1915–16 Northern Rugby Football Union Wartime Emergency League season


The 1915–16 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the first season of Rugby league's Wartime Emergency League football. Each club played a differing number of fixtures, depending upon the closeness of neighbours, ease of travel etc., with York playing only 11 and Barrow 13 while Salford played 35 and Dewsbury 36.

Season summary

Although the war was starting its second year, the Rugby League decided to introduce a Wartime Emergency League. This arrangement, as in other sports, meant that the sport could continue, which in turn would boost the public’s moral. The fixtures were usually quite local, thus cutting down on travelling time and costs, whilst not wasting precious war resources.
Several clubs did not participate during this season :-
Three new clubs joined the league for this season :-
Dewsbury and Leeds finished the regular season joint top of the league, based on the % system, both having obtained an 83.33% success, but Dewsbury took the title due to them having gained an extra 5 points.
There were no other trophies to play for during this season.

Championship

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup Competition was suspended for the duration of the war.
The majority of the trophies, such as the County Leagues and County Cups were also suspended for the duration of the First World War.