1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season
Introduction The '''1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season''' was the ninth season of rugby league football.
Season summary The League Champions were Bradford and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax.Keighley and Huddersfield were demoted from the top division and replaced by Wakefield Trinity (champions) and St. Helens.As the top two teams had finished level on points and Points Difference had not been introduced as a tie breaker yet, despite having a worse points difference, Bradford contested a play-off with Salford, that Bradford won 5-0.In the Second Division, Manningham and Stockport were replaced by Pontefract, reducing the competition to 17 teams. Birkenhead Wanderers dropped the Wanderers from their name.The second promotion place had to be decided by a play-off as Points Difference had not yet been introduced as a tie breaker. St. Helens beat Holbeck 7-0.There was no county league competition this season.
Internationals On 5 April 1904, the first ever International Rugby League match took place between England and Other Nationalities. It was played at Central Park, Wigan, having originally been scheduled for New Year's Day in Oldham. England lost 3-9 in a twelve sided match, with the opposition made up of ten Welshmen and two Scots. The crowd numbered just 6,000.===Teams=== England  Other Nationalities '''Full back'''  '''Full back'''  W.B. Little   D. Smith '''Three Quarters''' '''Three Quarters'''  F. Spottiswoode   D. Thomas  G. Dickenson   T.D. Llewellyn  J. Lomas   D. Harris  J. Fish   D.J. Lewis '''Half backs'''  '''Half backs'''  J. Baxter   E. Davies  J. Morely   P.J. Brady '''Forwards'''  '''Forwards'''  A. Starks c   J. Rhapps   P. Tunney   J.G. Moffatt  J. Riley   G. Frater c  J.W. Bulmer  D. Thomas J. Ferguson  H. Buckler
Division One Championship play-off: Bradford vs Salford 5-0TeamPldWDLPFPAPts1Bradford34252730396522Salford342527366108523Broughton Rangers342149306142464Hunslet3422111250157455Oldham3420311215110436Leeds3419510211145437Warrington3417314214153378Hull Kingston Rovers3417215191167369Halifax34143171251483110Wigan34116171771742811Swinton34124181392152812Batley34123191392412713Hull34123191482582714Widnes34115181262432715Leigh34105191742502516Runcorn34112211512452417Keighley3485211293192118Huddersfield341002416035320
Division two Promotion play-off: St. Helens vs Holbeck 7-0TeamPldWDLPFPAPts1Wakefield Trinity32271438957552St. Helens322336328105493Holbeck322417256120494Rochdale Hornets322228319104465York322011124497416Brighouse Rangers3219310192136417Castleford3218311185194398Bramley3216412181180369Barrow32163132191623510Pontefract32146121741503411Dewsbury32123171852052712Millom32122181852092613Lancaster3282221292911814Birkenhead327025753341415South Shields3261251403361316Morecambe325324722871317Normanton3240281054118
Challenge Cup Halifax beat Warrington 8-3 in the final at Salford's The Willows before a paying crowd of 17,041, plus 1,000 additional guests, to become the second team to record back-to-back Cup wins. Halifax wouldn’t reach another final until 1921 nor win the Cup again until 1931.
Sources * 1903-04 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com* The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website
References