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Rugby league county leagues

Rugby league

Summary

Rugby league

Field	Value
name	Lancashire League
founded	1895
folded	1970
teams	16
country
championtag	Last winners
champion	Wigan
season	18th title
most_champs	Wigan
count	18

The Yorkshire League and the Lancashire League formed two sections of the Rugby Football League Championship for much of its history. Initially, the 22 clubs that broke away in 1895 played in one combined league; however, the following season saw the addition of many clubs, and the League was split into two separate county competitions.

History

This situation endured until 1901–1902, when the top teams in each league resigned and formed a new combined first division. The following season, the remaining clubs formed a second division. From then until 1907, when there was another re-organisation, the county leagues were not played.

The new structure initiated for the 1907–1908 season saw the clubs playing every other team in their own county home and away, and playing once each against the clubs from the other county. Results from all games counted towards the Rugby Football League Championship, whilst results within the county counted towards the respective county leagues.

The championship often included teams from outside the Yorkshire and Lancashire heartlands; these were allocated to a county league on a practical basis. Briefly, in the 1908–1909 season, there were enough clubs from Wales to add a third Welsh League to the structure. The sole winner of this title was Merthyr Tydfil.

The Yorkshire and Lancashire Leagues were abandoned in 1970.

Results

The RFL Lancashire League was an annual competition from 1895 to 1970 for professional rugby league teams in Lancashire. Other teams from Cheshire and Cumbria also competed in the league. During the period 1896–1901 the county leagues were played as there was no national league championship during this period. After they were played alongside the RFL Championship until 1970. Teams also competed in the Lancashire Cup.

To keep the number of teams equal in both county leagues, clubs from Yorkshire were often invited to play in the Lancashire League. Halifax joined the Lancashire League in 1930, remaining there until the start of the Second World War. Following the demise of Belle Vue Rangers in 1955, it was initially decided that the Yorkshire League champions would compete in the Lancashire League during the following season, but clubs were later elected into the league on a voluntary basis instead.

Championship

Season		Winners
1895–96
1896–97
1897–98
1898–99
1899–1900
1900–01
1901–02
1902–07: No competition
1907–08
1908–09
1909–10
1910–11
1911–12
1912–13
1913–14
1914–15
1915–18
1918–19
1919–20
1920–21
1921–22
1922–23
1923–24
1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
1930–31
1931–32
1932–33
1933–34
1934–35
1935–36
1936–37
1937–38
1938–39
1939–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70

Wins by club

Rank	Club	Wins	Years
1	Wigan	18	1901–02, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1949–50, 1951–52, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1969–70
2	St. Helens	9	1929–30, 1931–32, 1952–53, 1959–60, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69
3	Warrington	8	1937–38, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1967–68
4	Oldham	7	1897–98, 1900–01, 1907–08, 1909–10, 1921–22, 1956–57, 1957–58
5	Salford	5	1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1938–39
6	Swinton	5	1924–25, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1960–61
7	Broughton Rangers	2	1896–97, 1898–99
8	Runcorn	2	1895–96, 1899–1900
9	Rochdale Hornets	1	1918–19
10	Widnes	1	1919–20
11	Workington Town	1	1962–63
12	St Helens Recs	1	1926–27
13	Liverpool Stanley	1	1935–36

Yorkshire League

The RFL Yorkshire League was an annual competition from 1895 to 1970 for professional rugby league teams in Yorkshire. During the period 1896–1901 the county leagues were played as there was no national league championship during this period. After they were played alongside the RFL Championship until 1970. Teams also competed in the Yorkshire Cup.

Championship

Season		Winners
1895–96
1896–97
1897–98
1898–99
1899–1900
1900–01
1901–02
1902–07
1907–08
1908–09
1909–10
1910–11
1911–12
1912–13
1913–14
1914–15
1915–18
1918–19
1919–20
1920–21
1921–22
1922–23
1923–24
1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
1930–31
1931–32
1932–33
1933–34
1934–35
1935–36
1936–37
1937–38
1938–39
1939–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70

Wins by club

Winners	Count	Years
1	Leeds	15
2	Huddersfield	11
3	Wakefield Trinity	8
4	Halifax	7
5	Hull	4
6	Hunslet	3
7	Castleford	3
8	Batley	2
9	Hull Kingston Rovers	2
10	Bradford FC	2
11	Dewsbury	1
12	Manningham	1
13	Bradford Northern	1
14	Brighouse Rangers	1

Notes

References

(15 May 1930). "Halifax a Lancashire Club in New Fixture Scheme". The Manchester Guardian.
(24 April 1956). "League To Remain As One Division". The Manchester Guardian.
(15 April 1958). "Two Divisions Plan Again Rejected". The Manchester Guardian.
During the period 1896–1901 the county leagues were titled ''senior competitions''. There was no national league championship during this period.
For the 1901–02 season the top teams from each senior competition resigned to form a single league championship. The lower clubs continued to contest separate county leagues for that year only.
During the 1962–63 and 1963–64 seasons, the RFL reverted to a two division structure and the county leagues were rebranded as the Western and Eastern Divisional Championships.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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