The 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 85th season of rugby league football. Sixteen English clubs competed for the Northern Rugby Football League's first division

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, with

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 ...

claiming the title by finishing on top of the League.

Season summary

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

won their first ever Championship this season.

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 ...

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 ...

(having dropped the prefix of 'New' from New Hunslet),

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and

Blackpool Borough Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, that played in the Rugby Football League from 1954 until 1993. The club moved to Wigan in 1987 and was renamed Springfield Borough; to Chorley in 1988 and wa ...

were relegated. * The Challenge Cup Winners

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 ...

who beat city rivals Hull F.C. 10-5 in the final. * 2nd Division Champions were

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

, Halifax,

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

and Barrow were also promoted.

League Tables

Championship

Final Standings

Second Division

Cups

Challenge Cup

The 1980

State Express ''State Express'' is a 1938 Indian Hindi-language action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been ...

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 ...

culminated in the first Hull Cup final derby, with a heavy entourage of supporters from the East and West of the city making the trip to London. Hull Kingston Rovers defeated Hull 10-5 at Wembley before a crowd of 95,000. This was Hull Kingston Rovers’ first, and to date, only Cup Final Win in six Final appearances. The Hull Kingston Rovers’ Prop,

Brian Lockwood Brian Lockwood (8 October 1946 – 10 October 2024) was an English World Cup winning former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Br ...

, won 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 ...

John Player Trophy

The John Player Trophy Winners were

who beat

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

6-0 in the final.

County cups

beat

Workington Town Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in the RFL League One, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, Briti ...

(from

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

) 11–0 to win the Lancashire Cup, and

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 ...

beat Halifax 15–6 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Floodlit Trophy

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Hull F.C. who beat city rivals

13-3 in the final.

Premiership

Rugby League Premiership The Rugby League Premiership was a competition for British rugby league clubs between 1973 and 1995. As the Super League Premiership the competition continued until 1997. History From 1909 until 1973 (except for 1962–64) the Rugby Football Le ...

Trophy Winners were

who beat

19-5 in the final.

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1979–80 season. Most tries Most goals (including drop goals)

References

Sources

1979-80 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.comThe Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Football League Season, 1979-80 1979 in English rugby league 1980 in English rugby league Northern Rugby Football League seasons