1928–29 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1928–29 Rugby Football League season was the 34th season of rugby league football.

1928–29 Northern Rugby Football League season
League	Championship
Teams	28
Champions	Huddersfield (4th title)
League Leaders	Huddersfield
Runners-up	Leeds
Top point-scorer(s)	Jim Sullivan (226)
Top try-scorer(s)	Lou Brown Ernie Mills (44)
Joined League	Carlisle City
Resigned from the League	Carlisle City
← 1927–28 1929–30 →

Season summary

Huddersfield won their fourth Championship when they beat Leeds 2-0 in the play-off final.

On 4 May 1929 the first Challenge Cup Final to be held at Wembley Stadium was played. 41,500 saw Wigan beat Dewsbury 13-2.^[1]

Carlisle City fielded a team, but resigned after 10 matches and their record was expunged from the table. They won 1 and lost 9, scoring 59 and conceding 166. ^[2]

Swinton moved from their Chorley Road ground this season due to a dispute over rent. They built a new stadium at Station Road, Swinton using the stands from the old ground.^[3]

Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PAv	PCT	Qualification
1	Huddersfield	38	26	4	8	476	291	1.636	73.68	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
2	Hull Kingston Rovers	40	27	3	10	436	239	1.824	71.25
3	Leeds	38	26	2	10	695	270	2.574	71.05
4	Salford	34	23	2	9	395	222	1.779	70.59
5	Wigan	38	26	1	11	636	308	2.065	69.74
6	Swinton	36	23	2	11	429	249	1.723	66.67
7	Warrington	36	22	2	12	568	295	1.925	63.89
8	St Helens Recs	38	22	1	15	545	374	1.457	59.21
9	Oldham	36	18	4	14	439	343	1.280	55.56
10	Hunslet	38	19	4	15	539	356	1.514	55.26
11	St Helens	38	19	4	15	460	381	1.207	55.26
12	Hull	40	20	4	16	458	395	1.159	55.00
13	Leigh	34	17	3	14	285	279	1.022	54.41
14	Wigan Highfield	32	16	1	15	262	333	0.787	51.56
15	Dewsbury	36	17	2	17	380	387	0.982	50.00
16	Halifax	40	18	3	19	379	399	0.950	48.75
17	Wakefield Trinity	40	17	4	19	400	461	0.868	47.50
18	Barrow	32	13	2	17	396	387	1.023	43.75
19	Batley	38	14	2	22	278	442	0.629	39.47
20	Broughton Rangers	30	11	1	18	235	401	0.586	38.33
21	Castleford	34	11	4	19	268	369	0.726	38.24
22	York	34	12	0	22	259	409	0.633	35.29
23	Bramley	34	11	2	21	241	437	0.551	35.29
24	Widnes	34	11	2	21	222	439	0.506	35.29
25	Featherstone Rovers	38	10	4	24	277	451	0.614	31.58
26	Rochdale Hornets	34	10	0	24	235	434	0.541	29.41
27	Keighley	34	8	2	24	209	422	0.495	26.47
28	Bradford Northern	38	5	3	30	242	871	0.278	17.11
–	Carlisle City[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—

Source: ^[4]
Notes:

1. Carlisle City resigned from the league in November and folded. Their record (Pld 10, W 1, L 9, PF 59, PA 166, PCT 10.00) was expunged.

Championship play-off

	Semi-finals					Championship final
	1	Huddersfield	13
	4	Salford	5
						Huddersfield		2
						Leeds		0
	2	Hull Kingston Rovers	4
	3	Leeds	7

Final

11 May 1929

Huddersfield	2 – 0	Leeds
Goals: Brook	[5]

Thrum Hall, Halifax Attendance: 25,604 Referee: F. Fairhurst (Wigan)

Huddersfield	Number	Leeds
	Teams
Joe Brook	1	Jim Brough
Ernie Mills	2	George Andrews
Len Bowkett	3	Mel Rosser
Gwyn Parker	4	Frank O'Rourke
Fred Smart	5	Arthur Lloyd
Stanley Spencer	6	Jeff Moores
Eddie Williams	7	Walter Swift
Sam Gee	8	Daniel Pascoe
Cyril Halliday	9	William Demaine
John Rudd	10	Joe Thompson
Clifford Morton	11	Bill Davis
Percy Carter	12	Arthur Thomas
Harold Young	13	Frank Gallagher

County leagues

Swinton won the Lancashire League, and Huddersfield won the Yorkshire League.

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1928–29 Challenge Cup

Wigan beat Dewsbury 13–2 in the first final to be played at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 41,000.^[6]

This was Wigan’s second Challenge Cup Final win in their fourth Cup Final appearance.^[7][8]

County cups

Main article: 1928–29 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1928–29 Yorkshire Cup

Wigan beat Widnes 5–4 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Featherstone Rovers 5–0 to win the Yorkshire Cup.