1965–66 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1965–66 Rugby Football League season was the 71st season of rugby league football. A three-way county championship was also held, with comparative minnows Cumberland against Yorkshire and Lancashire.

1965–66 Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	St. Helens
League Leaders	St. Helens
Top point-scorer(s)	Len Killeen 336
Top try-scorer(s)	Len Killeen 32 Trevor Lake 32

Rule change

• The substitutes rule introduced in the previous season changed so that substitutions could be used for any reason, including tactical reasons, although they were still only allowed up to and including half-time.

Season summary

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition was launched in this season with the BBC televising matches on Tuesday nights. The competition was used to trial the four-tackle rule, an experiment in ending the unlimited tackles that had been a by-product from the introduction of the play-the-ball in 1906.

St. Helens finished the regular season as league leaders before winning their fourth Championship when they beat Halifax 35–12 in the play-off final.

The Challenge Cup winners were St. Helens who beat Wigan 21–2 in the final.

St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Wakefield Trinity won the Yorkshire League.

At the end of the season, Eric Ashton became the first Rugby League player to receive an award from Her Majesty, the Queen. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Championship

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts
1	St. Helens	34	28	1	5	57
2	Swinton	34	27	1	6	55
3	Wigan	34	27	0	7	54
4	Wakefield Trinity	34	25	2	7	52
5	Castleford	34	23	3	8	49
6	Leeds	34	24	0	10	48
7	Bradford Northern	34	21	1	12	43
8	Workington Town	34	21	1	12	43
9	Oldham	34	20	3	11	43
10	Halifax	34	21	0	13	42
11	Huddersfield	34	20	0	14	40
12	Hull Kingston Rovers	34	20	0	14	40
13	Hull	34	20	0	14	40
14	Widnes	34	17	0	17	34
15	Featherstone Rovers	34	17	0	17	34
16	Warrington	34	16	1	17	33
17	Hunslet	34	15	2	17	32
18	Salford	34	15	1	18	31
19	Keighley	34	15	0	19	30
20	Leigh	34	14	1	19	29
21	Barrow	34	13	1	20	27
22	Bramley	34	12	2	20	26
23	York	34	11	0	23	22
24	Dewsbury	34	10	1	23	21
25	Rochdale Hornets	34	10	0	24	20
26	Liverpool City	34	9	2	23	20
27	Blackpool Borough	34	9	1	24	19
28	Batley	34	6	2	26	14
29	Doncaster	34	6	0	28	12
30	Whitehaven	34	4	2	28	10

Play-offs

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	St Helens	35
	Warrington	7
					St Helens	15
					Oldham	10
	Workington Town	6
	Oldham	7
									St Helens	14
									Hull Kingston Rovers	6
	Castleford	10
	Hull Kingston Rovers	13
					Hull Kingston Rovers	10
					Wakefield Trinity	9
	Wakefield Trinity	36
	Hull	6
													St Helens	35
													Halifax	12
	Wigan	27
	Widnes	10
					Wigan	22
					Leeds	5
	Leeds	19
	Huddersfield	7
									Wigan	12
									Halifax	25
	Bradford Northern	7
	Halifax	21
					Halifax	33
					Swinton	2
	Swinton	43
	Featherstone Rovers	2

Final

The 1966 Championship Final was played between Halifax and St. Helens on Saturday, 28 May 1966 at Station Road Ground before a crowd of 30,634. St Helens won 35–12 with their hat trick-scoring prop forward, Albert Halsall being awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

28 May 1966

St Helens	35 – 12	Halifax
Tries: Killeen (3), Halsall (3), A. Barrow Goals: Killeen (6), Murphy		Tries: Baker, Fogerty Goals: Cooper

Station Road, Swinton Attendance: 30,634 Referee: J. Manley (Warrington) Player of the Match: Albert Halsall

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1965–66 Challenge Cup

St Helens had reached the final by beating Wakefield Trinity 10–0 away on 26 February in round one; Swinton 16–4 at home on 19 March in round two; Hull Kingston Rovers 12–10 at home on 2 April in round three and Dewsbury 12–5 on neutral ground on 16 April in the semi-final.

Wigan had reached the final by beating Halifax 9–4 at home on 26 February in round one; Whitehaven 40–6 at home on 19 March in round two; Bradford Northern 15–6 away on 6 April in round three and Leeds 7–2 in the semi-final at Huddersfield on 23 April.

The Challenge Cup final was played at Wembley Stadium, London on 21 May 1966, in front of a crowd of 98,536. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was introduced to the players before kick-off. St Helens led 9–2 at half time and went on to defeat Wigan 21–2. Saints' scorers were John Mantle (1 try), Tommy Bishop (1 try), Len Killeen (1 try, 5 goals), and Alex Murphy (1 goal). Wigan's scorer was Laurie Gilfedder (1 goal). This was St Helens' third Cup final win in seven final appearances.

County cups

Main article: 1965–66 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1965–66 Yorkshire Cup

Warrington beat Rochdale Hornets 16–5 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Bradford Northern beat Hunslet 17–8 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Main article: 1965–66 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Castleford who beat St. Helens 4–0 in the final.

References

General

• de la Riviere, Richard, ed. (2009), Rugby League World, no. 340, Brighouse, UK: League Publications (published August 2009), ISSN 1466-0105 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Sources

• Saxton, Irvin (ed.). History of Rugby League: No.71 1965–1966. League Publications.
• 1965-66 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
• The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website