1975–76 Northern Rugby Football League season


The 1975–76 Rugby Football League season was the 81st season of rugby league football. The Championship was won by Salford and the Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Widnes 20-5 in the final. The Rugby League Premiership Trophy winners were also St. Helens who beat Salford 15-2 in the final.
The 1975–76 Players No.6 Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat Hull F.C. 19-13 in the final. The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were St. Helens who beat Dewsbury 22-2 in the final. Widnes beat Salford 16–7 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Hull Kingston Rovers 15–11 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

won their sixth, and to date last, Championship. Dewsbury, Keighley, Huddersfield and Swinton were demoted to the Second Division.
TeamPldWDLPFPAPts
1Salford30221755535045
2Featherstone Rovers30212752634844
3Leeds30210957139542
4St. Helens301911051331539
5Wigan30183951439939
6Widnes301811144836937
7Wakefield Trinity301701349641034
8Hull Kingston Rovers301701344647234
9Castleford301611358939833
10Warrington301521338145632
11Bradford Northern301311645445027
12Oldham301111838049023
13Dewsbury301011928748421
14Keighley30702327446814
15Huddersfield30502537065710
16Swinton3030272385816

Challenge Cup

In the Challenge Cup final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 89,982 St. Helens defeated Widnes 20-5. This was St Helens’ fifth Cup Final win in eight Final appearances.
Referee: Ron Moore
St Helens 20
  1. Geoff Pimblett
  2. Les Jones
  3. Eddie Cunningham
  4. Derek Noonan
  5. Roy Mathias
  6. Billy Benyon
  7. Jeff Heaton
  8. John Mantle
  9. Tony Karalius
  10. Kel Coslett
  11. George Nicholls
  12. Eric Chisnall
  13. David Hull
Widnes 5
  1. Ray Dutton
  2. Alan Prescott
  3. Eric Hughes
  4. Derek 'Mick' George
  5. David Jenkins
  6. David Eckersley
  7. Reg Bowden
  8. Nick Nelson
  9. Keith Elwell
  10. John Wood
  11. John Foran
  12. Mick Adams
  13. Doug Laughton
The winner of the Lance Todd Trophy was St. Helens, Geoff Pimblett.

Premiership

In 1975–76 season the RFL introduced the Premiership Trophy competition. It was played at the end of the season with the top 8 in the league qualifying to play each other in a simple 1st versus 8th, 2nd versus 7th, 3rd versus 6th, and 4th versus 5th system. The final was played on a neutral venue. The competition was played until 1997 when it was scrapped.
This was the second end of season Premiership Play-off Final and was played in front of a crowd of 18,082 at Station Road, Swinton between the number four seeds, St Helens, and the number one seeds, Salford.
Referee: M.J.Naughton
St Helens - 15
  1. Geoff Pimblett
  2. Les Jones
  3. Peter Glynn
  4. Derek Noonan
  5. Roy Mathias
  6. Billy Benyon
  7. Jeff Heaton
  8. John Mantle
  9. Tony Karalius
  10. Mel James
  11. George Nicholls
  12. Eric Chisnall
  13. Kel Coslett
Salford - 2
  1. David Watkins
  2. Keith Fielding
  3. Maurice Richards
  4. Chris Hesketh
  5. Graham
  6. Butler
  7. Steve Nash
  8. Mike Coulman
  9. Raistrick
  10. William Sheffield
  11. Knighton
  12. Colin Dixon
  13. Eric Prescott
St Helens second-row forward, George Nicholls, was the winner of the Harry Sunderland Trophy as Man of the Match.

Second Division Championship

2nd Division Champions were Barrow, and they, Rochdale Hornets, Workington Town and Leigh were promoted to the First Division.
TeamPldWDLPFPAPts
1Barrow26203336621343
2Rochdale Hornets26193434720041
3Workington Town26184451922840
4Leigh26191657121739
5Hull26191657727839
6New Hunslet261511037130831
7York261211344739425
8Bramley261111434437023
9Huyton261001624237320
10Whitehaven26821625334718
11Halifax26711832246015
12Batley26611922843213
13Blackpool Borough26611922446013
14Doncaster2620241957264

League Cup