelly |
| David Barham | 7 | Jeff Heaton |
| Terry Clawson | 8 | Graham Rees |
| David Ward | 9 | Les Greenall |
| Tony Fisher | 10 | John Stephens |
| Phil Cookson | 11 | John Mantle |
| Graham Eccles | 12 | Eric Chisnall |
| Ray Batten | 13 | Kel Coslett |
| Subs | ||
| David Hick (for Holmes) | 14 | Alan Whittle (for Jones) |
| Fred Pickup (for Fisher) | 15 | Kelvin Earl |
| Derek Turner | Coach | Jim Challinor |
Challenge Cup
The final was played between St. Helens and Leeds at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 13 May 1972, in front of a crowd of 89,495. After leading 12-6 at half time, St Helens beat Leeds 16-13. St Helens scorers were Les Jones (1 try), Graham Rees (1 try), and Kel Coslett (5 goals). St Helens forward Kel Coslett was the man of the match winning the Lance Todd Trophy. This was St Helens’ fourth Cup Final win in eight Final appearances.[5]
Player's No.6 Trophy
Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Halifax who beat Wakefield Trinity 22-11 in the final.[6]
County cups
Wigan beat Widnes 15–8 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Castleford 11–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.