1967–68 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1967–68 Rugby Football League season was the 73rd season of rugby league football.

1967–68 Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Wakefield Trinity
League Leaders	Leeds
Top point-scorer(s)	Bev Risman 332
Top try-scorer(s)	Roger Millward 38

Season summary

Leeds had ended the regular season as league leaders for the second successive season. Wakefield Trinity won their second Championship, the second in successive seasons, when they beat Hull Kingston Rovers 17-10 in the Championship Final. Gary Cooper was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

The Challenge Cup winners were Leeds who beat Wakefield Trinity 11-10 in the final.

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Castleford who beat Leigh 8-5 in the final.[1]

Clive Sullivan of Hull F.C. set a club record of 7-tries scored in a match against Doncaster on 15 April 1968.[2]

Warrington won the Lancashire League, and Leeds won the Yorkshire League. St. Helens beat Warrington 2–2 (replay 13–10) to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Hull F.C. 8–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts
1	Leeds	34	28	0	6	56
2	Wakefield Trinity	34	24	1	9	49
3	Hull Kingston Rovers	34	24	1	9	49
4	St. Helens	34	24	1	9	49
5	Warrington	34	24	0	10	48
6	Bradford Northern	34	24	0	10	48
7	Leigh	34	22	1	11	45
8	Castleford	34	22	1	11	45
9	Salford	34	22	0	12	44
10	Workington Town	34	21	1	12	43
11	Wigan	34	21	0	13	42
12	Hull	34	21	0	13	42
13	Halifax	34	19	2	13	40
14	Swinton	34	18	1	15	37
15	Huddersfield	34	17	2	15	36
16	Widnes	34	17	1	16	35
17	Dewsbury	34	17	0	17	34
18	Featherstone Rovers	34	16	0	18	32
19	Barrow	34	14	0	20	28
20	Bramley	34	14	0	20	28
21	Hunslet	34	13	0	21	26
22	Oldham	34	13	0	21	26
23	Rochdale Hornets	34	13	0	21	26
24	Liverpool City	34	11	2	21	24
25	Whitehaven	34	10	1	23	21
26	York	34	9	1	24	19
27	Keighley	34	8	0	26	16
28	Blackpool Borough	34	6	1	27	13
29	Doncaster	34	4	2	28	10
30	Batley	34	4	1	29	9

Play-offs

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Leeds	31
	Widnes	17
					Leeds	7
					Wigan	11
	Bradford Northern	8
	Wigan	28
									Wigan	9
									Wakefield Trinity	17
	Castleford	47
	Salford	15
					Catleford	14
					Wakefield Trinity	17
	Wakefield Trinity	20
	Huddersfield	11
													Wakefield Trinity	17
													Hull KR	10
	Warrington	12
	Hull	9
					Warrington	0
					St Helens	20
	St Helens
	Halifax
									St Helens	10
									Hull KR	23			Third place
	Hull KR	17
	Swinton	2
					Hull KR	22
					Leigh	3
	Leigh	43
	Workington Town	4

Challenge Cup

Leeds beat Wakefield 11-10 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 87,100. This was Leeds’ ninth Cup Final win in eleven Final appearances.[3] The Leeds winning team coached by Roy Francis was; Bev Risman, Alan Smith, Syd Hynes, Bernard Watson, John Atkinson, Mick Shoebottom, Barry Seabourne, Mick Clark (c), Tony Crosby, Ken Eyre, Bill Ramsey, Albert Eyre, Ray Batten subs: John Langley, Mick Joyce.

Dubbed the "Watersplash Final", this match was remembered for the atrocious pitch conditions caused by a torrential downpour that left many large puddles on the playing surface.[4] The conditions contributed to a nail biting finale. Leeds had taken an 11-7 lead with a minute to go, but Wakefield scored a try next to the posts from the kick-off. Don Fox had only to convert to win the Final, but pushed it wide of the posts.[5]

Operational rules

The playing of matches on Sundays was sanctioned for the first time in December 1967. This change was made to avoid competition from association football clubs.

Kangaroo Tour

Main article: 1967–68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

From September until December also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1967–68 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 2–1 by Australia), The Kangaroos played matches against club and county representative sides

The 1967–68 Kangaroos were captain-coached by champion St George Dragons centre Reg Gasnier who was making his third tour following from 1959–60 and 1967–68. While his team achieved success, the tour was a tragedy for Gasnier. He broke his leg during the first test at Headingley that saw him sit out the remainder of the English leg. He returned to the field in France but in a minor game against Les Espoirs in Avignon, he suffered a further break. This would ultimately cause him to announce his retirement from playing at the age of just 28. He later told in an interview that he never regretted his decision to retire, explaining that he had been playing rugby league virtually non-stop including juniors, junior representative games, the Sydney premiership, interstate games and international tours since the early 1950s, and felt it was about time that he started devoting more time to his family.[6]

game	Date	Result	Venue	Attendance
1	30 September	Australia def. Warrington 17–6	Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington	11,642
2	4 October	Yorkshire def. Australia 15–14	Belle Vue, Wakefield	19,370
3	7 October	Hull Kingston Rovers def. Australia 27–15	Craven Park, Hull	11,252
4	11 October	Australia def. Lancashire 14–2	The Willows, Salford	9,369
5	13 October	Wigan def. Australia 12–6	Central Park, Wigan	22,770
6	16 October	Australia def. Rochdale Hornets 25–2	Athletic Grounds, Rochdale	2,676
7	21 October	Great Britain def.  Australia 16–11	Headingley, Leeds	22,293
8	24 October	St Helens def. Australia 8–4	Knowsley Road, St Helens	17,275
9	28 October	Australia def. Wakefield Trinity 33–7	Belle Vue, Wakefield	10,056
10	3 November	Australia def.  Great Britain 17–11	White City Stadium, London	17,445
11	9 November	Castleford def. Australia 22–3	Wheldon Road, Castleford	17,275
12	11 November	Australia def. Oldham 18–8	The Watersheddings, Oldham	3,174
13	13 November	Australia def. Widnes 33–11	Naughton Park, Widnes	9,828
14	16 November	Barrow drew with Australia 10–10	Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness	8,418
15	18 November	Cumberland def. Australia 17–15	Derwent Park, Workington	7,545
16	22 November	Australia def. Swinton 12–9	Station Road, Swinton	5,640
17	25 November	Australia def. Leeds 7–4	Headingley, Leeds	5,522
18	29 November	Australia def. Halifax 22–2	Thrum Hall, Halifax	5,285
19	2 December	Australia def. Bradford Northern 7–3	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	14,173
20	9 December	Australia def.  Great Britain 11–3	Station Road, Swinton	13,615

References

1. "1967-68 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
2. "Hull F.C. History". Retrieved 2009-10-23.
3. "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
4. Demsteader, Christine (2000-10-01). "Rugby League's home from home". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
5. "Watersplash Final". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
6. Legends of Australian sport: The Inside Story. Australia: University of Queensland Press. 2003. p. 79. ISBN 9780702234101.

Sources

• 1967-68 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
• The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website