1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season#Challenge Cup

{{Infobox rugby football league season

| title = 1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season

| league = Northern Rugby Football League

| logo =

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| duration =

| no_of_teams =

| attendance =

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| season =

| season_champs = {{leagueicon|huddersfield|16}} Huddersfield

| season_champ_name = Champions

| league_leaders = {{leagueicon|wigan|16}} Wigan

| league_leaders_name = League Leaders

| second_place =

| premiership_win =

| premiership_win_name=

| MVP =

| MVP_link =

| top_scorer = {{leagueicon|wakefield|16}} Neil Fox 456

| top_scorer_link =

| top try scorer = {{leagueicon|wigan|16}} Billy Boston 51

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| prevseason_link = 1960–61 Northern Rugby Football League season

| prevseason_year = 1960–61

| nextseason_link = 1962–63 Northern Rugby Football League season

| nextseason_year = 1962–63

}}

The 1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 67th season of rugby league football.

Season summary

Huddersfield won their seventh Championship when they beat Wakefield Trinity 14–5 in the play-off final.

The Challenge Cup winners were Wakefield Trinity, who beat Huddersfield 12–6 in the final.

At the end of this season the league was split into two divisions, the top 16 in the league formed Division 1 and the bottom 14 formed Division 2.{{cite web|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=382 |title=1961-62 Season summary |access-date=2009-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826202027/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=382 |archive-date=2009-08-26 |url-status=live }}

Wigan won the Lancashire League, and Wakefield Trinity won the Yorkshire League.

Championship

width=20 abbr="Position" \| !width=175 \|Team !width=20 abbr="Played" \|Pld !width=20 abbr="Won" \|W !width=20 abbr="Drawn" \|D !width=20 abbr="Lost" \|L !width=20 abbr="Points" \|Pts
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|1	Wigan	36	32	1	3	65
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|2	Wakefield Trinity	36	32	1	3	65
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|3	Featherstone Rovers	36	28	1	7	57
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|4	Huddersfield	36	25	2	9	52
align=center style="background:" \|5	Workington Town	36	25	0	11	50
align=center style="background:" \|6	Widnes	36	25	0	11	50
align=center style="background:" \|7	Leeds	36	25	0	11	50
align=center style="background:" \|8	Hull Kingston Rovers	36	24	0	12	48
align=center style="background:" \|9	St. Helens	36	23	0	13	46
align=center style="background:" \|10	Oldham	36	22	1	13	45
align=center style="background:" \|11	Swinton	36	21	1	14	43
align=center style="background:" \|12	Castleford	36	21	0	15	42
align=center style="background:" \|13	Bramley	36	19	4	13	42
align=center style="background:" \|14	Warrington	36	19	2	15	40
align=center style="background:" \|15	Halifax	36	18	3	15	39
align=center style="background:" \|16	Hull	36	18	1	17	37
align=center style="background:" \|17	Leigh	36	17	0	19	34
align=center style="background:" \|18	Barrow	36	14	1	21	29
align=center style="background:" \|19	Keighley	36	13	2	21	28
align=center style="background:" \|20	York	36	12	1	23	25
align=center style="background:" \|21	Salford	36	12	1	23	25
align=center style="background:" \|22	Whitehaven	36	11	2	23	24
align=center style="background:" \|23	Blackpool Borough	36	11	1	24	23
align=center style="background:" \|24	Rochdale Hornets	36	9	4	23	22
align=center style="background:" \|25	Hunslet	36	10	1	25	21
align=center style="background:" \|26	Batley	36	9	2	25	20
align=center style="background:" \|27	Dewsbury	36	8	2	26	18
align=center style="background:" \|28	Doncaster	36	8	1	27	17
align=center style="background:" \|29	Liverpool City	36	6	0	30	12
align=center style="background:" \|30	Bradford Northern	36	5	1	30	11

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%"

|bgcolor="#ccffcc" width="20" |

|Play-offs

=Play-offs=

{{4TeamBracket

| RD1=Semi-finals

| RD2=Championship final

| RD1-seed1=1

| RD1-team1=Wigan

| RD1-score1=11

| RD1-seed2=4

| RD1-team2=Huddersfield

| RD1-score2=13

| RD1-seed3=2

| RD1-team3=Wakefield Trinity

| RD1-score3=13

| RD1-seed4=3

| RD1-team4=Featherstone Rovers

| RD1-score4=8

| RD2-team1=Huddersfield

| RD2-score1=14

| RD2-team2=Wakefield Trinity

| RD2-score2=5

}}

==Final==

{{Rugbyleaguebox

|date = 19 May 1962

|time =

|team1 = Huddersfield

|score = 14 – 5

|team2 = Wakefield Trinity

|try1 = Wicks, Smales

|goal1 = Dyson (4)

|try2 = Fox

|goal2 = Fox

|stadium = Odsal Stadium, Bradford

|attendance = 37,451

|referee = N. T. Railton (Wigan)

|manofmatch =

|report =

}}

width=240 abbr=winner\|Huddersfield !width=50 abbr="Number"\|Number !width=240 abbr=runner-up\|Wakefield Trinity
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size: 85%"
	Teams
Frank Dyson	1	Gerry Round
Aiden Breen	2	Fred Smith
Harry Deighton	3	Alan Skene
Ray Haywood	4	Neil Fox
Mike Wicks	5	Kenneth Hirst
Gwyn Davies	6	Harold Poynton
Thomas Smales	7	Keith Holliday
Ted Slevin	8	Jack Wilkinson
Don Close	9	Milan Kosanović
Ken Noble	10	Albert Firth
Austin Kilroy	11	Brian Briggs
Kenneth Bowman	12	Don Vines
Peter Ramsden	13	Derek Turner
	{{0}}
	Coach	Ken Traill

Challenge Cup

Wakefield Trinity beat Huddersfield 12–6 in the Challenge Cup Final played at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 81,263.

This was Wakefield Trinity's third Challenge Cup Final win in four Final appearances.{{cite web|url=http://www.therfl.co.uk/challengecup/page.php?areaid=65 |title=RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour |access-date=2009-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403144113/http://www.therfl.co.uk/challengecup/page.php?areaid=65 |archive-date=2009-04-03 |url-status=dead }} Neil Fox, their centre, was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance. This has been the only time in a Rugby League Challenge Cup Final that a place kick has not been converted. Fox dropped three goals for Wakefield Trinity, then worth two points each.

County cups

St. Helens beat Swinton 25–9 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Wakefield Trinity beat Leeds 19–9 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

References

Sources

{{cite book |editor-last=Saxton |editor-first=Irvin |title=History of Rugby League: No.67 1961–1962| publisher=League Publications}}
[http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=382 1961-62 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090403144113/http://www.therfl.co.uk/challengecup/page.php?areaid=65 The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website]

Category:1961 in English rugby league

Category:1962 in English rugby league

Category:Northern Rugby Football League seasons