Normanton (Rugby League)

Normanton was a (semi) professional rugby league club.
The club was based in Normanton, a small town (population Approx. 20,000) within the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England.
The club joined the Northern Union in 1898-99 and played for a total of five seasons until 1905-06. They played at the Mopsey Garth ground.^[1]
The club started out as founder members of the Yorkshire Senior Competition Division 2 (East), and moved as the competition structures changed.
Only limited County League information is available for the season 1901-02 spent in the Yorkshire Senior League.

History

The first rugby club in Normanton was established in 1879 and used the Midland Hotel as its base.^[2]

Together with 14 other clubs including Hull Kingston Rovers and Keighley, Normanton were one of the founders of the third division of the Yorklshire Senior Competition (actually called the Yorkshire Rugby Union Intermediate Competitions) in 1893.

After the Great Schism^[3] in 1895, Normanton remained true to the Rugby Football Union. until eventually following the majority of other Yorkshire clubs and joining the Northern Union in 1898. They, together with Eastmoor,^[4] Featherstone, Goole, Hull Kingston Rovers, Kinsley, Outwood Parish Church, Ripon, Rothwell, and York, were among the founders of the Yorkshire Second Competition (Eastern Section).

In season 1899-00 Normanton finished top of this league, and on the way beat Leeds in the first round of the Challenge Cup before losing to Batley in the second round.

In 1901-02 Normanton were elected into the Yorkshire Senior Competition where they finished a creditable 8th (and one place above local rivals Castleford) out of 14. (This Castleford club who played at the turn of the century had no connection whatsoever with the present Castleford Tigers club)

At the end of the 1901-02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member South Shields) with the existing second competition scrapped.^[5]

1901-02 Normanton, being one of the fortunate ones, joined the new second division and finished 12th out of 18 teams.

1903-04 Normanton continued to play in the Second division, but struggled and finished in 17th (and bottom) place.

1904-05 was a little better and Normanton managed to finish 10th out of 14 (and one place below Castleford).

1905-06 saw the Rugby League revert to one single division of 31 clubs. Normanton finished in 26th position but in doing so ended the season in financial difficulties. The Northern Union allowed Millom and Normanton to cancel their game due to the cost of travelling. At the end of the season Normanton was forced to fold. (Millom, who finished one position below Normanton in 27th place also folded at the end of the season due to financial difficulties).

New Club

A new club, Hopetown Rovers, was quickly formed in time for the new season. The new club joined the Wakefield and Dewsbury District League, using the Huntsman Inn as a base and playing on Normanton Common. Thus continuing the existence of a Rugby club in the town. The club later went through several transitions and name change including to Normanton ARLFC and finally Normanton Knights ARLFC in the early 1980s

Club League Record

The League positions for Normanton for the 5 years in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League are given in the following table :-^[6]

Season	Competition	Pos	Team Name	Pl	W	D	L	PW	PA	Diff	Pts	% Pts	No of teams in league	Notes	Ref
1901-02	Yorks Senior	8	Normanton								28		14		[7]
			Only limited County League information is available for this season.
1902-03	2nd Division	12	Normanton	34	12	4	18	160	228	-68	28		16
1903-04	2nd Division	17	Normanton	32	4	0	28	105	411	-306	8		17
1904-05	2nd Division	10	Normanton	26	9	1	16	105	228	-123	19		14
1905-06	RL	24	Normanton	24	4	2	18	50	280	-230	10	20.83	31

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures & results

The following are just a few of Normanton’s fixtures during the five season (and other times) in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League :- ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]}

Season	Date	Competition	Opponent	Venue	H/A	Result	Score	Att	Notes	Ref
1897-98	Sat 3 Sept 1898	Yorks Sec Comp (East)	Derwsbury	Mopsey Garth	H	Won	16-3	?	1
1899-00	date unknown	CC R1	Leeds	venue unknown		Won		?
1899-00	date unknown	CC R2	Batley	venue unknown		Lost		?
1903-04	Sat 3 Oct 1903	2nd Div	St Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Lost	0-27	?		[10]
1903-04	Sat 30 Jan 1904	2nd Div	St Helens	Mopsey Garth	H	Lost	6-8	?		[10]
1905-06	Sat 20 Jan 1906	RL	St Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Lost	3-28	?		[10]
1905-06	Sat 31 Mar 1906	RL	St Helens	Mopsey Garth	H	Lost	5-9	?		[10]
1908-09	Sat 27 Feb 1909	Challenge Cup 1st Rd	Hull	Home	H	Lost	10-20	?		[8]
1912-13	17 Feb 1912	Challenge Cup 1st Rd	Warrington	Home	H	Drew	6-6	?		[9]
1912-13	19 Feb 1912	CC 1st Round replay	Warrington	Wilderspool	A	Lost	0-75	?		[9]

Notes and Comments

1 - This was one of the games played on the Inaugural Saturday of the new league
2 - Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by Widnes. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton - and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997.
3 - Wigan became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at Central Park being constructed.

See also

British rugby league system
1899-00 Northern Rugby Football Union season
1901–02 Northern Rugby Football Union season
1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season
1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season
1904–05 Northern Rugby Football Union season
1901–02 Northern Rugby Football Union season
Cumberland League
Rugby league county leagues
List of defunct rugby league clubs

References

1. ^ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. p. 52. 
2. ^ "Normanton Knights History". http://www.normantonknights.co.uk/page/AboutTheKnights-ClubHistory. 
3. ^ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 34 and 35. 
4. ^ "Eastmoor Dragons ARLFC - Club Info - History 2". http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/eastmoordragonsarlfc/. 
5. ^ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 37 and 38. 
6. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Rugby League Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Cherry and White". http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=324. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results". http://www.hullfc.com/FixturesAndResults.aspx?sg=12&gi=3. 
9. ^ ^{a b c} "Warrington Wolves results and archives". http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive. 
10. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Saints Heritage Society". http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=24. 
11. ^ "Widnes Seasons in Review". http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/seasonreview.php?mid=2010&smid=2010&mids=2010. 

External links

• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• Saints Heritage Society
• Folly Field
• Normanton Knights ARLFC website
• Normanton Knights History
• Eastmoor Dragons ARLFC - Club Info - History 2