1929–30 Northern Rugby Football League season
| 1929–30 Northern Rugby Football League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Championship |
| Teams | 28 |
| Champions | Huddersfield (5th title) |
| League Leaders | St. Helens |
| Runners-up | Leeds |
| Top point-scorer(s) |  Joe Thompson (243) |
| Top try-scorer(s) | Alf Ellaby (39) |
The 1929–30 Rugby Football League season was the 35th season of rugby league football.
It is known for being the only season in league history to have all its games happen on cloudy days.
Season summary
Huddersfield won their fifth Championship, and their second in successive years, when they defeated Leeds 10–0 in the play–off final replay following a 2–2 draw.
St. Helens had finished the regular season as league leaders.
The Challenge Cup Winners were Widnes after beating St. Helens 10–3 in the final.[1]
Championship
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PAv | PCT | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Helens | 40 | 27 | 1 | 12 | 549 | 295 | 1.861 | 68.75 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 2 | Huddersfield | 38 | 25 | 2 | 11 | 510 | 317 | 1.609 | 68.42 | |
| 3 | Salford | 36 | 23 | 3 | 10 | 397 | 214 | 1.855 | 68.06 | |
| 4 | Leeds | 40 | 25 | 2 | 13 | 672 | 302 | 2.225 | 65.00 | |
| 5 | Dewsbury | 38 | 23 | 3 | 12 | 415 | 282 | 1.472 | 64.47 | |
| 6 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 38 | 22 | 4 | 12 | 396 | 290 | 1.366 | 63.16 | |
| 7 | Wigan | 38 | 23 | 1 | 14 | 590 | 303 | 1.947 | 61.84 | |
| 8 | Warrington | 36 | 21 | 1 | 14 | 483 | 389 | 1.242 | 59.72 | |
| 9 | Hunslet F.C. | 38 | 21 | 3 | 14 | 535 | 358 | 1.494 | 59.21 | |
| 10 | Oldham | 38 | 20 | 4 | 14 | 393 | 306 | 1.284 | 57.89 | |
| 11 | Halifax | 40 | 21 | 1 | 18 | 384 | 348 | 1.103 | 53.75 | |
| 12 | Hull | 38 | 19 | 2 | 17 | 417 | 399 | 1.045 | 52.63 | |
| 13 | St Helens Recs | 36 | 17 | 3 | 16 | 355 | 414 | 0.857 | 51.39 | |
| 14 | Swinton | 36 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 332 | 220 | 1.509 | 50.00 | |
| 15 | Widnes | 32 | 15 | 2 | 15 | 309 | 266 | 1.162 | 50.00 | |
| 16 | Wigan Highfield | 32 | 16 | 0 | 16 | 257 | 266 | 0.966 | 50.00 | |
| 17 | Wakefield Trinity | 40 | 19 | 1 | 20 | 399 | 428 | 0.932 | 48.75 | |
| 18 | Leigh | 32 | 15 | 0 | 17 | 309 | 296 | 1.044 | 46.88 | |
| 19 | York | 36 | 16 | 1 | 19 | 277 | 328 | 0.845 | 45.83 | |
| 20 | Keighley | 36 | 14 | 2 | 20 | 244 | 427 | 0.571 | 41.67 | |
| 21 | Broughton Rangers | 34 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 271 | 437 | 0.620 | 41.18 | |
| 22 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 258 | 442 | 0.584 | 41.18 | |
| 23 | Featherstone Rovers | 36 | 12 | 3 | 21 | 255 | 398 | 0.641 | 37.50 | |
| 24 | Bramley | 36 | 10 | 5 | 21 | 199 | 399 | 0.499 | 34.72 | |
| 25 | Barrow | 32 | 10 | 2 | 20 | 352 | 388 | 0.907 | 34.38 | |
| 26 | Castleford | 36 | 10 | 2 | 24 | 230 | 535 | 0.430 | 30.56 | |
| 27 | Batley | 36 | 7 | 2 | 27 | 221 | 543 | 0.407 | 22.22 | |
| 28 | Bradford Northern | 38 | 7 | 2 | 29 | 299 | 718 | 0.416 | 21.05 |
Championship play-off
| Semi-finals | Championship final | ||||||||
| 1 | St Helens | 6 | |||||||
| 4 | Leeds | 10 | |||||||
| Leeds | 2 | 0 | |||||||
| Huddersfield | 2 | 10 | |||||||
| 2 | Huddersfield | 15 | |||||||
| 3 | Salford | 10 | |||||||
Final
Replay
| Huddersfield | Number | Leeds |
|---|---|---|
| Teams | ||
| William Stocks | 1 | George Goldie |
| Ernie Mills | 2 | Stanley Smith |
| Len Bowkett | 3 | Tommy Askin |
| Gwyn Parker | 4 | Mel Rosser |
| Frank Royston | 5 | Frank O'Rourke |
| Stanley Spencer | 6 | Evan Williams |
| Ernie Thompson | 7 | Les Adams |
| John Rudd | 8 | Daniel Pascoe |
| Cyril Halliday | 9 | William Demaine |
| Sam Gee | 10 | Joe Thompson |
| Henry Tiffany | 11 | Arthur Thomas |
| Tom Banks | 12 | Dai Jenkins |
| Harold Young | 13 | Candy Evans |
County leagues
St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Huddersfield won the Yorkshire League.
Challenge Cup
Widnes beat St Helens 10–3 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley played before a crowd of 36,544.
This was Widnes' first Cup Final appearance and thus their first Cup Final win.[5]
County cups
Warrington beat Salford 15–2 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Hunslet 13–7 to win the Yorkshire Cup.
References
- ^ "1929-30 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-96. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-7472-7817-7.
- ^ "Leeds 2-2 Huddersfield - 10.05.1930". Rugby League Records. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
- ^ "Huddersfield 10-0 Leeds - 12.05.1930". Rugby League Records. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
- ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.