1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season

none 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season Championship 30 Dewsbury 16 Dewsbury Champions warrington 16 Warrington League Leaders leeds 16 Leeds salford city 16 David Watkins 493 leeds 16 John Atkinson 39 League reorganisation york rlfc 16 York Halifax 16 Halifax Batley 16 Batley Keighley 16 Keighley Swinton 16 Swinton Workington 16 Workington Town Bradford 16 Bradford Northern Huddersfield 16 Huddersfield Hull 16 Hull Barrow 16 Barrow Doncaster 16 Doncaster Hunslet 16 Hunslet Blackpool 16 Blackpool Borough Huyton Created Second Division 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season 1971–72 1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season 1973–74The 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. http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,25212,12532_4091003,00.html Sky Sports Changing the law Phil Clarke 2008-09-03 2009-09-23de la Riviere Richard August 2009 2009 Top ten: Rugby league rules Rugby League World Brighouse, UK League Publications 340 61 1466-0105 The four-tackle rules had been blamed for making the game seem "disjointed". A scrum was formed at the end of a completed set of the tackles. 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. Challenge Cup Winners: Featherstone Rovers (33-14 v Bradford Northern) Player's No.6 Trophy Winners: Leeds (12-7 v Salford at Fartown Ground, Huddersfield) BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners: Leigh (5-0 v Widnes) Hunslet disbanded at the end of the season, reforming as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season. Championship Final standings main WDL yes WAR FEV LEE STH WAK SAL CAS DEW OLD HKR ROC WID LEI BRM WHI WIG YOR HFX BAT KEI SWI WOR BRA HUD HUL BAR DON HUN BLA HUY PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE PRE REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL REL 7 0 27 351 775 15 0 19 537 600 4 0 30 324 972 12 0 22 582 685 18 1 15 452 465 25 0 9 704 404 6 0 28 298 911 23 0 11 534 354 27 0 7 768 436 17 0 17 543 562 20 1 13 731 522 10 2 22 465 598 11 0 23 494 693 5 0 29 371 916 3 1 30 243 879 15 0 19 451 505 26 1 7 810 324 18 2 14 479 390 20 2 12 604 349 20 1 13 438 426 25 0 9 723 383 24 2 8 623 298 14 1 19 441 458 25 0 9 814 398 27 2 5 816 400 18 1 15 408 512 19 0 15 592 458 17 1 16 577 491 12 1 21 444 464 17 1 16 586 575 L Barrow Batley Blackpool Borough Bradford Northern Bramley Castleford Doncaster Dewsbury Featherstone Rovers Halifax Hull Kingston Rovers Huddersfield Hull Hunslet Huyton Keighley Leeds Leigh Oldham Rochdale Hornets Salford St Helens Swinton Wakefield Trinity Warrington Whitehaven Widnes Wigan Workington Town York 1) Points; 2) Points average; 3) Number of points scored; points complete Rugby League: Final Placings https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19730428/014/0014 Hull Daily Mail Sports Mail 28 April 1973 4 British Newspaper Archive subscription 2 1 0 QR yellow1 Qualification for the Championship play-offs red1 Relegation to Second Division Won League Leader's Trophy Play-offs Semi-finals Championship final 3 Leeds 45 14 Bramley 8 7 Castleford 24 10 Hull Kingston Rovers 12 4 St Helens 29 13 Leigh 14 5 Wakefield Trinity 33 12 Widnes 6 1 Warrington 30 16 Wigan 15 6 Salford 10 11 Rochdale Hornets 14 2 Featherstone Rovers 14 15 Whitehaven 4 8 Dewsbury 29 9 Oldham 14 Leeds 30 Castleford 5 St Helens 28 Wakefield Trinity 0 Warrington 16 Rochdale Hornets 9 Featherstone Rovers 7 Dewsbury 26 Leeds 7 St Helens 2 Warrington 7 Dewsbury 12 Leeds 13 Dewsbury 22 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. 19 May 1973 Dewsbury 22 – 13 Leeds M. Stephenson (2), N. Stephenson, Agar N. Stephenson (5) Dyl, Cookson, Eccles Clawson, Hynes Odsal Stadium, Bradford 18,889 Harry Hunt (Prestbury) Mike Stephenson DewsburyNumberLeeds Teams Adrian Rushton1John HolmesGreg Ashcroft2Alan SmithJohn Clarke3Syd HynesNigel Stephenson4Les DylTerry Day5John AtkinsonAllan Agar6Alan HardistyAlan Bates7Keith HepworthHarry Beverley8Terry ClawsonMike Stephenson9Tony FisherTrevor Lowe10Geoff ClarksonJeff Grayshon11Phil CooksonJohn Bates12Graham EcclesJoe Whittington13Bob HaighSubsSteve Lee 14David Ward (for Fisher)Brian Taylor (for Beverley)15John Langley (for Clarkson)Tommy SmalesCoachDerek Turner Challenge Cup 1972–73 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). Players No.6 Trophy 1972–73 Player's No.6 Trophy 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. County cups 1972–73 Lancashire Cup 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup Salford beat Swinton 25–11 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Dewsbury 36–9 to win the Yorkshire Cup. References Sources All Time Records at rlhalloffame.org.uk 1972-73 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com https://web.archive.org/web/20090826234502/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=392 2009-08-26 Pain of defeat serves Dewsbury well to prevent any repeat performance - article at yorkshirepost.co.uk Playing at Smales pace sank champions - article at yorkshirepost.co.uk Category:1972 in English rugby league Category:1973 in English rugby league Category:Northern Rugby Football League seasons