1965–66 Northern Rugby Football League season#Challenge Cup

{{Infobox rugby football league season

| title = 1965–66 Rugby Football League season

| league = Northern Rugby Football League

| logo =

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| season_champs = {{leagueicon|st helens|16}} St. Helens

| season_champ_name = Champions

| league_leaders = {{leagueicon|st helens|16}} St. Helens

| league_leaders_name = League Leaders

| second_place =

| premiership_win =

| premiership_win_name=

| MVP =

| MVP_link =

| top_scorer = {{leagueicon|st helens|16}} Len Killeen 336

| top_scorer_link =

| top try scorer = {{leagueicon|st helens|16}} Len Killeen 32
{{leagueicon|wigan|16}} Trevor Lake 32

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| prevseason_link = 1964–65 Northern Rugby Football League season

| prevseason_year = 1964–65

| nextseason_link = 1966–67 Northern Rugby Football League season

| nextseason_year = 1966–67

}}

The 1965–66 Rugby Football League season was the 71st season of rugby league football. A three-way county championship was also held, with comparative minnows Cumberland against Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Rule change

The substitutes rule introduced in the previous season changed so that substitutions could be used for any reason, including tactical reasons, although they were still only allowed up to and including half-time.Top ten: Rugby league rules, Rugby League World, Aug 2009: 61

Season summary

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition was launched in this season with the BBC televising matches on Tuesday nights. The competition was used to trial the four-tackle rule, an experiment in ending the unlimited tackles that had been a by-product from the introduction of the play-the-ball in 1906.Bottom ten: Rugby league rules, Rugby League World, Aug 2009: 62

St. Helens finished the regular season as league leaders before winning their fourth Championship when they beat Halifax 35–12 in the play-off final.

The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Wigan 21–2 in the final.

St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Wakefield Trinity won the Yorkshire League.

At the end of the season, Eric Ashton became the first Rugby League player to receive an award from Her Majesty, the Queen. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.{{cite book |title=Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996 | first=Raymond | last=Fletcher |author2=David Howes|year=1995|publisher=Headline Book Publishing |location=London |isbn=0-7472-7817-2|page=468}}

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	St. Helens	34	28	1	5	57
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|2	Swinton	34	27	1	6	55
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|3	Wigan	34	27	0	7	54
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|4	Wakefield Trinity	34	25	2	7	52
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|5	Castleford	34	23	3	8	49
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|6	Leeds	34	24	0	10	48
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|7	Bradford Northern	34	21	1	12	43
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|8	Workington Town	34	21	1	12	43
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|9	Oldham	34	20	3	11	43
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|10	Halifax	34	21	0	13	42
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|11	Huddersfield	34	20	0	14	40
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|12	Hull Kingston Rovers	34	20	0	14	40
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|13	Hull	34	20	0	14	40
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|14	Widnes	34	17	0	17	34
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|15	Featherstone Rovers	34	17	0	17	34
align=center style="background:#ccffcc;color:" \|16	Warrington	34	16	1	17	33
align=center style="background:" \|17	Hunslet	34	15	2	17	32
align=center style="background:" \|18	Salford	34	15	1	18	31
align=center style="background:" \|19	Keighley	34	15	0	19	30
align=center style="background:" \|20	Leigh	34	14	1	19	29
align=center style="background:" \|21	Barrow	34	13	1	20	27
align=center style="background:" \|22	Bramley	34	12	2	20	26
align=center style="background:" \|23	York	34	11	0	23	22
align=center style="background:" \|24	Dewsbury	34	10	1	23	21
align=center style="background:" \|25	Rochdale Hornets	34	10	0	24	20
align=center style="background:" \|26	Liverpool City	34	9	2	23	20
align=center style="background:" \|27	Blackpool Borough	34	9	1	24	19
align=center style="background:" \|28	Batley	34	6	2	26	14
align=center style="background:" \|29	Doncaster	34	6	0	28	12
align=center style="background:" \|30	Whitehaven	34	4	2	28	10

