The 1967–68

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

season was the 73rd season of rugby league football.

Season summary

The playing of matches on Sundays was sanctioned for the first time in December 1967. This change was made to avoid competition from

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

clubs.

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

had ended the regular season as league leaders for the second successive season.

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 ...

won their second Championship, the second in successive seasons, when they beat

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

17-10 in the Championship Final.

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

was awarded the

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy was awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final and its predecessors, the RFL First Division Final and the Premiership Final, between 1965 and 2023. Named after Harry Sunderland, who w ...

as man-of-the-match. The

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

winners were

who beat

11-10 in the final. Clive Sullivan of Hull F.C. set a club record of 7-tries scored in a match against

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

on 15 April 1968.

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

won the Lancashire League, and

won the Yorkshire League.

Championship

Play-offs

Final

Challenge Cup

Leeds beat Wakefield 11-10 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 87,100. This was Leeds’ ninth Cup Final win in eleven Final appearances. The Leeds winning team coached by Roy Francis was; Bev Risman, Alan Smith, Syd Hynes, Bernard Watson, John Atkinson, Mick Shoebottom, Barry Seabourne, Mick Clark (c), Tony Crosby, Ken Eyre, Bill Ramsey, Albert Eyre, Ray Batten subs:

John Langley John Russell Langley (June 1, 1943 – June 26, 2021) was an American television and film director, writer, and producer who was best known as the creator and executive producer of the television show '' Cops'', which premiered on Fox in March ...

, Mick Joyce. Dubbed the "Watersplash Final", this match was remembered for the atrocious pitch conditions caused by a torrential downpour that left many large puddles on the playing surface. The conditions contributed to a nail biting finale. Leeds had taken an 11-7 lead with a minute to go, but Wakefield scored a try next to the posts from the kick-off.

Don Fox Donald Fox (15 October 1935 – 21 August 2008), was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club ...

had only to convert to win the Final, but pushed it wide of the posts.

County cups

St. Helens beat

2–2 (replay 13–10) to win the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

County Cup, and

beat Hull F.C. 8–7 to win the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

County Cup.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy (also known as the BBC2 Television Trophy) was an annual knockout competition for British rugby league clubs. Organised by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the competition was open to all professional clubs with floodlig ...

winners were

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

who beat

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

8-5 in the final.

Kangaroo Tour

From September until December also saw the appearance of the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

team in England on their 1967–68

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours too ...

. Other than the three test

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, i ...

against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

(won 2–1 by Australia), The Kangaroos played matches against club and county representative sides The 1967–68 Kangaroos were captain-coached by champion

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

centre

Reg Gasnier Reginald William "Reg" Gasnier (12 May 1939 – 11 May 2014) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australia in a then record 36 Tests and three World Cup g ...

who was making his third tour following from 1959–60 and 1967–68. While his team achieved success, the tour was a tragedy for Gasnier. He broke his leg during the first test 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 Headingley ...

that saw him sit out the remainder of the English leg. He returned to the field in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

but in a minor game against Les Espoirs in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, he suffered a further break. This would ultimately cause him to announce his retirement from playing at the age of just 28. He later told in an interview that he never regretted his decision to retire, explaining that he had been playing rugby league including juniors, junior representative games, the Sydney premiership and senior representative teams which included multiple interstate and overseas tours, virtually non-stop since the early 1950s, and felt it was about time that he started devoting more time to his family.

References

Sources

*
1967-68 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.comThe Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Football League Season, 1967-68 1967 in English rugby league 1968 in English rugby league Northern Rugby Football League seasons