The 1964–65 Rugby Football League season was the 70th season of rugby league football.
| 1964–65 Rugby Football League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Championship |
| Champions |  Halifax |
| League Leaders |  St. Helens |
| Top point-scorer(s) | Len Killeen 360 |
| Top try-scorer(s) |  Trevor Lake 40 |
| Reformed |  Bradford Northern |
Rule change edit
- Substitutes were introduced.[1] They were initially only for players injured in the time up to and including half time.
Season summary edit
1964-65 saw the two divisions of rugby league merge back into one single league. The championship play-offs returned to decide the champions. A new top 16 play-off format was introduced rather than top four system used between 1905–06 and 1962–63. A Bottom 14 Championship was also introduced for the remaining clubs who finished below the top 16, although some clubs declined to take part.
St. Helens had finished the regular season as league leaders. Halifax won their third Championship when they beat St. Helens 15-7 in the play-off final. Terry Fogerty was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.
Challenge Cup winners were Wigan who beat Hunslet 20-16 in the final.
Bradford Northern were resurrected and accepted back into the League.[2]
St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Castleford won the Yorkshire League.
Championship edit
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Helens | 34 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 56 |
| 2 | Wigan | 34 | 26 | 0 | 8 | 52 |
| 3 | Castleford | 34 | 25 | 1 | 8 | 51 |
| 4 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 24 | 2 | 8 | 50 |
| 5 | Warrington | 34 | 24 | 1 | 9 | 49 |
| 6 | Workington Town | 34 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 47 |
| 7 | Halifax | 34 | 22 | 1 | 10 | 47 |
| 8 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 22 | 0 | 12 | 44 |
| 9 | Oldham | 34 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 41 |
| 10 | Leeds | 34 | 20 | 0 | 14 | 40 |
| 11 | Swinton | 34 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 39 |
| 12 | Leigh | 34 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 39 |
| 13 | Hull F.C. | 34 | 19 | 0 | 15 | 38 |
| 14 | Hunslet | 34 | 19 | 0 | 15 | 38 |
| 15 | Featherstone Rovers | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 36 |
| 16 | Barrow | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 36 |
| 17 | Bradford Northern | 34 | 15 | 1 | 18 | 31 |
| 18 | Huddersfield | 34 | 15 | 0 | 19 | 30 |
| 19 | Widnes | 34 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 30 |
| 20 | Whitehaven | 34 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 29 |
| 21 | Dewsbury | 34 | 13 | 2 | 18 | 28 |
| 22 | Salford | 34 | 11 | 2 | 21 | 24 |
| 23 | Liverpool City | 34 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 22 |
| 24 | Bramley | 34 | 10 | 1 | 23 | 21 |
| 25 | York | 34 | 10 | 0 | 24 | 20 |
| 26 | Batley | 34 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 19 |
| 27 | Keighley | 34 | 9 | 0 | 25 | 18 |
| 28 | Doncaster | 34 | 9 | 0 | 25 | 18 |
| 29 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 15 |
| 30 | Blackpool Borough | 34 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 14 |
Play-offs edit
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Semi-final | Championship final | ||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Barrow | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull Kingston Rovers | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull Kingston Rovers | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oldham | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull F.C. | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Warrington | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Warrington | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leigh | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halifax | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Castleford | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hunslet | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Castleford | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Workington Town | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Swinton | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Workington Town | 29 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Castleford | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halifax | 26 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Featherstone Rovers | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wigan | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Featherstone Rovers | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halifax | 31 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halifax | 28 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leeds | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||
Final edit
22 May 1965
|
| Halifax | 15 – 7 | St Helens |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Burnett (2), Jackson Goals: James (3) |
Tries: Killeen Goals: Killeen (2) |
Station Road, Swinton
Attendance: 20,776 Referee: D. S. Brown (Dewsbury) Player of the Match: Terry Fogerty |
Challenge Cup edit
Captained by player-coach Eric Ashton,[3] Wigan beat Hunslet 20–16 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 89,016.
This was Wigan’s seventh Cup Final win in thirteen Final appearances.
To date, this was Hunslet’s last Challenge Cup Final appearance.[4]
County cups edit
St Helens beat Swinton 12–4 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Wakefield Trinity beat Leeds 18–2 to win the Yorkshire Cup.
References edit
- ^ de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009), "Top ten: Rugby league rules", Rugby League World, no. 340, Brighouse: League Publications (published August 2009), p. 61, ISSN 1466-0105
- ^ "1964-65 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ news.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Eric Ashton". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
Sources edit
- Saxton, Irvin (ed.). History of Rugby League: No.70 1964–1965. League Publications.
- 1964-65 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
- The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website