1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season

Rugby league season

1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season

League| Northern Rugby Football League
Champions|  Huddersfield
League Leaders|  Wigan
Top point-scorer(s)|  Neil Fox 456
Top try-scorer(s)|  Billy Boston 51

← 1960–61

1962–63 →

The 1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 67th season of rugby league football.

## Season summary

[edit]

Huddersfield won their seventh Championship when they beat Wakefield Trinity 14–5 in the play-off final.

The Challenge Cup winners were Wakefield Trinity, who beat Huddersfield 12–6 in the final.

At the end of this season the league was split into two divisions, the top 16 in the league formed Division 1 and the bottom 14 formed Division 2.[1]

Wigan won the Lancashire League, and Wakefield Trinity won the Yorkshire League.

## Championship

[edit]

| Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | Pts

|
|
|
|
|
|

1 | Wigan | 36 | 32 | 1 | 3 | 65
2 | Wakefield Trinity | 36 | 32 | 1 | 3 | 65
3 | Featherstone Rovers | 36 | 28 | 1 | 7 | 57
4 | Huddersfield | 36 | 25 | 2 | 9 | 52
5 | Workington Town | 36 | 25 | 0 | 11 | 50
6 | Widnes | 36 | 25 | 0 | 11 | 50
7 | Leeds | 36 | 25 | 0 | 11 | 50
8 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 36 | 24 | 0 | 12 | 48
9 | St. Helens | 36 | 23 | 0 | 13 | 46
10 | Oldham | 36 | 22 | 1 | 13 | 45
11 | Swinton | 36 | 21 | 1 | 14 | 43
12 | Castleford | 36 | 21 | 0 | 15 | 42
13 | Bramley | 36 | 19 | 4 | 13 | 42
14 | Warrington | 36 | 19 | 2 | 15 | 40
15 | Halifax | 36 | 18 | 3 | 15 | 39
16 | Hull | 36 | 18 | 1 | 17 | 37
17 | Leigh | 36 | 17 | 0 | 19 | 34
18 | Barrow | 36 | 14 | 1 | 21 | 29
19 | Keighley | 36 | 13 | 2 | 21 | 28
20 | York | 36 | 12 | 1 | 23 | 25
21 | Salford | 36 | 12 | 1 | 23 | 25
22 | Whitehaven | 36 | 11 | 2 | 23 | 24
23 | Blackpool Borough | 36 | 11 | 1 | 24 | 23
24 | Rochdale Hornets | 36 | 9 | 4 | 23 | 22
25 | Hunslet | 36 | 10 | 1 | 25 | 21
26 | Batley | 36 | 9 | 2 | 25 | 20
27 | Dewsbury | 36 | 8 | 2 | 26 | 18
28 | Doncaster | 36 | 8 | 1 | 27 | 17
29 | Liverpool City | 36 | 6 | 0 | 30 | 12
30 | Bradford Northern | 36 | 5 | 1 | 30 | 11
| Play-offs

|

### Play-offs

[edit]

| Semi-finals | | | Championship final |

|
|
|
|
|

|  |  |  | | |  |  |  |
| 1 | Wigan | 11 | |
| 4 | Huddersfield | 13 |
| | Huddersfield | 14 |
|  |
| | | Wakefield Trinity | 5 |
| 2 | Wakefield Trinity | 13 |

| 3 | Featherstone Rovers | 8 |

#### Final

[edit]

19 May 1962

Huddersfield | 14 – 5  | Wakefield Trinity

|
|

Tries: Wicks, Smales
Goals: Dyson (4)
|  | Tries: Fox
Goals: Fox

Odsal Stadium, Bradford
Attendance: 37,451
Referee: N. T. Railton (Wigan)

