1918-19 (January) Northern Rugby Football Union Wartime Emergency League season

The 1918-19 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the fourth season of Rugby league's Wartime Emergency League football. Each club again played a differing number of fixtures, depending upon the closeness of neighbours, ease of travel etc.. The season tapered off towards the end when the 1919 (Feb-May) “Victory” League

1919 (Feb-May) Northern Rugby Football Union Victory season

The 1919 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the fifth season of Rugby league's Wartime Emergency League football. Each club again played a differing number of fixtures, depending upon the closeness of neighbours, ease of travel etc., with York playing only 4 games and Barrow 5 while...

was hurriedly introduced.

Season summary

The war was starting its fifth year and the Rugby League again started the season by continuing with the Wartime Emergency League set up. This arrangement, as in other sports, meant that the sport could continue, which in turn would boost the public’s moral. The fixtures were usually quite local, thus cutting down on travelling time and costs, whilst not wasting precious war resources.

Several clubs did not participate during this season :-

Huddersfield

Huddersfield Giants

Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....

continued last season’s absence from the competition

Oldham

Oldham Roughyeds

Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....

continued last season’s absence from the competition

Wakefield Trinity

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...

continued last season’s absence from the competition

York

York City Knights

York City Knights Rugby League Club is a British professional rugby league club hailing from York. They play at the Huntington Stadium, situated to the north of York city centre...

continued last season’s absence from the competition

Keighley

Keighley Cougars

Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. As of 2012 they will play in Co-operative Championship having won the Co-operative Championship 1 play off final 32-12 against Workington...

again did not take part and in fact did not re-enter the league until the first peacetime League in 1919-20.

Widnes

Widnes Vikings

Widnes Vikings RLFC are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They currently play in the Engage Super League, the top tier of European rugby league, after being awarded a license to compete in the top-flight Super League from 2012 onward...

once again withdrew

No clubs re-joined the League and no new clubs joined the league for this season.

Although it is known that St Helens Recs

Pilkington Recs

The Recs Rugby Football Club is an amateur rugby league team based in St Helens, Merseyside.-History:The club was founded in 1878 as part of the sports and recreational section of Pilkington Glass. The side played rugby, and occasionally association football.However, on 14 June 1913, to discuss the...

did play some matches during the season, it is not clear whether these were just friendlies or whether part of the league programme.

The armistice was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918, signifying an end to the Great War. This in turn meant a slight relaxation of the emergency rules on sport and leisure introduced by the British Government during the war. The Northern Union

Rugby Football League

The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...

decided to organise a new “Victory” League" starting in February 1919. This in turn meant that the 1918-19 League programme seemed to peter out and was never finished. Consequently no table was ever produced for the “partial” season.

Note - Nowhere in the official archives is the word "Victory" used. It has been used in this article to distinguish between the two competitions held in the 1918-19 season.

There is very little information available for this partial season, although Wigan

Wigan Warriors

Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....

played 13 matches and Hull

Hull FC

Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull FC, is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition...

12 matches.

The table below gives the teams competing in alphabetical order, only Wigan

Wigan Warriors

and Hull

Hull FC

results are complete.

There were no other trophies to play for during this season.

Championship

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	diff	Pts	%	Barrow Barrow Raiders Barrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....
\|Batley Batley Bulldogs Batley Bulldogs are an English professional rugby league club from Batley, West Yorkshire. They currently play in the Co-operative Championship. Batley is one of the original twenty-two rugby football clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895...
\|Bradford Northern Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
\|Bramley Bramley Buffaloes Bramley Buffaloes is a rugby league club from the Bramley area of West Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Previously known simply as Bramley RLFC, the club is a famous name in rugby league, having existed prior to the formation of the Northern Union in 1895...
\|Brighouse Rangers Brighouse Rangers (1915) Brighouse Rangers was a professional rugby league club. This club was based in Brighouse, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England...
\|Broughton Rangers Broughton Rangers Broughton Rangers was a British rugby football, and subsequently a rugby league club. It was based in Broughton, Salford.-History:Broughton Rangers was founded in 1877 as Broughton and added Rangers for its second season...
\|Dewsbury Dewsbury Rams Dewsbury Rams RLFC is a professional rugby league club based in the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. They are arguably most famous for becoming Champions in 1972-73 after finishing the regular season in 8th place. In the playoffs they beat Featherstone away, Warrington away, and then Leeds in the...
\|Halifax Halifax RLFC Halifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, blue shorts and blue socks . They share The Shay stadium with football club FC Halifax Town...
\|Hull Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull FC, is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition...	12	5	0	7	128	143
10	0.42
\|Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers or Hull KR is an English professional rugby league football club based in Hull, England. The club formed in 1882 and currently competes in Super League, having won promotion from National League One in 2006...
\|Hunslet Hunslet Hawks Hunslet Hawks is a professional rugby league club based in Hunslet, West Yorkshire, England. The club, sometimes known as 'the Parksiders' after their former stadium, are currently champions of Championship One.-History:-Early years:...
\|Leeds Leeds Rhinos Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
\|Leigh Leigh Centurions Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
\|Rochdale Hornets Rochdale Hornets Rochdale Hornets RLFC is an English professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. They currently play in Championship One...
\|Runcorn
\|Salford Salford City Reds Salford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...
\|St Helens
\|St Helens Recs Pilkington Recs The Recs Rugby Football Club is an amateur rugby league team based in St Helens, Merseyside.-History:The club was founded in 1878 as part of the sports and recreational section of Pilkington Glass. The side played rugby, and occasionally association football.However, on 14 June 1913, to discuss the...											1
\|Swinton Swinton Lions Swinton Lions is an English professional rugby league club from Swinton, Greater Manchester. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. They currently play in the Championship.-Early years:...											\|
\|Warrington Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....
\|Wigan Wigan Warriors Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....	14	9	0	5	104	54	50	18	0.64

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup Competition was suspended for the duration of the war.

The majority of the trophies, such as the County Leagues and County Cups were also suspended for the duration of the First World War.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Season summary

Championship

Challenge Cup

See also

External links