1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season

1979–80 Rugby Football League season
League Northern Rugby Football League
Champions Bradford Northern
Premiership Widnes
Man of Steel George Fairbairn
Top point-scorer(s) Steve Quinn (375)
Top try-scorer(s) Keith Fielding (30)
Steve Hubbard (30)
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Division 2 Featherstone Rovers
Halifax
Oldham
Barrow
Relegated to Division 2 Wigan
Hunslet
York
Blackpool Borough
< 1978–79 Seasons 1980–81 >

The 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 85th season of rugby league football. Sixteen English clubs competed for the Northern Rugby Football League's first division championship, with Bradford claiming the title by finishing on top of the League.

Season summary

Bradford Northern won their first ever Championship this season. Wigan, Hunslet (having dropped the prefix of 'New' from New Hunslet), York and Blackpool Borough were relegated.

The Challenge Cup Winners Hull Kingston Rovers who beat city rivals Hull 10-5 in the final.

The John Player Trophy Winners were Bradford Northern who beat Widnes 6-0 in the final.

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat Bradford Northern 19-5 in the final.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Hull who beat city rivals Hull Kingston Rovers 13-3 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Oldham and Barrow were also promoted.[1]

Widnes beat Workington Town (from Cumbria) 11–0 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Halifax 15–6 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

League Tables

Championship

Final Standings

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1Bradford Northern30230744827246
2Widnes30221754629345
3Hull30183945432639
4Salford301911049537439
5Leeds301901159039038
6Leigh301611345135433
7Hull Kingston Rovers301611353944533
8St Helens301521350541032
9Warrington301521336235732
10Wakefield Trinity301421436235730
11Castleford301321546647528
12Workington Town301221634848326
13Wigan30931836652321
14Hunslet30712234652815
15York30612337564713
16Blackpool Borough30502523061310

Second Division

Team Pld W D L PF PA Pts
1Featherstone Rovers26212372428044
2Halifax26193446321341
3Oldham26193451327641
4Barrow26181758228037
5Whitehaven261511039727631
6Dewsbury261321140834328
7Rochdale Hornets26951231537323
8Swinton261111433143623
9Batley261021423237022
10Bramley261011533045121
11Keighley261001634239620
12Huddersfield261001636342320
13Huyton26502120955510
14Doncaster2611241967333
  Champions   Play-offs   Promoted   Relegated

Challenge Cup

The 1980 State Express Challenge Cup culminated in the first Hull Cup final derby, with a heavy entourage of supporters from the East and West of the city making the trip to London.[2] Hull Kingston Rovers defeated Hull 10-5 at Wembley before a crowd of 95,000.[3]

This was Hull Kingston rovers’ first, and to date, only Cup Final Win in six Final appearances.

The Hull Kingston Rovers’ Prop, Brian Lockwood, won the Lance Todd Trophy.

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1979–80 season.[4]

Most tries

Player Team Tries
Keith Fielding Salford 30
Steve Hubbard Hull Kingston Rovers 30
Geoff Munro Oldham 29
Ian Ball Barrow 27
Keith Bentley Widnes 27
Peter Glynn St Helens 27
Roy Mathias St Helens 27
John Bevan Warrington 26
David Redfearn Bradford Northern 26
David Smith Leeds 24

Most goals (including drop goals)

Player Team Goals
Steve Quinn Featherstone Rovers 163
Steve Hubbard Hull Kingston Rovers 138
Steve Rule Salford 134
Steve Hesford Warrington 128
Mick Burke Widnes 127
Ian Ball Barrow 119
Steve Diamond Wakefield Trinity 116
Eric Fitzsimons Oldham 108
Mick Parrish Hunslet 98
Jimmy Birts Halifax 97

References

  1. "1979-80 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. Demsteader, Christine (2000-10-01). "Rugby League's home from home". BBC Sport (UK: BBC). Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  3. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  4. Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997. London: Headline. pp. 163–7. ISBN 978-0-7472-7764-4.

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, January 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.