Huddersfield | Number  | Wakefield Trinity

|
|

| Teams |
Frank Dyson | 1 | Gerry Round
Aiden Breen | 2 | Fred Smith
Harry Deighton | 3 | Alan Skene
Ray Haywood | 4 | Neil Fox
Mike Wicks | 5 | Kenneth Hirst
Gwyn Davies | 6 | Harold Poynton
Thomas Smales | 7 | Keith Holliday
Ted Slevin | 8 | Jack Wilkinson
Don Close | 9 | Milan Kosanović
Ken Noble | 10 | Albert Firth
Austin Kilroy | 11 | Brian Briggs
Kenneth Bowman | 12 | Don Vines
Peter Ramsden | 13 | Derek Turner
| 0 |
| Coach | Ken Traill

## Challenge Cup

[edit]

Main article: 1961–62 Challenge Cup

Wakefield Trinity beat Huddersfield 12–6 in the Challenge Cup Final played at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 81,263. This was Wakefield Trinity's third Challenge Cup Final win in four Final appearances.[2] Neil Fox, their centre, was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance. This has been the only time in a Rugby League Challenge Cup Final that a place kick has not been converted. Fox dropped three goals for Wakefield Trinity, then worth two points each.

## County cups

[edit]

Main article: 1961–62 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1961–62 Yorkshire Cup

St. Helens beat Swinton 25–9 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Wakefield Trinity beat Leeds 19–9 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "1961-62 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
2. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

## Sources

[edit]

* Saxton, Irvin (ed.). History of Rugby League: No.67 1961–1962. League Publications.
* 1961-62 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
* The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website

* v
* t
* e

Rugby Football League seasons

Rugby Football League era
(1895–1996)|

|  | 1895–96 | 1896–97 | 1897–98 | 1898–99 | 1899–1900

|
|
|
|
|

1900–01 | 1901–02 | 1902–03 | 1903–04 | 1904–05 | 1905–06 | 1906–07 | 1907–08 | 1908–09 | 1909–10
1910–11 | 1911–12 | 1912–13 | 1913–14 | 1914–15 | 1915–16 | 1916–17 | 1917–18 | 1918–19 | 1919–20
1920–21 | 1921–22 | 1922–23 | 1923–24 | 1924–25 | 1925–26 | 1926–27 | 1927–28 | 1928–29 | 1929–30
1930–31 | 1931–32 | 1932–33 | 1933–34 | 1934–35 | 1935–36 | 1936–37 | 1937–38 | 1938–39 | 1939–40
1940–41 | 1941–42 | 1942–43 | 1943–44 | 1944–45 | 1945–46 | 1946–47 | 1947–48 | 1948–49 | 1949–50
1950–51 | 1951–52 | 1952–53 | 1953–54 | 1954–55 | 1955–56 | 1956–57 | 1957–58 | 1958–59 | 1959–60
1960–61 | 1961–62 | 1962–63 | 1963–64 | 1964–65 | 1965–66 | 1966–67 | 1967–68 | 1968–69 | 1969–70
1970–71 | 1971–72 | 1972–73 | 1973–74 | 1974–75 | 1975–76 | 1976–77 | 1977–78 | 1978–79 | 1979–80
1980–81 | 1981–82 | 1982–83 | 1983–84 | 1984–85 | 1985–86 | 1986–87 | 1987–88 | 1988–89 | 1989–90
1990–91 | 1991–92 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | 1994–95 | 1995–96 |

Super League era
(1996–present)|

|  | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000

|
|
|
|
|

2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025

* v
* t
* e

Huddersfield Giants

Based in Huddersfield, England

The Club|

* Players
* Coaches
* Seasons
* Women

Home grounds|

* Rifle Field
* Fartown Ground
* Leeds Road
* Kirklees Stadium

Hall of Fame|

* Albert Rosenfeld
* Harold Wagstaff
* Neil Fox
* Douglas Clark

League|

* Rugby Football League
* Super League

Championships (7)|

* 1911–12
* 1912–13
* 1914–15
* 1928–29
* 1929–30
* 1948–49
* 1961–62

Challenge Cup (6)|

* 1912–13
* 1914–15
* 1919–20
* 1932–33
* 1944–45
* 1952–53

Seasons|

* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

Culture|

* NRFU Founder
* All Four Cups
* West Yorkshire derbies

Affiliation|

* Rugby Football League (1895)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template