1968–69 Northern Rugby Football League season
| League | Northern Rugby Football League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds | |||
| League Leaders | File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds | |||
| Top point-scorer(s) | File:Rhinoscolours.svg Bev Risman 345 | |||
| Top try-scorer(s) | File:Wigancolours.svg Bill Francis 40 | |||
|
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The 1968–69 Rugby Football League season was the seventy third season of rugby league football.
Season summary
Leeds had finished the regular season as League leaders for the third season in a row. They then won their second Championship when they beat Castleford 16-14 in the Championship Final. Bev Risman was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.
The Challenge Cup winners were Castleford who beat Salford 11-6 in the final.
The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Wigan who beat St. Helens 7-4 in the final.[1]
St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Leeds won the Yorkshire League. St. Helens beat Oldham 30–2 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Castleford 22–11 to win the Yorkshire Cup.
Championship
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leeds | 34 | 29 | 2 | 3 | 60 |
| 2 | St. Helens | 34 | 27 | 2 | 5 | 56 |
| 3 | Wigan | 34 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 52 |
| 4 | Castleford | 34 | 24 | 2 | 8 | 50 |
| 5 | Swinton | 34 | 23 | 0 | 11 | 46 |
| 6 | Salford | 34 | 19 | 5 | 10 | 43 |
| 7 | Featherstone Rovers | 34 | 21 | 1 | 12 | 43 |
| 8 | Workington Town | 34 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 42 |
| 9 | Leigh | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 42 |
| 10 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 20 | 0 | 14 | 40 |
| 11 | York | 34 | 20 | 0 | 14 | 40 |
| 12 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 39 |
| 13 | Hull | 34 | 18 | 3 | 13 | 39 |
| 14 | Widnes | 34 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 39 |
| 15 | Keighley | 34 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 37 |
| 16 | Oldham | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 36 |
| 17 | Warrington | 34 | 17 | 1 | 16 | 35 |
| 18 | Halifax | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 34 |
| 19 | Bradford Northern | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 32 |
| 20 | Barrow | 34 | 13 | 1 | 20 | 27 |
| 21 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 13 | 0 | 21 | 26 |
| 22 | Dewsbury | 34 | 12 | 1 | 21 | 25 |
| 23 | Hunslet | 34 | 11 | 0 | 23 | 22 |
| 24 | Doncaster | 34 | 11 | 0 | 23 | 22 |
| 25 | Huddersfield | 34 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 19 |
| 26 | Batley | 34 | 8 | 1 | 25 | 17 |
| 27 | Huyton | 34 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 16 |
| 28 | Bramley | 34 | 7 | 0 | 27 | 14 |
| 29 | Blackpool Borough | 34 | 7 | 0 | 27 | 14 |
| 30 | Whitehaven | 34 | 6 | 1 | 27 | 13 |
|
Champions |
Play-offs |
Play-offs
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| Leeds | 32 | |||||||||||||
| Oldham | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Leeds | 18 | |||||||||||||
| Workington | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Workington | 11 | |||||||||||||
| Leigh | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Leeds | 22 | |||||||||||||
| Salford | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Wigan | 26 | |||||||||||||
| Widnes | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Wigan | 21 | |||||||||||||
| Salford | 26 | |||||||||||||
| Salford | 13 | |||||||||||||
| York | 7 | |||||||||||||
| Leeds | 16 | |||||||||||||
| Castleford | 14 | |||||||||||||
| Swinton | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Swinton | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Castleford | 50 | |||||||||||||
| Castleford | 14 | |||||||||||||
| Hull | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Castleford | 18 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 6 | Third Place | ||||||||||||
| Featherstone Rovers | 16 | |||||||||||||
| Hull K R | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Featherstone Rovers | 4 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 47 | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 25 | |||||||||||||
| Keighley | 7 | |||||||||||||
Challenge Cup
Castleford beat Salford 11-6 in the final played at Wembley before a crowd of 97,939. Salford were captained by David Watkins.
This was Castleford’s second Cup Final win in two Final appearances.
To date, this was Salford’s last appearance in a Challenge Cup Final.[2]
