The 1903–04

Northern Rugby Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

season was the ninth 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 ...

Season summary

The League Champions were

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

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, 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 ...

(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 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 ...

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

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

were replaced by

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wake ...

, 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 the o ...

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 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 ...

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