1965–66 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1965–66 Rugby Football League season was the 71st season of rugby league football. A three-way county championship was also held, with comparative minnows Cumberland against Yorkshire and Lancashire.

1965–66 Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
Champions St. Helens
League Leaders St. Helens
Top point-scorer(s) Len Killeen 336
Top try-scorer(s) Len Killeen 32
Trevor Lake 32

Rule change
  • The substitutes rule introduced in the previous season changed so that substitutions could be used for any reason, including tactical reasons, although they were still only allowed up to and including half-time.[1]

Season summary

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition was launched in this season with the BBC televising matches on Tuesday nights. The competition was used to trial the four-tackle rule, an experiment in ending the unlimited tackles that had been a by-product from the introduction of the play-the-ball in 1906.[1][2]

St. Helens finished the regular season as league leaders before winning their fourth Championship when they beat Halifax 35–12 in the play-off final.

The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Wigan 21–2 in the final.

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Castleford who beat St. Helens 4–0 in the final.[3]

St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Leeds won the Yorkshire League. Warrington beat Rochdale Hornets 16–5 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Bradford Northern beat Hunslet 17–8 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

At the end of the season, Eric Ashton became the first Rugby League player to receive an award from Her Majesty, the Queen. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.[4]

Championship
Team Pld W D L Pts
1St. Helens34281557
2Swinton34271655
3Wigan34270754
4Wakefield Trinity34252752
5Castleford34233849
6Leeds342401048
7Bradford Northern342111243
8Workington Town342111243
9Oldham342031143
10Halifax342101342
11Huddersfield342001440
12Hull Kingston Rovers342001440
13Hull342001440
14Widnes341701734
15Featherstone Rovers341701734
16Warrington341611733
17Hunslet341521732
18Salford341511831
19Keighley341501930
20Leigh341411929
21Barrow341312027
22Bramley341222026
23York341102322
24Dewsbury341012321
25Rochdale Hornets341002420
26Liverpool City34922320
27Blackpool Borough34912419
28Batley34622614
29Doncaster34602812
30Whitehaven34422810

Play-offs
 
Round of 16Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
              
 
 
 
 
St Helens35
 
 
 
Warrington7
 
St Helens15
 
 
 
Oldham10
 
Workington Town6
 
 
 
Oldham7
 
St Helens14
 
 
 
Hull Kingston Rovers6
 
Castleford10
 
 
 
Hull Kingston Rovers13
 
Hull Kingston Rovers10
 
 
 
Wakefield Trinity9
 
Wakefield Trinity36
 
 
 
Hull6
 
St Helens35
 
 
 
Halifax12
 
Wigan27
 
 
 
Widnes10
 
Wigan22
 
 
 
Leeds5
 
Leeds19
 
 
 
Huddersfield7
 
Wigan12
 
 
 
Halifax25 Third place
 
Bradford Northern7
 
  
 
Halifax21
 
Halifax33 
 
 
 
Swinton2  
 
Swinton43
 
 
Featherstone Rovers2
 

Final

The 1966 Championship Final was played between Halifax and St. Helens on Saturday, 28 May 1966 at Station Road Ground before a crowd of 30,634.[5] St Helens won 35–12 with their hat trick-scoring prop forward, Albert Halsall being awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

Challenge Cup
Main article: 1965–66 Challenge Cup

St Helens had reached the final by beating Wakefield Trinity 10–0 away on 26 February in round one; Swinton 16–4 at home on 19 March in round two; Hull Kingston Rovers 12–10 at home on 2 April in round three and Dewsbury 12–5 on neutral ground on 16 April in the semi-final.[6]

Wigan had reached the final by beating Halifax 9–4 at home on 26 February in round one; Whitehaven 40–6 at home on 19 March in round two; Bradford Northern 15–6 away on 6 April in round three and Leeds 7–2 in the semi-final at Huddersfield on 23 April.

The Challenge Cup final was played at Wembley Stadium, London on 21 May 1966, in front of a crowd of 98,536. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was introduced to the players before kick-off.[7] St Helens led 9–2 at half time and went on to defeat Wigan 21–2. Saints' scorers were John Mantle (1 try), Tommy Bishop (1 try), Len Killeen (1 try, 5 goals), and Alex Murphy (1 goal). Wigan's scorer was Laurie Gilfedder (1 goal). This was St Helens' third Cup final win in seven final appearances.[8]

References

In-line
  1. Top ten: Rugby league rules, Rugby League World, Aug 2009: 61
  2. Bottom ten: Rugby league rules, Rugby League World, Aug 2009: 62
  3. "1965-66 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  4. Fletcher, Raymond; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 468. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
  5. "St Helens 35 def. Halifax RLFC 12". rugbyleagueproject.org. Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  6. "Saints Heritage Site Season records". Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  7. "Rugby League - Challenge Cup Final - Wigan v St. Helens - Wembley Stadium". friendsreunited.com. Friends Reunited Limited. Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  8. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

General
  • de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009), Rugby League World, Brighouse, UK: League Publications (published August 2009), no. 340, ISSN 1466-0105 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Sources
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