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1955–56 Northern Rugby Football League season

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The 1955–56 Rugby Football League season was the leagues's 61st season.

1955–56 Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
Champions Hull
League Leaders Warrington
Top point-scorer(s) Harry Bath 344
Top try-scorer(s) Jack McLean 61

Season summary

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Belle Vue Rangers dropped out of the competition shortly before the start of the season. There was no time to reschedule and so percentages were used.[1]

In 1955-56 Wigan took part in the Independent Television Association Trophy. This was a series of televised floodlit matches played in London and shown on the newly launched ITV. It only lasted one year but the idea would be picked up again by the BBC in 1965.[citation needed]

ITV Floodlit Competition winners were Warrington who beat Leigh 43-18 in the final.[citation needed]

Hull F.C. won their fourth Rugby Football League Championship when they beat Halifax 10-9 in the play-off final. Warrington had finished the regular season as league leaders.[citation needed]

The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Halifax 13-2 in the final.[citation needed]

Warrington won the Lancashire League, and Halifax won the Yorkshire League. Leigh beat Widnes 26–9 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Halifax beat Hull F.C. 10–10 (replay 7–0) to win the Yorkshire County Cup.[citation needed]

Championship

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Team Pld W D L Pts Pct
1 Warrington 34 27 1 6 55 80.88
2 Halifax 36 28 2 6 58 80.55
3 St. Helens 34 27 0 7 54 79.41
4 Hull 36 25 1 10 51 70.83
5 Wigan 34 22 2 10 46 67.64
6 Featherstone Rovers 36 23 2 11 48 66.66
7 Barrow 34 21 2 11 44 64.70
8 Bradford Northern 36 22 2 12 46 63.88
9 Oldham 34 20 0 14 40 58.82
10 Swinton 34 19 2 13 40 58.82
11 Leigh 34 19 2 13 40 58.82
12 Leeds 36 21 0 15 42 58.33
13 York 36 20 0 16 40 55.55
14 Huddersfield 36 18 1 17 37 51.37
15 Workington Town 34 17 0 17 34 50.00
16 Keighley 36 18 0 18 38 50.00
17 Wakefield Trinity 36 17 0 19 34 47.22
18 Hunslet 36 17 0 19 34 47.22
19 Bramley 34 16 0 18 32 47.05
20 Rochdale Hornets 34 15 0 19 30 44.11
21 Whitehaven 34 14 1 19 29 42.64
22 Salford 34 13 1 20 27 39.70
23 Widnes 34 11 0 23 22 32.35
24 Hull Kingston Rovers 36 11 1 24 23 31.94
25 Doncaster 34 7 5 22 19 27.94
26 Blackpool Borough 34 9 0 25 18 26.47
27 Castleford 36 9 0 27 18 25.00
28 Liverpool City 34 8 0 26 16 23.52
29 Dewsbury 34 8 0 26 16 23.52
30 Batley 34 7 1 26 15 22.05
  Play-offs

Play-offs

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Semi-finals Championship final - 12 May 1956
      
1 Warrington 0
4 Hull 17
Hull 10
Halifax 9
2 Halifax 23
3 St. Helens 8

Challenge Cup

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Main article: 1955–56 Challenge Cup
 
A marching band provides entertainment at Wembley Stadium before the 1956 Challenge Cup final.

In the Challenge Cup tournament's final St. Helens faced Halifax. Played on 28 April 1956 at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 79,341, St Helens won 13-2.[2] This was Saints' first Challenge Cup final win in five Final appearances.[3] Alan Prescott, their prop forward was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match.

The St Helens team was greeted enthusiastically upon their return to the North. After detraining at Liverpool the team's open-top coach ride to St Helens attracted an estimated 100,000 people despite pouring rain.[4]

European Championship

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This was the fifteenth European Championship and was won for the second time by the Other Nationalities.[5]

Results

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12 September
Other nationalities  33–16  England
Wigan
19 October
Other nationalities  32–19  France
Leigh
10 May
France  23–9  England
Lyon

Final standings

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Team Played Won Drew Lost For Against Diff Points
  Other nationalities 2 2 0 0 65 35 +30 4
  France 2 1 0 1 42 41 +1 2
  England 2 0 0 2 25 56 −31 0

References

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  1. ^ "1955-56 Season summary". Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  2. ^ "1956 Challenge Cup final". rugbyleagueproject.org. Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  3. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
  4. ^ Jeff Hill, Jack Williams (1996). Sport and Identity in the North of England. UK: Keele University Press. p. 98 & 99. ISBN 9781853310829.
  5. ^ Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 425. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.

Sources

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