1995–96 Rugby Football League Season
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The 1995–96
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 101st season of
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
football. Eleven English teams competed from August 1995 until January 1996 for the Stones Bitter Centenary
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 ...
. The season was kept brief to accommodate the first season of the forthcoming new
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
competition, which would see top-level rugby league in the UK changed to a summer sport. It was also punctuated by the 1995 World Cup which took place in Britain throughout October. The
1996 Challenge Cup The 1996 Challenge Cup was the 95th staging of the Challenge Cup tournament. Known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Silk Cut, it was the first Challenge Cup of the summer era. The tournament featured 40 teams playing 42 g ...
rounds started immediately after the Centenary Championship and the final was played in summer, during Super League I.


Season summary

* Stones Bitter Centenary League Champions: Wigan (17th title) *
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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: Final played in 1996 summer season. * Regal Trophy Winners: Wigan (8 - 25-16 v St Helens) *1st Division Champions:
Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...
*2nd Division Champions:
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 ...


Personnel

During pre-season, Kath Hetherington of
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
was elected as president of the Rugby Football League, succeeding
Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...
's Ronnie Teeman. Eleven years after becoming the first female member of the league's board of directors, she became the first woman to ascend to the presidency.


Rules

Prior to the signing of the agreement paving the way for the Super League, the RFL had voted in February on a wage cap, limiting player salaries to 50 percent of a team's income.


Format

The 1995–96 First Division season served as a trial run of sorts for the Super League's inaugural season, which would follow it in the spring of 1996, and its format changes were largely made in anticipation of the latter's launch. Following intense negotiations, it was decided that only the top ten teams from the 1994–95 season, joined by second-tier capital representatives
London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...
(all the projected British entrants in the Super League), would participate in a condensed 1995–96 First Division. There would be no promotion or relegation between it and the inaugural Super League campaign (only the purpose-built
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
team would be added). The lower league clubs were split between a Second and a Third Division, marking a return to the three-tier professional pyramid last used in 1993. While the new setup was generally considered an appropriate compromise, 1994–95 second-tier champion
Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...
and
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, ...
, a traditionally strong team which had missed the 10-team cutoff after an uncharacteristically poor season, launched legal proceedings after being left out. Hoping for a compromise, Widnes proposed a one-off 1995–96 schedule consisting of a 16-team, dual conference setup where the top five clubs within each conference would advance to the Super League. While some agreed that the plan would make the transitional season more meaningful, it did not come to pass, and their legal challenges were ultimately unsuccessful as well.


Highlights

The absence of relegation was blamed for a sizeable dip in attendance. Combined with a salary hike resulting from the announcement of the Super League, the season was a financial failure for many clubs, and powerhouse
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 ...
reported losses of about £450,000 at the end of the shortened campaign.


Standings


First Division


Second Division


Third Division


Regal Trophy


Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1995–96 season. Most tries Most goals (including drop goals)


References


Sources


1995–96 Rugby Football League season
at rlhalloffame.org.uk
1995–96 Rugby Football League season
at wigan.rlfans.com

at hunterlink.net.au

at rugbyleagueproject.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Football League Season, 1995-96 Rugby Football League seasons Rugby Football League season Rugby Football League season