1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season

Rugby league season

1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season
League	Northern Rugby Football League
Champions	Wigan
League Leaders	St. Helens
Top point-scorer(s)	Neil Fox 453
Top try-scorer(s)	Tom van Vollenhoven 54
← 1958–59 1960–61 →

The 1959–60 Rugby Football League season was the 65th season of rugby league football played in England. The championship, which involved thirty teams, started in August 1959 and culminated in a finals play-off series in May 1960 which resulted in a championship final between Wigan and Wakefield Trinity.

Season summary

League Champions: Wigan (27–3 v Wakefield Trinity)
Challenge Cup Winners: Wakefield Trinity (38–5 v Hull)

A number of clubs complained to the Rugby Football League over BBC televising rugby league matches live on TV, stating that it was affecting attendances.

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

Championship

Final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. Helens	38	34	1	3	947	343	+604	69
2	Wakefield Trinity	38	32	0	6	831	348	+483	64
3	Hull	38	28	1	9	758	474	+284	57
4	Wigan	38	27	2	9	828	390	+438	56
5	Featherstone Rovers	38	27	0	11	730	437	+293	54
6	Whitehaven	38	22	3	13	594	533	+61	47
7	Warrington	38	22	2	14	650	482	+168	46
8	Swinton	38	22	2	14	654	503	+151	46
9	Oldham	38	22	1	15	744	461	+283	45
10	Hunslet	38	21	3	14	595	488	+107	45
11	Leigh	38	20	4	14	600	502	+98	44
12	Huddersfield	38	21	1	16	603	510	+93	43
13	Hull Kingston Rovers	38	20	1	17	517	575	−58	41
14	Leeds	38	20	0	18	641	573	+68	40
15	Salford	38	19	2	17	629	583	+46	40
16	Batley	38	18	3	17	476	506	−30	39
17	Widnes	38	18	1	19	598	519	+79	37
18	Castleford	38	18	0	20	561	630	−69	36
19	Workington Town	38	18	0	20	448	530	−82	36
20	Keighley	38	17	1	20	575	659	−84	35
21	York	38	17	0	21	579	698	−119	34
22	Halifax	38	15	2	21	627	561	+66	32
23	Rochdale Hornets	38	15	0	23	435	519	−84	30
24	Barrow	38	13	1	24	422	562	−140	27
25	Bramley	38	10	2	26	393	673	−280	22
26	Bradford Northern	38	9	3	26	450	645	−195	21
27	Liverpool City	38	9	3	26	383	720	−337	21
28	Blackpool Borough	38	9	1	28	400	819	−419	19
29	Dewsbury	38	4	1	33	337	982	−645	9
30	Doncaster	38	2	1	35	284	1,084	−800	5

Play-offs

Semi-finals			Championship final

1	St. Helens	9

4	Wigan	19
			Wigan	27

			Wakefield Trinity	3
2	Wakefield Trinity	24

3	Hull	4

Final

The Championship Final was played between Joe Egan' Wigan outfit against Wakefield Trinity at 3 o'clock on a warm afternoon on Saturday, 21 May 1960 at Odsal Stadium, Bradford. A crowd of 83,190 turned out for the game which was refereed by Eric Clay (Leeds).

Wigan: 27

Tries (5): Billy Boston (2), Eric Ashton (2), Bill Sayer
Goals: Fred Griffiths (6)

Wakefield Trinity: 3

Try: Fred Smith

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1959–60 Challenge Cup

The 1959–60 Challenge Cup tournament ended in a final between Wakefield Trinity and Hull F.C. The match was played at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 79,773, with Wakefield Trinity winning 38 – 5. Despite being on the losing team, Hull's hooker, Tommy Harris was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance.

Neil Fox of Wakefield Trinity scored a Cup Final record 20 points (two tries and seven goals) in the final for Wakefield, a feat that would not be repeated for another 39 years 1999.

County cups

Main article: 1959–60 Lancashire Cup Main article: 1959–60 Yorkshire Cup

Warrington beat St. Helens 5–4 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Featherstone Rovers beat Hull F.C. 15–14 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

Kangaroo Tour

Main article: 1959–60 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

September until December also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1959–60 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 2–1 by Australia), the Kangaroos played 21 matches against club and county representative sides.

The Kangaroos were coached by "The Little Master" Clive Churchill and were captained by Welsh born Balmain Tigers fullback Keith Barnes.

As of 2017, this remains the last time that Great Britain or England won The Ashes on home soil.

Sources

1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com

Rugby Football League seasons

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(1996–present)

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v t e Wigan squad – 1959–60 Championship Final winners
1 Fred Griffiths 2 Frank Halliwell 3 Billy Boston 4 Keith Holden 5 Syd Fenton 6 Eric Ashton 7 Dave Bolton 8 John Barton 9 Bill Sayer 10 Frank Collier 11 Brian McTigue (c) 12 Geoff Lyon 13 Roy Evans Coach: Joe Egan

v t e Wigan Warriors
Est. 1872 in Wigan, England
The Club	History Players Seasons Internationals
Home grounds	Folly Field (1872–1877; 1879–1886) Prescott Street (1877–1879; 1886–1901) Springfield Park (1901–1902) Central Park (1902–1999) Brick Community Stadium (1999–present)
Titles	RFL/Super League Championship: 1908–09 1921–22 1925–26 1933–34 1945–46 1946–47 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1995–96 1998 2010 2013 2016 2018 2023 World Club Challenge (4): 1987 1991 1994 2017 2024 Challenge Cup: 1924 1929 1944 1948 1951 1958 1959 1965 1985 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 2002 2011 2013 2022 2024
Seasons	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Culture	Clash of the Codes Rivalries Leeds St Helens Warrington Wolves
Affiliation	Wigan Warriors Women Wigan Warriors Wheelchair

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