The 1948–49

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 54th season of rugby league football. This was

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

's inaugural season in the League.

Season summary

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 ...

finished the regular season as the league leaders. However,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

won their sixth Championship when they beat

13–12 in the championship final. The game, played at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

, Manchester, attracted a crowd of 75,194 and receipts of £11,073 setting new records for both attendances and receipts for a rugby league game played anywhere other than Wembley. Huddersfield's Australian fullback,

Johnny Hunter Johnny Hunter (21 July 1925 – 7 May 1980) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played in Sydney's NSWRFL Premiership for the Eastern Suburbs club, with whom he won the 1945 NSWRFL Premiership, as ...

scored 16 tries during the season, breaking the record for a fullback set by Jim Sullivan. 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

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 ...

who beat Halifax 12–0 in the final. Warrington won the Lancashire League, and

won the Yorkshire League.

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

beat Warrington 14–8 to win the Lancashire Cup and Bradford Northern beat

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 ...

18–9 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Championship

Play-offs

Final

Challenge Cup

The

tournament's final was to be played by Bradford and Halifax at Wembley Stadium. It was the first time tickets to the Challenge Cup final were sold out. Bradford won the game 12–0 in the final played in front of a world record rugby league crowd of 95,050. Trevor Foster and Eric Batten scored the tries for Bradford and Ernest Ward kicked three goals as well as winning the

Lance Todd Trophy The Lance Todd Trophy is a trophy in rugby league, awarded to man of the match in the annual Challenge Cup Final. Introduced in 1945–46, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was kill ...

for man-of-the-match. This was Bradford's fourth Cup Final win in seven Final appearances including one win and one loss during World War II.

County cups

Sources

1948-49 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Football League season, 1948-49 1948 in English rugby league 1949 in English rugby league Northern Rugby Football League seasons