1964–65 Northern Rugby Football League season


The 1964–65 Rugby Football League season was the 70th season of rugby league football.

Rule change

1964-65 saw the two divisions of rugby league merge back into one single league. The championship play-offs returned to decide the champions. A new top 16 play-off format was introduced rather than top four system used between 1905–06 and 1962-63. A Bottom 14 Championship was also introduced for the remaining clubs who finished below the top 16, although some clubs declined to take part.
St. Helens had finished the regular season as league leaders. Halifax won their third Championship when they beat St. Helens 15-7 in the play-off final. Terry Fogerty was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.
Challenge Cup winners were Wigan who beat Hunslet 20-16 in the final.
Bradford Northern are resurrected and accepted back into the League.
St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Castleford won the Yorkshire League. St. Helens beat Swinton 12–4 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Wakefield Trinity beat Leeds 18–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

TeamPldWDLPts
1St. Helens34280656
2Wigan34260852
3Castleford34251851
4Wakefield Trinity34242850
5Warrington34241949
6Workington Town342311047
7Halifax342211047
8Hull Kingston Rovers342201244
9Oldham342011341
10Leeds342001440
11Swinton341911439
12Leigh341911439
13Hull F.C.341901538
14Hunslet341901538
15Featherstone Rovers341801636
16Barrow341801636
17Bradford Northern341511831
18Huddersfield341501930
19Widnes341421830
20Whitehaven341411929
21Dewsbury341321828
22Salford341122124
23Liverpool City341022222
24Bramley341012321
25York341002420
26Batley34912419
27Keighley34902518
28Doncaster34902518
29Rochdale Hornets34712615
30Blackpool Borough34622614

Play-offs

Challenge Cup

Captain-coached by Eric Ashton, Wigan beat Hunslet 20-16 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 89,016.
This was Wigan’s seventh Cup Final win in thirteen Final appearances.
To date, this was Hunslet’s last Challenge Cup Final appearance.