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1915–16 Northern Rugby Football Union Wartime Emergency League season

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1915–16 Northern Rugby Football Union Wartime Emergency League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby League Wartime Emergency League
1915–16 Season
ChampionsDewsbury
Runners-upLeeds

The 1915–16 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the first season of Rugby league's Wartime Emergency League football. Each club played a differing number of fixtures, depending upon the closeness of neighbours, ease of travel etc., with York playing only 11 and Barrow 13 while Salford played 35 and Dewsbury 36.

Season summary

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Although the war was starting its second year, the Rugby League decided to introduce a Wartime Emergency League. This arrangement, as in other sports, meant that the sport could continue, which in turn would boost the public’s moral. The fixtures were usually quite local, thus cutting down on travelling time and costs, whilst not wasting precious war resources.

Several clubs did not participate during this season :-

Wakefield Trinity
Warrington
Widnes
Keighley, who did not re-enter until the first Peacetime League in 1919-20.

Three new clubs joined the league for this season :-

St Helens Recs, originally the works team for Pilkington Glass. There are now two clubs playing in St Helens.
A reformed Brighouse Rangers.
A team called Featherstone Rovers. The Featherstone Rovers who currently play in the Rugby League merged with Purston White Horse ARLFC in 1913 and did not become a semi-professional club until 14 June 1921. This newly entered club only remained in the league for one season.

Dewsbury and Leeds finished the regular season joint top of the league, based on the % system, both having obtained an 83.33% success, but Dewsbury took the title due to them having gained an extra 5 points (from the 3 extra games played).[1]

There were no other trophies to play for during this season.

Championship

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Team P W D L PF PA diff Pts % Note ref
1 Dewsbury 36 29 2 5 512 157 355 60 83.33 [2]
2 Leeds 33 27 1 5 469 174 295 55 83.33
3 Hull 32 23 2 7 563 247 316 48 75
4 Wigan 33 21 3 9 306 191 115 45 68.18
5 Swinton 28 17 2 9 192 128 64 36 64.29
6 Huddersfield 30 18 2 10 342 231 111 38 63.33
7 St Helens Recs 26 15 2 9 255 99 156 32 61.54 1
8 Leigh 23 13 2 8 141 82 59 28 60.87
9 Salford 35 17 5 13 272 273 -1 39 55.71
10 Hull Kingston Rovers 32 16 3 13 404 286 118 35 54.69
11 Batley 28 12 5 11 194 140 54 29 51.79
12 Barrow 13 5 2 6 116 141 -25 12 46.15
13 St. Helens 26 10 3 13 188 259 -71 23 44.23
14 Hunslet 34 13 4 17 281 400 -119 30 44.12
15 Featherstone Rovers 17 7 1 9 148 223 -5 15 44.12 2
16 Bradford Northern 31 13 0 18 252 313 -61 26 41.94
17 Oldham 31 9 4 18 163 253 -90 22 35.48
18 Bramley 27 8 3 16 137 212 -75 19 35.19
19 Rochdale Hornets 33 9 3 21 146 261 -115 21 31.82
20 York 14 3 2 9 99 312 -213 8 28.57
21 Broughton Rangers 29 7 2 20 148 325 -177 16 27.59
22 Halifax 31 7 0 24 215 408 -193 14 22.58
23 Runcorn 14 1 2 11 37 192 -155 4 14.29
24 Brighouse Rangers 22 1 1 20 71 344 -273 3 6.82 3

Challenge Cup

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The Challenge Cup Competition was suspended for the duration of the war.

The majority of the trophies, such as the County Leagues and County Cups were also suspended for the duration of the First World War.

Notes and Comments

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1 - A new team St Helens Recs who would continue in the League until 1939
2 - A new team, Featherstone Rovers joined the league for this season only
3 - A newly reformed Brighouse Rangers also joined for this season

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1914–15 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  2. ^ "Cherry and White".
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