1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season#Challenge Cup

{{Infobox rugby football league season

| title = 1973–74 Rugby Football League season

| league = Championship

| logo =

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| duration =

| no_of_teams =

| attendance =

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| season = First Division

| season_champs = {{leagueicon|salford city|16}} Salford

| season_champ_name = Champions

| league_leaders =

| league_leaders_name =

| second_place ={{leagueicon|st helens|16}} St Helens

| premiership_win = {{leagueicon|warrington|16}} Warrington

| premiership_win_name= Club Championship

| MVP =

| MVP_link =

| top_scorer = {{leagueicon|salford city|16}} David Watkins 438

| top_scorer_link =

| top try scorer = {{leagueicon|salford city|16}} Keith Fielding 49

| top try scorer_link =

| membership_type =

| join =

| join_method =

| leave =

| leave_reason =

| promote =

| promoted_from =

| relegate ={{ubl|{{leagueicon|oldham|16}} Oldham|{{leagueicon|hull kr|16}} Hull Kingston Rovers|{{leagueicon|leigh|16}} Leigh|{{leagueicon|Whitehaven|16}} Whitehaven}}

| relegate_to = Second Division

| licence_period =

| awarded =

| removed =

| season2 = Second Division

| season_champs2 = {{leagueicon|bradford|16}} Bradford Northern

| season_champ_name2 = Champions

| league_leaders2 =

| league_leaders_name2=

| second_place2 =

| MVP2 =

| MVP_link2 =

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| promote2 =

| promoted_from2 = Second Division

| relegate2 =

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| season3 =

| season_champs3 =

| season_champ_name3 =

| league_leaders3 =

| league_leaders_name3=

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| MVP3 =

| MVP_link3 =

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| top try scorer3 =

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| membership_type3 =

| join3 = {{ubl|{{leagueicon|bradford|16}} Bradford Northern|{{leagueicon|York rlfc|16}} York|{{leagueicon|keighley|16}} Keighley|{{leagueicon|halifax|16}} Halifax}}

| join_method3 = Promoted to First Division

| leave3 =

| leave_reason3 =

| prevseason_link = 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season

| prevseason_year = 1972–73

| nextseason_link = 1974–75 Northern Rugby Football League season

| nextseason_year = 1974–75

}}

The 1973–74 Rugby Football League season was the 79th season of rugby league football.

Season summary

1973-1974 saw two division rugby re-introduced. The Championship playoffs were discontinued and the league leaders were declared the champions. A "Club Championship" was played in place of the playoffs but this was a one-off precursor to what became the end of season Premiership. It was a complicated format that involved sides from both divisions.

On 25 April, David Watkins of Salford scored the last of 929 points (41 tries, 403 goals) in a record run of scoring in 92 consecutive games for one club.{{cite book |title=Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996 |author1=Raymond Fletcher |author2=David Howes|year=1995|publisher=Headline Book Publishing |location=London |isbn=0-7472-7817-2|page=191}}

Keith Mumby made his début for Bradford Northern this season as the club's youngest ever player, aged 16. In a match against Doncaster this season he scored 12 goals and a try. He went on to become the club's record appearance holder, playing 576 games.{{cite web |url=http://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/content/History/3561/1964%20-%201994:%20Renaissance |title=Bradford Bulls History |access-date=2009-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425162744/http://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/content/History/3561/1964%20-%201994:%20Renaissance |archive-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead }}

Salford won their fifth Championship. Oldham, Hull Kingston Rovers, Leigh and Whitehaven were demoted to the Second Division.

The Challenge Cup winners were Warrington who beat Featherstone Rovers 24-9 in the final.

The Club Championship was won by Warrington who beat St. Helens 13-12 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were: Bradford Northern, and they York, Keighley and Halifax were promoted to the First Division.{{cite web|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=393 |title=1973-74 Season summary |access-date=2009-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827121937/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=394 |archive-date=2009-08-27 |url-status=live }}

League Tables

=Championship=

style="width:20px;" abbr="Position"\| !width=175 \|Team ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Played"\|Pld ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Won"\|W ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Drawn"\|D ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Lost"\|L ! style="width:20px;" abbr="”Points" For”\|PF ! style="width:20px;" abbr="”Points" Against”\|PA ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Points"\|Pts
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center; background:gold;" \|1	Salford	30	23	1	6	632	299	47
style="text-align:center;" \|2	St. Helens	30	22	2	6	595	263	46
style="text-align:center;" \|3	Leeds	30	20	1	9	554	378	41
style="text-align:center;" \|4	Widnes	30	18	1	11	431	329	37
style="text-align:center;" \|5	Warrington	30	16	1	13	414	368	33
style="text-align:center;" \|6	Dewsbury	30	16	1	13	389	474	33
style="text-align:center;" \|7	Wakefield Trinity	30	16	0	14	470	411	32
style="text-align:center;" \|8	Featherstone Rovers	30	14	2	14	443	397	30
style="text-align:center;" \|9	Castleford	30	12	4	14	420	411	28
style="text-align:center;" \|10	Rochdale Hornets	30	13	2	15	379	415	28
style="text-align:center;" \|11	Wigan	30	12	3	15	427	364	27
style="text-align:center;" \|12	Bramley	30	11	3	16	344	457	25
style="text-align:center; background:#fcc;" \|13	Oldham	30	12	1	17	341	494	25
style="text-align:center; background:#fcc;" \|14	Hull Kingston Rovers	30	9	2	19	428	552	20
style="text-align:center; background:#fcc;" \|15	Leigh	30	7	0	23	326	655	14
style="text-align:center; background:#fcc;" \|16	Whitehaven	30	7	0	23	308	634	14

