1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season
LeagueChampionship
Teams30
Champions Dewsbury
League Leaders Warrington
Runners-up Leeds
Top point-scorer(s) David Watkins 493
Top try-scorer(s) John Atkinson 39
League reorganisation
Created Second Division York
Halifax
Batley
Keighley
Swinton
Workington Town
Bradford Northern
Huddersfield
Hull
Barrow
Doncaster
Hunslet
Blackpool Borough
Huyton

The 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 78th season of rugby league football played in England. It would also be the last season whereby the British championship was decided by a play-off system until Super League III in 1998. Dewsbury were crowned champions after defeating Leeds in the Final. The 1972–73 season was also punctuated by the 1972 Rugby League World Cup which was played in France in October and November. At the end of this season the league re-formed into two divisions. The top 16 in the championship would form Division 1 and the bottom 14 Division 2.

Rule changes

Number of tackles:

  • The four-tackle rule was altered and a new limit of six tackles was introduced.[1][2] The four-tackle rules had been blamed for making the game seem "disjointed".[2] A scrum was formed at the end of a completed set of the tackles.[2]

Timekeeping:

  • Timekeepers were given responsibility, rather than referees, for controlling time in matches. They signalled using a hooter siren system.

Season summary

Salford's David Watkins set the record for most goals (including drop goals) in a season with 221. Also, on 19 August 1972, Watkins started his record scoring streak which lasted until 25 April 1974. He totalled 929 points from 41 tries and 403 goals in 92 consecutive matches for one club.

1972-73 also saw the Wigan club celebrate its centenary, having been formed as Wigan F.C. on 21 November 1872. During the season they played a special Centenary Celebration match against an "Australians" side.

Hunslet disbanded at the end of the season, reforming as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season.

Salford beat Swinton 25–11 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Dewsbury 36–9 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

Final standings

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Warrington 342725816400+41656
2 Featherstone Rovers 342707768436+33254
3 Leeds 342617810324+48653
4 St. Helens 342428623298+32550
5 Wakefield Trinity 342509814398+41650
6 Salford 342509723383+34050
7 Castleford 342509704404+30050
8 Dewsbury 3423011534354+18046
9 Oldham 3420212604349+25542
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 3420113731522+20941
11 Rochdale Hornets 3420113438426+1241
12 Widnes 3419015592458+13438
13 Leigh 3418214479390+8938
14Bramley 3418115452453-137
15 Whitehaven 3418115408512-10437
16 Wigan 3417116577491+8635
17 York 3417116586575+1135
18 Halifax 3417017543562-1934
19 Batley 3415019537600-6330
20 Keighley 3415019451505-5430
21 Swinton 3414119441458-1729
22 Workington Town 3412121444464-2025
23 Bradford Northern 3412022582685-10324
24 Huddersfield 3410222465598-13322
25 Hull 3411023494693-19922
26 Barrow 347027351775-43414
27 Doncaster 346028298911-61312
28 Hunslet 345029371916-54510
29 Blackpool Borough 344030324972-6488
30Huyton 343130243879-6367
Play-offs,
Form 1973–74 Division 1

Form 1973–74 Division 2

Play-offs

First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Championship final
            
3 Leeds 45
14 Bramley 8
Leeds 30
Castleford 5
7 Castleford 24
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 12
Leeds 7
St Helens 2
4 St Helens 29
13 Leigh 14
St Helens 28
Wakefield Trinity 0
5 Wakefield Trinity 33
12 Widnes 6
Leeds 13
Dewsbury 22
1 Warrington 30
16 Wigan 15
Warrington 16
Rochdale Hornets 9
6 Salford 10
11 Rochdale Hornets 14
Warrington 7
Dewsbury 12
2 Featherstone Rovers 14
15 Whitehaven 4
Featherstone Rovers 7
Dewsbury 26
8 Dewsbury 29
9 Oldham 14

Final

The 1973 Final was to be the last time a play-off system would be used to determine the British champions until 1998's Super League season. The match was played on 19 May 1973 at Bradford's Odsal Stadium between the previous season's champions, Leeds and first-time finalists, Dewsbury. Dewsbury had suffered a county cup record defeat 36–9 at the hands of Leeds in the Yorkshire County Cup Final earlier in the season. Also Leeds had finished 3rd on the ladder and Dewsbury 8th. However, Dewsbury opened up a 12–4 lead by the interval with tries by the hooker Mike Stephenson and Allan Agar and two goals and a drop-goal from the boot of centre Nigel Stephenson. Leeds captain Alan Hardisty was sent off for the first time in his career for a high tackle on John Bates.

A second try from Mike Stephenson on 44 minutes extended Dewsbury's lead and though Leeds hit back with tries by Graham Eccles, Phil Cookson and Les Dyl, it was not to be with Nigel Stephenson converting his own try to complete a resounding 22-13 success. Leading journalist Jack Winstanley wrote at the time: "Dewsbury's win sprung from a superb team effort that paid ample tribute to the coaching and inspiration of (coach) Tommy Smales. They bewildered a jaded Leeds outfit with a series of scissors moves and dummy passes that might have looked grossly over-elaborate had they not worked to such perfection." The Harry Sunderland Trophy for man-of-the-match went to Mike Stephenson. Greg Ashcroft, Jeff Grayshon and Alan Bates also played in the champion Dewsbury side.

Challenge Cup

The 1973 Challenge Cup Final was won by Featherstone Rovers who beat Bradford Northern 33–14 at Wembley Saturday 12 May 1973 before a crowd of 72,395. Featherstone Rovers' Great Britain scrum half-back, Steve Nash put in a man-of-the-match performance to win the Lance Todd Trophy. Cyril Kellett scored 8-conversions for Featherstone Rovers, the most in a Challenge Cup Final (equalled by Iestyn Harris in 1999).

League Cup

This was the second season of the League Cup, which was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons. Leeds won the trophy by beating Salford 12-7 in the final. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield. The attendance was 10,102 and receipts were £4563.

References

  1. Phil Clarke (2008-09-03). "Changing the law". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  2. 1 2 3 de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009), "Top ten: Rugby league rules", Rugby League World, Brighouse, UK: League Publications (published August 2009), no. 340, p. 61, ISSN 1466-0105

Sources

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