The 1908–09 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the 14th season of
rugby league football
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playing field, field measur ...
in the United Kingdom.
The governing body, the
Northern Union (NU) decided to admit four extra clubs, all from Wales;
Aberdare
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...
,
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
,
Mid-Rhondda and
Treherbert
Treherbert () is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historically part of Glamorgan, Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its eco ...
, to expand the Northern Rugby League to 31 clubs. With six Welsh clubs in the league the NU also established a
Welsh League
The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales.Lush (1998), pg. 19 Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournamen ...
along the same lines as the existing
Lancashire and Yorkshire leagues.
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
won their first Championship this season beating
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
7-3 in the play-off final. Wigan also ended the regular season as the league leaders. Oldham's appearance in the Championship final was the first time that a team from outside the top two in the league had reached the final.
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
won the
Lancashire League.
Halifax won the
Yorkshire League. The Welsh League was won by
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...
.
Northern Rugby League
The organisation of the Northern Rugby League, the senior competition for the clubs of the Northern Union, did not involve all the clubs playing all the others. The requirement was that clubs would play all the others from their own league (Yorkshire, Lancashire or Wales) home and away.
In addition, at least four fixtures against clubs from other leagues also had to be played, any over this minimum were voluntary.
This system meant that clubs played differing numbers of games and therefore the league table was based on win percentage (Win percentage was calculated by adding twice the number of wins to the number of draws and dividing this total by the number of games played to give a percentage between 0 and 100%).
This fixture system meant a minimum of 28 games for the Yorkshire clubs and 26 for the Lancashire clubs. The Welsh clubs undertook to play eight games against the other Welsh teams and then an equal number of additional matches against English clubs, a minimum of 16 games.
The Welsh clubs had mixed fortunes, Merthyr Tydfil and Ebbw Vale, for whom this was the second season in the league, finished 8th (18 matches) and 14th (24 matches) respectively. The four new teams, Mid-Rhondda, Treherbert, Barry and Aberdare all finished in the bottom eight finishing 24th (18 matches), 28th (18 matches), 29th (18 matches) and 31st (17 matches) respectively. Aberdare failed to fulfil their last Northern league fixture, away at Wakefield. The disappointing results and the attendant lack of income and support made 1908–09 the only season in the Northern Union for three of thee Welsh teams, as Mid-Rhondda, Aberdare and Barry either left or were expelled from the Northern Union at the end of the season.
The joint top try-scorers were
Joe Miller of Wigan and
Frank Williams of Halifax with 49 each.
James Lomas of Salford was the season's top scorer with 272 points (88 goals and 32 tries), Lomas's 88 goals also made him the leading goal scorer.
Play-Offs
Semi-finals
The semi-finals were played on 17 April 1909, Wigan beat Batley 18–2 while Halifax and Oldham drew 3–3. Oldham replayed Halifax on 21 April winning 8–2.
Final
The Championship final was played on a rainy afternoon of 1 May 1909 before a crowd of around 12,000 at
The Willows The Willows may refer to:
Places
* The Willows, El Paso, Texas, USA
* The Willows, Queensland, a town in Australia
* The Willows, Salford, home of Salford Rugby League club in Salford, England, UK
* The Willows, Saskatoon, a residential community ...
in
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
. In the third minute, Wigan took the lead through a penalty goal by Jim Leytham. Oldham however scored the first try when Bill Jardine crossed in the fifteenth minute. Wigan's Dick Ramsdale took his side back into the lead with a try in the thirtieth minute. Leytham converted to give Wigan a 7-3 lead at half time. No further points were scored during the match. Contemporary observers considered the match to have been a disappointing spectacle.
County leagues
The Yorkshire and Lancashire county leagues had been re-established the previous season. Team results from championship games played against clubs from the same county counted towards the county league. Halifax won the Yorkshire league and Wigan the Lancashire league.
Bribery case
In November 1908, Edward Crofton, a Wigan coal dealer, was jailed for two months with hard labour for attempting to bribe two Wigan players,
Lance Todd
Lancelot Beaumont "Lance" Todd (26 May 1883 – 14 November 1942) was a New Zealand-born rugby league footballer and manager of the early 20th century. As a player, he represented New Zealand in 1907 and 1908 and played in England for the Wiga ...
and
Massa Johnston
William "Massa" Johnston (13 September 1881 – 9 January 1951) was a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league international. He was part of the 1905 Original All Blacks tour and the professional 1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britai ...
, to
throw
Throwing is an action which consists in accelerating a projectile and then releasing it so that it follows a ballistic trajectory, usually with the aim of impacting a remote target. This action is best characterized for animals with prehensile l ...
the club's game against Hunslet. The prosecution case was that, in September, Crofton had waited in a Wigan pub for the two players to come in and when they did arrive, he offered them £5 each and a share of the winnings from betting on Hunslet to beat Wigan the following Saturday. The two players did not take the suggestion seriously, thinking it was a joke, and left the pub. The following evening, the players were again in the pub and Crofton repeated the offer, increasing the amount offered to each player to £20. Again the players thought it was a joke but reported the matter to the club. The defendant maintained that the first meeting never took place and that the second occasion was simply a joke remark on his part and that he had never actually offered either player any money. As another Wigan player had testified that Crofton had been in the pub on the first occasion, the
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
s did not believe Crofton and unanimously convicted him of the offence.
Welsh league
The Welsh league was new for this season and worked on different principles from the county leagues. Instead of games between Welsh teams scoring for both the Northern league and the Welsh league, separate fixtures were played for each league resulting in each club's fixture list including four fixtures against each of the other Welsh clubs (two in the Northern league and two in the Welsh league). Not all the Welsh league matches were played as some of the clubs got into financial difficulties. Ebbw Vale won the Welsh league when they won their game against Mid-Rhondda at the beginning of April. Ebbw Vale beat a ''Rest of Welsh League'' side 20–0 in a season finale.
Challenge Cup
Wakefield Trinity
Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...
beat
Hull F.C.
Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...
17-0 in the final at
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...
, Leeds on 24 April 1909 to win their first Cup in their first final. This was Hull's second successive defeat in a Challenge Cup final, having failed to score a point in either final.
County Cups
Halifax won the
Yorkshire Cup beating
Hunslet
Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past.
It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...
9–5 in the final.
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
won the
Lancashire Cup beating Oldham 10–9 in the final.
International tour
The
Australia national rugby league team
The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of Rugby league in Australia, the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Admin ...
toured the United Kingdom and during the tour played all the Northern Union clubs except Bramley and Barry.
References
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Football League Season, 1908-09
1908 in English rugby league
1909 in English rugby league
Northern Rugby Football Union seasons
1908 in Welsh rugby league
1909 in Welsh rugby league