The 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the ninth season of rugby league football.

Season summary

The League Champions were

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax. Keighley and Huddersfield were demoted from the top division and replaced by

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

(champions) and St. Helens. As the top two teams had finished level on points and Points Difference had not been introduced as a tie breaker yet, despite having a worse points difference,

contested a play-off with

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

, that Bradford won 5-0. In the Second Division, Manningham and

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

were replaced by

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

, reducing the competition to 17 teams. Birkenhead Wanderers dropped the Wanderers from their name. The second promotion place had to be decided by a play-off as Points Difference had not yet been introduced as a tie breaker. St. Helens beat

Holbeck Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is t ...

7-0. There was no county league competition this season.

Internationals

On 5 April 1904, the first ever International Rugby League match took place between England and Other Nationalities. It was played at Central Park, Wigan, having originally been scheduled for New Year's Day in Oldham. England lost 3-9 in a twelve sided match, with the opposition made up of ten Welshmen and two Scots. The crowd numbered just 6,000.

Teams

Division One

Championship play-off: Bradford vs Salford 5-0

Division two

Promotion play-off: St. Helens vs Holbeck 7-0

Challenge Cup

Halifax beat Warrington 8-3 in the final at Salford's The Willows before a paying crowd of 17,041, plus 1,000 additional guests, to become the second team to record back-to-back Cup wins. Halifax wouldn’t reach another final until 1921 nor win the Cup again until 1931.

Sources

1903-04 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.comThe Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Football League Season, 1903-04 1903 in English rugby league 1904 in English rugby league Northern Rugby Football Union seasons