=Play-offs=

{{Round16|3rdplace=no

||St Helens|35|Warrington|7

||Workington Town|6|Oldham|7

||Castleford|10|Hull Kingston Rovers|13

||Wakefield Trinity|36|Hull|6

||Wigan|27|Widnes|10

||Leeds|19|Huddersfield|7

||Bradford Northern|7|Halifax|21

||Swinton|43|Featherstone Rovers|2

||St Helens|15|Oldham|10

||Hull Kingston Rovers|10|Wakefield Trinity|9

||Wigan|22|Leeds|5

||Halifax|33|Swinton|2

||'''St Helens|14|Hull Kingston Rovers|6

||Wigan|12|Halifax|25

||St Helens|35|Halifax|12

|||||

}}

==Final==

The 1966 Championship Final was played between Halifax and St. Helens on Saturday, 28 May 1966 at Station Road Ground before a crowd of 30,634.{{cite web|title=St Helens 35 def. Halifax RLFC 12|url=http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seasons/northern-rugby-league-1965/final/st-helens-vs-halifax/summary.html|work=rugbyleagueproject.org|publisher=Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates|access-date=8 December 2012}} St Helens won 35–12 with their hat trick-scoring prop forward, Albert Halsall being awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

{{Rugbyleaguebox

|date = 28 May 1966

|time =

|team1 = St Helens

|score = 35 – 12

|team2 = Halifax

|try1 = Killeen (3), Halsall (3), A. Barrow

|goal1 = Killeen (6), Murphy

|drop1 =

|try2 = Baker, Fogerty

|goal2 = Cooper

|drop2 =

|stadium = Station Road, Swinton

|attendance = 30,634

|referee = J. Manley (Warrington)

|manofmatch = Albert Halsall

|report =

}}

Challenge Cup

St Helens had reached the final by beating Wakefield Trinity 10–0 away on 26 February in round one; Swinton 16–4 at home on 19 March in round two; Hull Kingston Rovers 12–10 at home on 2 April in round three and Dewsbury 12–5 on neutral ground on 16 April in the semi-final.{{cite web|url=http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9 |title=Saints Heritage Site Season records. |access-date=2009-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302024842/http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9 |archive-date=2012-03-02 |url-status=live }}

Wigan had reached the final by beating Halifax 9–4 at home on 26 February in round one; Whitehaven 40–6 at home on 19 March in round two; Bradford Northern 15–6 away on 6 April in round three and Leeds 7–2 in the semi-final at Huddersfield on 23 April.

The Challenge Cup final was played at Wembley Stadium, London on 21 May 1966, in front of a crowd of 98,536. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was introduced to the players before kick-off.{{cite web|title=Rugby League - Challenge Cup Final - Wigan v St. Helens - Wembley Stadium|url=http://www.friendsreunited.com/rugby-league-challenge-cup-final-wigan-v-st-helens-wembley-stadium/Memory/6b293342-dcd9-436d-9f24-a0090137f052|work=friendsreunited.com|publisher=Friends Reunited Limited|access-date=13 October 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131013074705/http://www.friendsreunited.com/rugby-league-challenge-cup-final-wigan-v-st-helens-wembley-stadium/Memory/6b293342-dcd9-436d-9f24-a0090137f052|archive-date=2013-10-13|url-status=dead}} St Helens led 9–2 at half time and went on to defeat Wigan 21–2. Saints' scorers were John Mantle (1 try), Tommy Bishop (1 try), Len Killeen (1 try, 5 goals), and Alex Murphy (1 goal). Wigan's scorer was Laurie Gilfedder (1 goal). This was St Helens' third Cup final win in seven 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 }}

County cups

Warrington beat Rochdale Hornets 16–5 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Bradford Northern beat Hunslet 17–8 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Castleford who beat St. Helens 4–0 in the final.{{cite web|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=386 |title=1965-66 Season summary |access-date=2009-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826202032/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=386 |archive-date=2009-08-26 |url-status=live }}

References

=In-line=

=General=

{{Citation | editor-last =de la Riviere | editor-first =Richard | publication-date =August 2009 | year =2009 | periodical =Rugby League World | place =Brighouse, UK | publisher =League Publications | issue =340 | issn =1466-0105 | ref=RLW-iss340-aug2009}}

Sources

{{cite book |editor-last=Saxton |editor-first=Irvin |title=History of Rugby League: No.71 1965–1966| publisher=League Publications}}
[http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=386 1965-66 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:1965 in English rugby league

Category:1966 in English rugby league

Category:Northern Rugby Football League seasons