1970–71 Northern Rugby Football League season

1970–71 Rugby Football League season
1970–71 Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	St. Helens
League Leaders	Wigan
Top point-scorer(s)	Kel Coslett 395
Top try-scorer(s)	Bob Haigh 40; Les Jones 40
	← 1969–70 1971–72 →

The 1970–71 Rugby Football League season was the 76th season of rugby league football.

Season summary

Sunday afternoon rugby was allowed for the first time by the RFL on 17 December 1967. Initially most clubs chose not to switch away from Saturday's despite competition from football. The first ever Sunday fixtures were Bradford Northern v York, and Leigh v Dewsbury.^[1]

St. Helens won their sixth Championship when they beat Wigan 16–12 in the Championship Final. Wigan had ended the regular season as the league leaders.

The Challenge Cup Winners were Leigh when they beat Leeds 24–7 in the final.^[2]

There was no county league competition this season, other than a break between the 1902–03 and 1906–07 seasons, and breaks for World War I and World War II, this was the first season in which the Lancashire League and Yorkshire League titles were no longer awarded.

Championship

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wigan	34	30	0	4	60
2	St. Helens	34	29	0	5	58
3	Leeds	34	28	0	6	56
4	Leigh	34	26	0	8	52
5	Wakefield Trinity	34	24	1	9	49
6	Keighley	34	21	0	13	42
7	Salford	34	20	1	13	41
8	Hull	34	20	1	13	41
9	Workington Town	34	20	1	13	41
10	Halifax	34	20	0	14	40
11	Dewsbury	34	17	3	14	37
12	Castleford	34	18	0	16	36
13	Hull Kingston Rovers	34	18	0	16	36
14	Batley	34	16	2	16	34
15	Huddersfield	34	16	2	16	34
16	Oldham	34	12	7	15	31
17	Bramley	34	15	1	18	31
18	Widnes	34	14	2	18	30
19	York	34	14	1	19	29
20	Featherstone Rovers	34	14	1	19	29
21	Barrow	34	14	0	20	28
22	Warrington	34	13	2	19	28
23	Swinton	34	13	0	21	26
24	Huyton	34	11	2	21	24
25	Rochdale Hornets	34	9	3	22	21
26	Blackpool Borough	34	10	1	23	21
27	Bradford Northern	34	8	2	24	18
28	Doncaster	34	7	3	24	17
29	Whitehaven	34	8	1	25	17
30	Hunslet	34	6	1	27	13

Champions	Play-offs

Play-offs

Round 1:

Hull 14 beat Workington Town 3.

Dewsbury 20 beat Keighley 7.

Leeds 28 beat Batley 0.

Leigh 10 beat Hull Kingston Rovers 5.

Salford 33 beat Halifax 3.

St Helens 28 beat Huddersfield 5.

Wakefield Trinity 10 beat Castleford 4.

Wigan 12 beat Oldham 7.

Round 2:

Leeds 37 beat Salford 22.

Wakefield Trinity 8 beat Leigh 5.

St Helens 30 beat Hull 5.

Wigan 36 beat Dewsbury 12.

Semi-finals:

St Helens 22 beat Leeds 7.

Wigan 49 beat Wakefield Trinity 15.

Final

22 May 1971

St Helens	16 – 12	Wigan
Tries: Benyon, Blackwood Goals: Coslett (5)		Tries: Ashurst, Robinson Goals: Ashurst (2), Tyrer

Station Road, Swinton
Attendance: 21,745
Referee: E. Lawrinson (Warrington)
Player of the Match: Bill Ashurst

Challenge Cup

Leigh beat Leeds 24–7 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 15 May 1971, in front of a crowd of 85,514.

This was Leigh's second Cup final win in two final appearances. To date it was also their last appearance in a Challenge Cup final.^[3]

In the final, Lance Todd Trophy winner, Leigh's captain-coach, Alex Murphy,^[4] was stretchered off after a clash with Leeds player, Syd Hynes. For his part in the "clash", Hynes was sent off.^[5]

County cups

Leigh beat St. Helens 7–4 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Featherstone Rovers 23–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

References

^ John Hesman - NAK Corporate World. "Sunday Rugby". Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
^ "1970-71 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
^ news.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Alex Murphy". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
^ "Cup Final Sending Off". Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

Sources

Saxton, Irvin (ed.). History of Rugby League: No.76 1970–1971. League Publications.
1970-71 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website

[1] John Hesman - NAK Corporate World. "Sunday Rugby". Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2009-08-08.

[2] "1970-71 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.

[3] "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

[4] ws.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Alex Murphy". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2010-02-10.

[5] "Cup Final Sending Off". Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

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v t e St Helens R.F.C.
St Helens Rugby Football Club Est. 1873 in St Helens, England
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League	Super League
World Club Challenge (3)	2001 2007 2007
Championships (17)	1931–32 1952–53 1958–59 1965–66 1969–70 1970–71 1974–75 1996 1999 2000 2002 2006 2014 2019 2020 2021 2022
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Other honours	4—time Premiership Champions 1—time Western Division Champions 1—time Regal Trophy Champions 2—time BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Champions 11—time Lancashire County Cup Champions 11—time Lancashire League Champions 1—time Charity Shield Champions BBC Sports Team of the Year Award (2006)
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Affiliation	Rugby Football League (1895) St Helens Ladies