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1946–47 Northern Rugby Football League season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1946–47 Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
Teams28
Champions Wigan
League Leaders Wigan
Top point-scorer(s) Jeff Bawden 243
Top try-scorer(s) Brian Bevan 48

The 1946–47 Rugby Football League season was the 52nd season of rugby league football.

Season summary

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1946-47 ended up being the longest season on record after a poor winter saw many matches postponed. Just as the country was recovering from post-World War II fuel and food shortages, it had to cope with prolonged frost and snow from 21 January to 16 March.

Wigan won their sixth Championship when they beat Dewsbury 13-4 in the play-off final at Maine Road, Manchester in front of a crowd of 40,599. Wigan scored three tries and two goals to Dewsbury's two goals. Wigan had also ended the regular season as league leaders.[1]

The Challenge Cup winners were Bradford Northern who were 8-4 winners over Leeds.

Leigh returned following World War II. Broughton Rangers relocated, and were renamed Belle Vue Rangers.[2]

Wigan won the Lancashire League, and Dewsbury won the Yorkshire League. Wigan beat Belle Vue Rangers 9–3 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Wakefield Trinity beat Hull F.C. 10–0 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

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Team Pld W D L Pts
1 Wigan 36 29 1 6 59
2 Dewsbury 36 27 1 8 55
3 Widnes 36 26 2 8 54
4 Leeds 36 25 2 9 52
5 Warrington 36 26 0 10 52
6 Bradford Northern 36 24 3 9 51
7 Huddersfield 36 24 2 10 50
8 Oldham 36 22 2 12 46
9 Leigh 36 21 0 15 42
10 Wakefield Trinity 36 20 2 14 42
11 Workington Town 36 19 2 15 40
12 Barrow 36 18 4 14 40
13 Castleford 36 19 1 16 39
14 Hunslet 36 17 2 17 36
15 Hull 36 17 0 19 34
16 Hull Kingston Rovers 36 15 3 18 33
17 Batley 36 15 1 20 31
18 Belle Vue Rangers 36 14 3 19 31
19 St. Helens 36 14 1 21 29
20 Halifax 36 13 2 21 28
21 York 36 12 2 22 26
22 Salford 36 11 2 23 24
23 Liverpool Stanley 36 11 1 24 23
24 Swinton 36 11 1 24 23
25 Keighley 36 10 1 25 21
26 Featherstone Rovers 36 9 1 26 19
27 Rochdale Hornets 36 9 0 27 18
28 Bramley 36 5 0 31 10

Play-offs

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Semi-finals Championship final
      
1 Wigan 21
4 Leeds 11
Wigan 13
Dewsbury 4
2 Dewsbury 5
3 Widnes 2
21 June 1947
Wigan 13 – 4 Dewsbury
Tries: Nordgren, Lawrenson, Bradshaw
Goals: Ward (2)
Goals: Ledgard, Holt
Maine Road, Manchester
Attendance: 40,599
Referee: A. S. Dobson (Pontefract)
Wigan Number Dewsbury
Teams
Jack Cunliffe 1 Jimmy Ledgard
Brian Nordgren 2 Des Armitage
Ted Ward 3 Geoff Clark
Ernie Ashcroft 4 Ken Sacker
Johnny Lawrenson 5 George Withington
Cecil Mountford 6 Cyril Gilbertson
Tommy Bradshaw 7 Harry Royal
Ken Gee 8 Harry Hammond
Joe Egan 9 Vince McKeating
Frank Barton 10 Ben Pearson
George Banks 11 Frank Cox
Billy Blan 12 Jack Holt
Jack Blan 13 Arthur Street
0
Jim Sullivan Coach Vic Hey

Challenge Cup

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Leeds reached the Wembley final for the second time, doing so without conceding a single point in the final five rounds of the tournament.[3] However Bradford Northern beat Leeds 8-4 in the final in front of a crowd of 77,605. Trevor Foster and Emlyn Walters scored Bradford's tries and were converted by Ernest Ward. Willie Davies, Bradford Northern's stand-off half back, won the Lance Todd Trophy for man of the match.[4]

This was Bradford’s third Cup Final win in five Final appearances including one win and one loss during World War II.[5]

County cups

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Sources

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  • Saxton, Irvin (ed.). History of Rugby League: No.52 1946–1947. League Publications.
  • 1946-47 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
  • The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website

References

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  1. ^ Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 256 & 279. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
  2. ^ "1946-47 Season summary". Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  3. ^ Demsteader, Christine (2000-10-01). "Rugby League's home from home". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  4. ^ "Bradford Bulls History". Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  5. ^ "RFL All Time Records". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.