=Second Division=

style="width:20px;" abbr="Position"\| !width=175 \|Team ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Played"\|Pld ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Won"\|W ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Drawn"\|D ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Lost"\|L ! style="width:20px;" abbr="”Points" For”\|PF ! style="width:20px;" abbr="”Points" Against”\|PA ! style="width:20px;" abbr="Points"\|Pts
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" \|1	Bradford Northern	26	24	0	2	607	221	48
style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" \|2	York	26	21	0	5	429	219	42
style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" \|3	Keighley	26	20	0	6	439	250	40
style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" \|4	Halifax	26	18	0	8	460	298	36
style="text-align:center;" \|5	Workington Town	26	17	0	9	421	310	34
style="text-align:center;" \|6	Hull	26	16	0	10	465	256	32
style="text-align:center;" \|7	Swinton	26	15	0	11	405	276	30
style="text-align:center;" \|8	Batley	26	12	0	14	286	311	24
style="text-align:center;" \|9	Barrow	26	11	0	15	214	291	22
style="text-align:center;" \|10	Huddersfield	26	9	0	17	363	394	18
style="text-align:center;" \|11	New Hunslet	26	7	0	19	272	418	14
style="text-align:center;" \|12	Blackpool Borough	26	7	0	19	272	585	14
style="text-align:center;" \|13	Doncaster	26	3	0	23	158	684	6
style="text-align:center;" \|14	Huyton	26	2	0	24	182	460	4

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

style="background:gold; width:20px;"|

|Champions

| style="background:#cfc; width:20px;"|

|Promoted

| style="background:#fcc; width:20px;"|

|Relegated

Cups

=Challenge Cup=

Warrington defeated Huddersfield, Huyton, Wigan and Dewsbury to reach the final against Featherstone Rovers.{{Cite news

| title = Victory parade for Wolves players

| work = BBC News

| place = UK

| publisher = BBC

| date = 30 August 2009

| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/8229276.stm

| access-date = 4 December 2010}} Captained by Alex Murphy, Warrington beat Featherstone Rovers 24-9 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 77,400.

This was Warrington’s fourth Cup Final win in ten Final appearances. Derek Whitehead, Warrington's full-back won the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match.

=Player's No.6 Trophy=

The Player's No.6 Trophy winners were Warrington who beat Rochdale Hornets 24-17 in the final.

=County Cups=

Wigan beat Salford 19–9 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 7–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

=Captain Morgan Trophy=

=BBC2 Floodlit Trophy=

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Bramley who beat Widnes 15-7 in the final.

=Club Championship=

Kangaroo Tour

From September until December also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1973 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 2–1 by Australia), The Kangaroos played matches against club and county representative sides

The 1978 Kangaroos were captain-coached by champion St George Dragons fullback Graeme Langlands who was making his third tour following from 1963–64 and 1967–68

class="wikitable" ! game !! Date !! Result !! Venue !! Attendance
1	30 September	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Salford City\|16}} Salford 15–12	The Willows, Salford	11,064
2	3 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Wakefield\|16}} Wakefield Trinity 13–9	Belle Vue, Wakefield	5,863
3	7 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Dewsbury Rams\|16}} Dewsbury 17–3	Crown Flatt, Dewsbury	5,865
4	10 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Castleford\|16}} Castleford 18–10	Wheldon Road, Castleford	2,419
5	14 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Widnes\|16}} Widnes 25–10	Naughton Park, Widnes	5,185
6	19 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Oldham\|16}} Oldham 44–10	The Watersheddings, Oldham	2,895
7	24 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{flagicon\|Cumbria}} Cumberland 28–2	Recreation Ground, Whitehaven	3,666
8	28 October	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Bradford\|16}} Bradford Northern 50–14	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	5,667
bgcolor=Gold \|9	3 November	{{rl\|GBR}} def. {{rl\|AUS}} 21–12	Wembley Stadium, London	9,874
10	7 November	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Hull KR\|16}} Hull Kingston Rovers 32–2	Craven Park, Hull	5,150
11	10 November	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Huddersfield\|16}} Huddersfield 25–9	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield	1,333
12	11 November	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Leigh\|16}} Leigh 31–4	Hilton Park, Leigh	2,607
13	13 November	{{leagueicon\|St Helens\|16}} St. Helens def. {{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia 11–7	Knowsley Road, St Helens	10,013
14	18 November	{{leagueicon\|Australia\|16}} Australia def. {{leagueicon\|Featherstone\|16}} Featherstone Rovers 18–3	Post Office Road, Featherstone	5,659
bgcolor=Gold \|15	24 November	{{rl\|AUS}} def. {{rl\|GBR}} 14–6	Headingley, Leeds	16,674
bgcolor=Gold \|16	1 December	{{rl\|AUS}} def. {{rl\|GBR}} 15–5	Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington	10,019

References

Category:1973 in English rugby league

Category:1974 in English rugby league

Category:Northern Rugby Football League seasons