1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season

1979–80 Rugby Football League season
1979–80 Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Bradford Northern
Premiership	Widnes
Man of Steel Award	George Fairbairn
Top point-scorer(s)	Steve Quinn (375)
Top try-scorer(s)	Keith Fielding (30); Steve Hubbard (30);
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Division 2	Featherstone Rovers; Halifax; Oldham; Barrow;
Relegated to Division 2	Wigan; Hunslet; York; Blackpool Borough;
	← 1978–79 1980–81 →

The 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 85th season of rugby league football. Sixteen English clubs competed for the Northern Rugby Football League's first division championship, with Bradford claiming the title by finishing on top of the League.

Season summary

Bradford Northern won their first ever Championship this season. Wigan, Hunslet (having dropped the prefix of 'New' from New Hunslet), York and Blackpool Borough were relegated.
The Challenge Cup Winners Hull Kingston Rovers who beat city rivals Hull F.C. 10-5 in the final.
2nd Division Champions were Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Oldham and Barrow were also promoted.^[1]

League Tables

Championship

Final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Bradford Northern	30	23	0	7	448	272	46
2	Widnes	30	22	1	7	546	293	45
3	Hull	30	18	3	9	454	326	39
4	Salford	30	19	1	10	495	374	39
5	Leeds	30	19	0	11	590	390	38
6	Leigh	30	16	1	13	451	354	33
7	Hull Kingston Rovers	30	16	1	13	539	445	33
8	St. Helens	30	15	2	13	505	410	32
9	Warrington	30	15	2	13	362	357	32
10	Wakefield Trinity	30	14	2	14	362	357	30
11	Castleford	30	13	2	15	466	475	28
12	Workington Town	30	12	2	16	348	483	26
13	Wigan	30	9	3	18	366	523	21
14	Hunslet	30	7	1	22	346	528	15
15	York	30	6	1	23	375	647	13
16	Blackpool Borough	30	5	0	25	230	613	10

Second Division

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Featherstone Rovers	26	21	2	3	724	280	44
2	Halifax	26	19	3	4	463	213	41
3	Oldham	26	19	3	4	513	276	41
4	Barrow	26	18	1	7	582	280	37
5	Whitehaven	26	15	1	10	397	276	31
6	Dewsbury	26	13	2	11	408	343	28
7	Rochdale Hornets	26	9	5	12	315	373	23
8	Swinton	26	11	1	14	331	436	23
9	Batley	26	10	2	14	232	370	22
10	Bramley	26	10	1	15	330	451	21
11	Keighley	26	10	0	16	342	396	20
12	Huddersfield	26	10	0	16	363	423	20
13	Huyton	26	5	0	21	209	555	10
14	Doncaster	26	1	1	24	196	733	3

	Champions		Play-offs		Promoted		Relegated

Challenge Cup

The 1980 State Express Challenge Cup culminated in the first Hull Cup final derby, with a heavy entourage of supporters from the East and West of the city making the trip to London.^[2] Hull Kingston Rovers defeated Hull 10-5 at Wembley before a crowd of 95,000.^[3]

This was Hull Kingston Rovers’ first, and to date, only Cup Final Win in six Final appearances.

The Hull Kingston Rovers’ Prop, Brian Lockwood, won the Lance Todd Trophy.

John Player Trophy

The John Player Trophy Winners were Bradford Northern who beat Widnes 6-0 in the final.

County cups

Widnes beat Workington Town (from Cumbria) 11–0 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Halifax 15–6 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Floodlit Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Hull F.C. who beat city rivals Hull Kingston Rovers 13-3 in the final.

Premiership

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat Bradford Northern 19-5 in the final.

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1979–80 season.^[4]

Most tries

Player	Team	Tries
Keith Fielding	Salford	30
Steve Hubbard	Hull Kingston Rovers	30
Geoff Munro	Oldham	29
Ian Ball	Barrow	27
Keith Bentley	Widnes	27
Peter Glynn	St. Helens	27
Roy Mathias	St. Helens	27
John Bevan	Warrington	26
David Redfearn	Bradford Northern	26
David Smith	Leeds	24

Most goals (including drop goals)

Player	Team	Goals
Steve Quinn	Featherstone Rovers	163
Steve Hubbard	Hull Kingston Rovers	138
Steve Rule	Salford	134
Steve Hesford	Warrington	128
Mick Burke	Widnes	127
Ian Ball	Barrow	119
Steve Diamond	Wakefield Trinity	116
Eric Fitzsimons	Oldham	108
Mick Parrish	Hunslet	98
Jimmy Birts	Halifax	97

References

^ "1979-80 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
^ Demsteader, Christine (2000-10-01). "Rugby League's home from home". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Retrieved 2009-08-07. ^{[dead link]}
^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David (27 March 1997). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997. London: Headline. pp. 163–7. ISBN 978-0-7472-7764-4.

Sources

[1] "1979-80 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.

[2] Demsteader, Christine (2000-10-01). "Rugby League's home from home". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2009-12-04.

[3] "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Retrieved 2009-08-07. ^{[dead link]}

[4] Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David (27 March 1997). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997. London: Headline. pp. 163–7. ISBN 978-0-7472-7764-4.

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