1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season

1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Warrington
League Leaders	Halifax
Top point-scorer(s)	Peter Metcalfe 369
Top try-scorer(s)	Brian Bevan 67

The 1953–54 Rugby Football League season was the 59th season of rugby league football played in England. The championship, which involved thirty teams, started in August, 1953 and culminated in a finals play-off series in April, 1954 which resulted in a championship final between Warrington and Halifax. The season was also punctuated by the 1954 Rugby League World Cup, the first ever, and is also notable for its Challenge Cup final, which was drawn and had to be re-played, attracting a world record crowd for a rugby football match of either code.[1]

Season summary

The 1953-54 season saw Brian Bevan become the highest try scorer in rugby league history when he passed the 446 tries mark set by Alf Ellaby.

League Champions: Warrington (8-7 v Halifax)
Challenge Cup Winners: Warrington (8-4 v Halifax in replay after 4-4 draw)

Warrington won the Lancashire League, and Halifax won the Yorkshire League. St. Helens beat Wigan 16–8 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Bradford Northern beat Hull F.C. 7–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

Ladder

	Club	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	D	Pts
1	Halifax	36	30	2	4	538	219	+319	62
2	Warrington	36	30	1	5	663	311	352	61
3	St. Helens	36	28	2	6	672	297	+375	58
4	Workington Town	36	29	0	7	604	333	+271	58
5	Hull	36	25	0	11	685	349	+336	50
6	Huddersfield	36	24	0	12	689	417	+272	48
7	Wigan	36	23	1	12	688	392	+296	47
8	Barrow	36	23	0	13	574	377	+197	46
9	Bradford Northern	36	22	0	14	628	414	+214	44
10	Leeds	36	22	0	14	766	517	+249	44
11	Wakefield Trinity	36	19	1	16	671	508	+163	39
12	Oldham	36	17	4	15	504	366	+138	38
13	Leigh	36	19	0	17	547	459	+88	38
14	Featherstone Rovers	36	18	2	16	478	431	+47	38
15	Hunslet	36	19	0	17	455	451	+4	38
16	Widnes	36	16	3	17	420	431	-11	35
17	York	36	17	0	19	412	401	+11	34
18	Keighley	36	15	3	18	473	533	-60	33
19	Rochdale Hornets	36	14	3	19	404	457	-53	31
20	Dewsbury	36	14	3	19	432	508	-76	31
21	Whitehaven	36	14	1	21	362	544	-182	29
22	Salford	36	13	2	21	370	438	-68	28
23	Swinton	36	13	1	22	341	513	-172	27
24	Batley	36	13	1	22	367	658	-291	27
25	Bramley	36	11	3	22	437	746	-309	25
26	Castleford	36	11	1	24	437	728	-291	23
27	Belle Vue Rangers	36	7	2	27	307	714	-407	16
28	Doncaster	36	5	2	29	340	840	-500	12
29	Hull Kingston Rovers	36	5	2	29	298	737	-439	12
30	Liverpool City	36	4	0	32	304	777	-473	8

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Halifax 18, Workington Town 7.
Warrington 11, St Helens 0.

Final

The Championship Final was played between Warrington and Halifax on 8 May (three days after the epic Challenge Cup re-play) at Maine Road before a crowd of 36,519. The match was televised by the BBC and it was a tremendous defensive effort that helped Warrington to a narrow 8-7 win, with Bath kicking 4 goals.

Challenge Cup

The 1954 Challenge Cup was the 53rd staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. It featured clubs from the 1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season and is notable for its Final which had to be replayed before possibly the largest crowd in rugby league history.

Sources

Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.

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[1] Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.

Warrington Wolves
Est. 1876 in Warrington, England
The Club	Players Coaches
Home grounds	Sankey Street Wilderspool Halliwell Jones Stadium
Hall of Fame	Brian Bevan Alex Murphy
League	Super League
Championships (3)	1947–48 1953–54 1954–55
Challenge Cup (8)	1904–05 1906–07 1949–50 1953–54 1973–74 2009 2010 2012
Other honours	1–time Premiership Champions 4–time Regal Trophy Champions 9–time Lancashire County Cup Champions 8–time Lancashire League Champions
Seasons	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 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 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Culture	NRFU Founder Super League Founding Member
Affiliation	Rugby Football League (1895)