Rugby League in England Trivia Quiz

Answer: Manningham

Formed in 1880, Manningham were a founding member of the new Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. The new code was a breakaway from the Rugby Football Union and would eventually stand apart from rugby union, with new rules adapted to help supporters recognise the differences between the two codes.
Manningham RLFC became the first ever rugby league champions by finishing one point ahead of Halifax in the first season of rugby league football. A 4-0 over Hunslet in the final game of the season sealed their one and only title.
For the next five years, there was no national Rugby League competition, as clubs supported the use of regional competitions due to excessive travel.
Meanwhile, Manningham only played Rugby League until 1903, when they decided to change codes to Association Football and became Bradford City AFC.

Answer: Headingley

56 clubs entered the first Challenge Cup. Eventually Batley and St. Helens made it to the final, played on April 24, 1897, at Headingley in Leeds.
A crowd of 13,492 watched Batley beat St. Helens 10-3 to become the first-ever winners of the Challenge Cup. Batley would go on to successfully defend the Cup in 1898, beating Bradford FC 7-0 in the final.

Answer: Broughton Rovers

1901-02 was the first time that the term 'rugby league', after the top 7 sides from the Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions resigned to merge into a central Northern Rugby League competition.
Broughton Rovers dominated rugby league in 1901-02, easily winning the new rugby league competition, 12 points ahead of Salford.
Broughton Rovers also won the Challenge Cup for the first time, beating Rochdale by 25-0 in the final.

Answer: Salford

The league was still decided by the team finishing first in the table in 1903-04, but as Bradford and Salford finished equal on 52 points, an avenue to find a winner was needed. Tie-breakers such as points difference had not been used, so the decision was taken for the two teams to meet in a playoff.
Bradford beat Salford 5-0 in the playoff to secure their first and only Championship, and would go on to win the Challenge Cup two years later.
Bradford FC would eventually be swamped by bitter infighting and the club would eventually split. The majority would go on to become Bradford Park Avenue that played under Association Football rules. The minority stayed under rugby league rules and would become known as Bradford Northern.

Answer: Barrow

In the 12th season of rugby league in England, there were a number of rule changes in preseason in an attempt to distinguish the code from rugby union, and create a faster, more competitive sport.
The number of players was adjusted from 15 to 13. The union rules of rucks and mauls were abolished, with a play-the-ball system introduced. Scrums were now only used during certain aspects of the game while lineouts had been abolished years before.
The Rugby Football League also introduced a playoff system where the top four would compete for the title. 1st would play 4th and 2nd would play 3rd, with the two winners meeting in a Grand Final.
Halifax would beat Keighley while Oldham would beat Runcorn in the semi-finals, with Halifax beating Oldham 18-3 in the final.
At the other end of the spectrum, Liverpool City finished bottom of 26 sides, failing to win any of their 30 games played.

Answer: 37-3

Huddersfield were the dominant side of the time and their 1915 Challenge Cup victory was their third in four years, while they had also won the Rugby League Championship three times in four years in the same period.
The 37-3 victory for Huddersfield was the biggest score for a winner and largest margin of victory in a Challenge Cup Final. The largest margin of victory record remained until 1999. The biggest score for a winner remained only until 1960.
The Challenge Cup Final was only the second time that St. Helens had made since they made the very first in 1897. St. Helens would make another two finals before finally winning their first Challenge Cup in 1955-56.

Answer: Hull

Rochdale set a number of records during the 1921-22 season, one of their most competitive to date. They finished 7th in the league, only five points outside the playoffs. Along the way to the final, the club set a record attendance in a derby game against Oldham in the 3rd Round of the Challenge Cup.
The final was played at Headingley in front of 32,596, a then record crowd for a Challenge Cup final.

Answer: Swinton

St. Helens Recreation had finished top of the league at the end of 38 games, but only one point ahead of Swinton in second place. They beat Wigan 23-3 in the semi-final, and then beat St. Helens Recreation 13-8 in the final.
In a good year for Swinton, the team also managed to reach the final of the Challenge Cup but were beaten by Oldham 26-7. Oldham were in their fourth consecutive Challenge Cup Final and the win was their third in the competition.

Answer: St. Helens

It was a second successive league win for Huddersfield after they had also won the title in 1928-29. But after their fifth success in 1930, Huddersfield would only win the league twice more before the end of the millenium.
It was a bad season all round for St Helens despite finishing the season as league leaders. They lost their semi final against Leeds 10-6, while they also lost the Challenge Cup Final to Leeds 10-3.

Answer: No

The 1930s Rugby League Championship was an incredibly competitive affair, with no team managing to defend their title. The same issue occurred in the Challenge Cup, with 9 different winners before the outbreak of World War Two.
The winners were as follows: Swinton (1930-31, 1934-35), St Helens (1931-32, their first title), Salford (1932-33, 1936-37, 1938-39), Wigan (1933-34), Hull (1935-36), and Hunslet (1937-38).

Answer: Warrington

Twice Challenge Cup winners (1904-05, 1906-07), Warrington RLFC had to wait until the 1947-48 season to win their first Championship. The arrival of winger Brian Bevan was a catalyst of the success that would come to Warrington from the end of the Second World War to the late 1950s. Warrington would win three Championships and another two Challenge Cups by 1960.
For 1947-48, Warrington finished second in the League, only 2 points behind league leaders Wigan. Warrington would defeat Huddersfield in the semi-final 17-5. In the final against Bradford Northern, Warrington would triumph 15-5.

Answer: 102,569

1953-54 was another brilliant season for Warrington, who did the double of Championship and Challenge Cup.
Warrington finished only one point behind Halifax in the League and, three days after the Challenge Cup final, defeated Halifax in the Championship Final 8-7.
In the Challenge Cup, the game played at Wembley was regarded as a drab and dull affair, with no tries scored and only two penalties scored by each side. But the game at Odsal was a thriller. Although the official figure is put at 102,569, many believe more than 120,000 people packed into Odsal to watch a fantastic game of rugby, with Warrington eventually coming out worth winners 8-4.

Answer: Hull Kingston Rovers

Wakefield Trinity came of age at the end of the 1950s with success in League and Cup.
In 1960, Wakefield beat Hull 38-5 at Wembley. In 1962, Wakefield beat Huddersfield 12-6. And the next season, Wakefield beat Wigan 25-10. Wakefield were also enjoying some success in the League, although would not win their first Championship until 1966-67.

Answer: 22-13

The final of the 1972-73 season was the last final to be played for 35 years. The league was split into two after the end of the season and the league winner would be chosen from who finished top of the table and not by a play-off.
The Championship final between Leeds and Dewsbury was a game between the previous seasons champions and a team making their very first appearance in a Championship Final.
Dewsbury dominated the game, played at Odsal Stadium in Bradford, and won the game 22-13, scoring 4 tries to 3.

Answer: Leeds

Leeds was the first team to win their 10th Challenge Cup in 1976-77. They won 16-7 in the final.