1941–42 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season


The 1941–42 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the third season of the rugby league’s Wartime Emergency League necessitated by the Second World War.

As in the previous Wartime season, the clubs each played a different number of games and several clubs dropped out. In fact as only 17 of the original clubs remained the leagues were amalgamated into one single Championship.

General Comments

Season summary

The 1941–42 season began on Saturday 6 September 1941. As there were now only three Lancashire clubs who have not had to close down and withdraw from the League, the Northern Rugby League decided to unite all the 17 remaining clubs into one single Competition. As the clubs were still playing different number of matches, the league positions and the title would be decided on a percentage basis.
At the completion of the regular season Dewsbury were on top of the league both on points scored and percentage success. Bradford Northern were second and the highest Lancashire team were placed sixth.
Dewsbury went on to defeat Bradford Northern 13-0 in the play-off final. and win the Championship for the second consecutive season.
The Wartime Emergency Leagues did not count as an official league championship.
In the Challenge Cup Final the same two clubs as last season contested the tie, with the same result, Leeds beat Halifax 15-10 at Odsal.
The Lancashire County Cup, suspended for season 1940–41 remained so for the rest of the war and again Wigan competed in the Yorkshire Cup.
Bradford Northern beat Halifax 24-0 at Fartown in front of a 5,989. This was Bradford Northern's second consecutive victory in this tournament.

Change in Club participation

Previous withdrawals



The following clubs had withdrawn from the League, before this 1941–42 season began :-

St Helens Recs – who folded before the war started


Barrow – withdrew after the end of the first ‘season finished and did not rejoin until the 1943–44 season.

Hull Kingston Rovers – withdrew after the end of the first ‘season finished and did not rejoin until the 1945–46 season.

Rochdale Hornets – As Hull Kingston Rovers.

Widnes – As Hull Kingston Rovers.

New withdrawals



Broughton Rangers – withdrew prior to this season 1941–42 commencing and not re-joining until the 1945–46 season.

Leigh - During the Second World War, the club was forced to leave its ground as the adjacent cable factory extended onto the land.
The townsfolk of Leigh, acting on chairman James Hilton's inspiration, cleared some fields on the edge of the town, and built a new stadium, including moving and rebuilding the old grandstand from the original ground.
In 1941–42, Leigh quit the wartime Lancashire league and would not return to the league until 1946–47 when they played as a temporary measure at the Athletic Ground, Holden Road before moving to Kirkhall Lane. They were also runners-up in the Championship in 1943–44, Challenge Cup winners in 1943 and Yorkshire Cup Final appearances in this season 1940–41 and winners in 1942–43.

Records


Bramley joined the ranks of the clubs with the unenviable record of losing every league match during the season.

Bramley withdrew from competitions for the following seasons.

A full list to date of all clubs with this record is as follows :-

Championship


Heading Abbreviations

RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference ; Pts = League Points

% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents

League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Championship Play-Off


The final was played at Headingley, the attendance was 18,000 and receipts £1,121.0.0

Trophies

Challenge Cup

Below are given some of the fixtures and results from this year’s Challenge Cup competition.


Swinton, who had not entered the League programme, took part in this competition.

Lancashire Cup


The Lancashire County Cup, suspended for season 1940–41 remained so for the rest of the war and again Wigan competed in the Yorkshire Cup.

Yorkshire Cup

In the Final of the Yorkshire County Cup, Leeds beat Halifax 15-10 at Odsal in front of a crowd of 15,250 and with receipts of £1,276.0.0.

This is the second year running that these two teams contested the Final, in each case Leeds winning.


Below are given some of the fixtures and results from this year’s Yorkshire Cup competition.