1940–41 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season

Season summary

The 1939–40 season began on Saturday 7 September 1940, less than three months after the fall of France and the other Western Allies, and the Dunkirk evacuations.

The Northern Rugby League decided to continue with a similar format of the two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner.

In the Yorkshire League Bradford Northern finished the regular season on top of the league (47 points from 25 games), clear leaders by 7 points, even after playing a game less than second place Hull (40 points from 26 games) and seventeen points clear of 3rd place Huddersfield (30 points from 25 games).

Meanwhile in the depleted Lancashire League Wigan (a magnificent 31 points from 16 matches) beat second placed Warrington by 5 points.

Bradford Northern went on to defeat Wigan 45–15 (on aggregate) in the two legged play-off final. and win the Championship (for the second consecutive season)

The Wartime Emergency Leagues did not count as an official league championship.

In the Final of the Challenge Cup, Leeds beat Halifax at Odsal by 15–10 before a crowd of 15,250.

The Lancashire Cup, was suspended for the rest of the war and so Wigan competed in the Yorkshire Cup.

Bradford Northern beat Dewsbury at Fartown Ground, Huddersfield, before a crowd of 13,316 by a score of 15–5 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Change in Club participation

In addition to St Helens Recs, several other clubs withdrew from the competitions :-

Barrow – The club dropped out of the wartime Lancashire league after the ‘first (1939–40) season. They did not return to league competition until 1943–44. As many of the pre-war ‘players had retired, this return began an era of rebuilding and recruiting.
Hull Kingston Rovers – The club dropped out of the wartime Lancashire league after the ‘first (1939–40) season. They did not return to league competition until 1945–46 peacetime season.
Rochdale Hornets – Hornets dropped out of the wartime Lancashire League, their last match ‘a 12–4 defeat against Salford at the Athletic Grounds on 11 May 1940. ‘The ground stood empty for the duration of hostilities and after the war, an appeal went out ‘to supporters in July 1945 for help in renovating the ground, pitch and ‘premises so that ‘rugby league could restart.
Widnes – As Barrow and Hull Kingston Rovers, Widnes dropped out of the wartime Lancashire league after (1939–40) season and did not return to league competition until 1945–46.

Dewsbury had a relatively successful time during the war years. Managed by Eddie Waring, and with the side boosted by the inclusion of a number of big-name guest players, the club won the Wartime Emergency League in 1941–42 and again the following season 1942–43 (though that championship was declared null and void when it was discovered they had played an ineligible player). They were also runners-up in the Championship in 1943–44, Challenge Cup winners in 1943 and Yorkshire Cup final appearances in this season 1940–41 and winners in 1942–43.

Records

Broughton Rangers and Leigh joined the ranks of the clubs with the unenviable record of losing every league match during the season.
Both clubs withdrew from competitions for the following seasons.
A full list to date of all clubs with this record is as follows :-

Bramley would join them as holder of this record in the season which followed 1941–42

Championship Play-Off

1st leg – Wigan lost to Bradford Northern 6–17 at Central Park – att 11,245 & receipts £640.0.0.

2nd leg – Bradford Northern beat Wigan 28–9 at Odsal – att 20,205 & receipts £1,148.0.0.

Champions – Bradford Northern won 45–15 on aggregate

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup Competition was re-introduced after a season’s absence

Some of the fixtures and results are as follows :-

In the 1st round, on Saturday 19 April 1941, Batley beat Hull at Mount Pleasant 9–8.

In the 2nd round, on Wednesday 19 March 1941, Wakefield Trinity beat Wigan at Belle Vue 22–0 and on Saturday 16 March 1941, Castleford beat St Helens 21–13 at Wheldon Road.

In the Final of the Challenge Cup, Leeds beat Halifax at Odsal by 19–2 before a crowd of 28,500.

Lancashire Cup

The Lancashire Cup was suspended for this season for the duration of the war.

Wigan took part in the Yorkshire Cup Competition

Yorkshire Cup

Some of the fixtures and results are as follows :-

In the 1st round, on Saturday 15 March 1941, York beat Hull at Boulevard 22–15 and Leeds beat Wigan at Central Park 9–3.

In the Final of the Yorkshire County Cup, Bradford Northern beat Dewsbury at Fartown by 15–5 before a crowd of 13,316 and with receipts of £939.00.