1976-77 Northern Rugby Football League season
Encyclopedia
The 1976–77 Rugby Football League
season was the eighty first season of rugby league football
.
for the first and, to date, only time. During the season, the Salford
versus Leeds
match was abandoned after 38 minutes when Chris Sanderson
of Leeds
suffered a fatal injury. Leeds
were ahead 5-2, but the game was declared null and void and not replayed.
Rochdale Hornets
, Leigh
, Barrow
and Oldham
were demoted to the Second Division.
The Challenge Cup Winners were Leeds
who beat Widnes
16-7 in the final.
Players No.6 Trophy Winners were Castleford
who beat Blackpool Borough
25-15.
Premiership Trophy Winners were St. Helens who beat Warrington
32-20.
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Castleford
who beat Leigh
12-4 in the final.
2nd Division Champions were Hull, and they, Dewsbury
, Bramley
and New Hunslet
were promoted to the First Division.
Widnes
beat Workington Town
(from Cumbria
) 16–11 to win the Lancashire Cup
, and Leeds
beat Featherstone Rovers
16–12 to win the Yorkshire Cup
.
was the Leeds prop, Steve Pitchford.
This was Leeds’ tenth Cup Final win in fourteen final appearances.
Leeds 16
Widnes 7
Referee: V.Moss(Manchester)
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...
season was the eighty first season of rugby league football
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
.
Season summary
The League Champions were Featherstone RoversFeatherstone Rovers
Featherstone Rovers are a semi-professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They currently play in the Championship. The Rovers are one of the last vestiges of "small town teams" that were once common in rugby league during the early twentieth century...
for the first and, to date, only time. During the season, the 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...
versus 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...
match was abandoned after 38 minutes when Chris Sanderson
Christopher Sanderson
Christopher "Chris" Sanderson was an English professional rugby league footballer of the 1970s who at club played for York Juniors, and Leeds, playing /, or /, i.e...
of 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...
suffered a fatal injury. 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...
were ahead 5-2, but the game was declared null and void and not replayed.
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...
, 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...
, 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....
and 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....
were demoted to the Second Division.
The Challenge Cup Winners were 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...
who beat 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...
16-7 in the final.
Players No.6 Trophy Winners were Castleford
Castleford Tigers
Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
who beat Blackpool Borough
Blackpool Borough
Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire.The team wore tangerine, black and white jerseys.-Blackpool Borough:...
25-15.
Premiership Trophy Winners were St. Helens who beat 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....
32-20.
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Castleford
Castleford Tigers
Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
who beat 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...
12-4 in the final.
2nd Division Champions were Hull, and they, 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...
, 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...
and New 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:...
were promoted to the First Division.
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...
beat Workington Town
Workington Town
Workington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in the Championship 1. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team....
(from Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
) 16–11 to win the Lancashire Cup
Rugby league county cups
Historically, British rugby league clubs competed for the Lancashire Cup and the Yorkshire Cup, known collectively as the county cups. The leading rugby clubs in Yorkshire had played in a cup competition for several years prior to the schism of 1895...
, and 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...
beat Featherstone Rovers
Featherstone Rovers
Featherstone Rovers are a semi-professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They currently play in the Championship. The Rovers are one of the last vestiges of "small town teams" that were once common in rugby league during the early twentieth century...
16–12 to win the Yorkshire Cup
Rugby league county cups
Historically, British rugby league clubs competed for the Lancashire Cup and the Yorkshire Cup, known collectively as the county cups. The leading rugby clubs in Yorkshire had played in a cup competition for several years prior to the schism of 1895...
.
First Division Championship
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a semi-professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They currently play in the Championship. The Rovers are one of the last vestiges of "small town teams" that were once common in rugby league during the early twentieth century... |
30 | 21 | 2 | 7 | 568 | 334 | 44 |
| 2 | St. Helens | 30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 547 | 345 | 39 |
| 3 | Castleford Castleford Tigers Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'... |
30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 519 | 350 | 39 |
| 4 | 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... |
30 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 496 | 415 | 37 |
| 5 | 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.... |
30 | 18 | 0 | 12 | 532 | 406 | 36 |
| 6 | 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... |
29 | 17 | 1 | 11 | 560 | 402 | 35 |
| 7 | 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.... |
30 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 463 | 416 | 32 |
| 8 | 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.... |
30 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 488 | 470 | 32 |
| 9 | 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... |
29 | 14 | 2 | 13 | 467 | 439 | 30 |
| 10 | 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... |
30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 403 | 393 | 30 |
| 11 | 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... |
30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 487 | 480 | 28 |
| 12 | Workington Town Workington Town Workington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in the Championship 1. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.... |
30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 352 | 403 | 27 |
| 13 | 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... |
30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 367 | 449 | 22 |
| 14 | 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... |
30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 314 | 634 | 17 |
| 15 | 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.... |
30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 345 | 628 | 16 |
| 16 | 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.... |
30 | 7 | 0 | 23 | 322 | 666 | 14 |
Second Division Championship
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hull | 26 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 599 | 238 | 45 |
| 2 | 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... |
26 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 429 | 199 | 40 |
| 3 | 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... |
26 | 19 | 0 | 7 | 464 | 377 | 38 |
| 4 | New 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:... |
26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 411 | 231 | 37 |
| 5 | 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... |
26 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 422 | 279 | 34 |
| 6 | 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... |
26 | 16 | 1 | 9 | 486 | 235 | 33 |
| 7 | 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.... |
26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 397 | 329 | 26 |
| 8 | Whitehaven Whitehaven RLFC Whitehaven RLFC is a rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. They play in Co-operative Championship. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground... |
26 | 11 | 1 | 14 | 290 | 346 | 23 |
| 9 | Huyton | 26 | 11 | 0 | 15 | 302 | 402 | 22 |
| 10 | 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... |
26 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 301 | 429 | 20 |
| 11 | 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:... |
26 | 8 | 2 | 16 | 261 | 406 | 18 |
| 12 | 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... |
26 | 7 | 1 | 18 | 262 | 461 | 15 |
| 13 | Blackpool Borough Blackpool Borough Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire.The team wore tangerine, black and white jerseys.-Blackpool Borough:... |
26 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 233 | 464 | 11 |
| 14 | Doncaster | 26 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 243 | 704 | 2 |
Challenge Cup
Leeds beat Widnes 16-7 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd 80,871. The winner of the Lance Todd TrophyLance Todd Trophy
The Lance Todd Trophy is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in rugby league football's Challenge Cup Final.The trophy was introduced in 1946, in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in a road accident during the Second World War...
was the Leeds prop, Steve Pitchford.
This was Leeds’ tenth Cup Final win in fourteen final appearances.
Leeds 16
- Murrell
- A.Smith
- Hague
- Dyl (1 try)
- Atkinson (1 try)
- Holmes
- Dick (1 try, 3 goals, 1 drop goal)
- Harrison
- Ward
- Pitchford
- Eccles
- Cookson
- Fearnley
- Dickinson on for Fearnley
- D.Smith on for A.Smith
Widnes 7
- R.Dutton (2 goals)
- S.Wright
- Aspey (1 try)
- Eckersley
- D.O'Neill
- Hughes
- Bowden
- Ramsey
- Elwell
- Mills
- Dearden
- Adams
- Laughton
- George on for S.Wright
- Foran on for Dearden
Referee: V.Moss(Manchester)