1993–94 Rugby Football League season

Rugby league season
1993–94 Rugby Football League season
LeagueChampionship
Duration30 Rounds
TeamsFirst Division: 16
Second Division: 16
Broadcast partnersSky Sports
First Division
ChampionsWigan
Premiership winnersWigan
Man of SteelJonathan Davies
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to Second DivisionHull Kingston Rovers
Leigh
Second Division
ChampionsWorkington Town
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second DivisionWorkington Town
Doncaster

The 1993–94 Rugby Football League season was the 99th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August 1993 until May 1994 for a number of titles, primarily the Stones Bitter Championship.

Season summary

The 1994 Man of Steel Award for player of the season went to Warrington's Jonathan Davies.

This season saw the highest ever away victory in the league when Keighley Cougars beat Highfield 104-4 at the Rochdale Hornets ground on 23 April.

This was the first season since the 1905–06 inaugural season of the Lancashire County Cup and Yorkshire County Cup, except for the break for World War I and World War II (Lancashire Cup only), that the Lancashire Cup and Yorkshire Cup competitions had not taken place.

Tables

First Division

Wigan, Bradford Northern and Warrington all finished the season on top of the ladder with 46 points, but Wigan's superior points differential saw them crowned League Champions for the fifth consecutive time. This earned them the right to travel to Australia at the close of the season and contest the 1994 World Club Challenge. Wigan defeated the Brisbane Broncos and confirmed their position as the dominant rugby league club of the year.

After finishing in second last and last place respectively, Hull Kingston Rovers and Leigh were demoted to the Second Division.

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Wigan (C) 30 23 0 7 780 403 +377 46 Qualification for the Premiership first round
2 Bradford Northern 30 23 0 7 784 555 +229 46
3 Warrington 30 23 0 7 628 430 +198 46
4 Castleford 30 19 1 10 787 466 +321 39
5 Halifax 30 17 2 11 682 581 +101 36
6 Sheffield Eagles 30 16 2 12 704 671 +33 34
7 Leeds 30 15 2 13 673 680 −7 32
8 St Helens 30 15 1 14 704 537 +167 31
9 Hull F.C. 30 14 2 14 536 530 +6 30
10 Widnes 30 14 0 16 523 642 −119 28
11 Featherstone Rovers 30 13 1 16 651 681 −30 27
12 Salford 30 11 0 19 554 650 −96 22
13 Oldham 30 10 1 19 552 651 −99 21
14 Wakefield Trinity 30 9 1 20 458 708 −250 19
15 Hull Kingston Rovers (R) 30 9 0 21 493 782 −289 18 Relegation to Second Division
16 Leigh (R) 30 2 1 27 370 912 −542 5
Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Second Division

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Workington Town (C, P) 30 22 2 6 760 331 +429 46 Promoted to First Division
Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round
2 Doncaster (P) 30 22 1 7 729 486 +243 45
3 London Crusaders 30 21 2 7 842 522 +320 44 Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round
4 Batley 30 21 1 8 707 426 +281 43
5 Huddersfield 30 20 0 10 661 518 +143 40
6 Keighley Cougars 30 19 1 10 856 472 +384 39
7 Dewsbury 30 18 1 11 766 448 +318 37
8 Rochdale Hornets 30 18 0 12 704 532 +172 36
9 Ryedale-York 30 17 1 12 662 516 +146 35
10 Whitehaven 30 14 4 12 571 437 +134 32
11 Barrow 30 13 1 16 581 743 −162 27
12 Swinton 30 11 0 19 528 681 −153 22
13 Carlisle 30 9 0 21 540 878 −338 18
14 Hunslet 30 3 1 26 445 814 −369 7
15 Bramley 30 3 0 27 376 957 −581 6
16 Highfield 30 1 1 28 267 1234 −967 3
Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Challenge Cup

The Silk Cut Challenge Cup Final was played between Wigan and Leeds on a Saturday afternoon, 30 April 1994 at Wembley Stadium, before a crowd of 78,348. Bonnie Tyler lead the community singing at the match.[2] Wigan's Martin Offiah opened the scoring with a ninety-plus metre try, and went on to win the game 26–16.

League Cup

Premiership

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1993–94 season.[3]

Most tries

Player Team Tries
Mark Johnson London Crusaders 43
St John Ellis Castleford 40
Paul Newlove Bradford Northern 37
Martin Offiah Wigan 37
Stuart Cocker Workington Town 35
Nick Pinkney Keighley Cougars 31
Mark Riley London Crusaders 30
Carl Hall Bradford Northern 27
Darren Moxon Batley 27
Jason Critchley Salford 25
John Bentley Halifax 25
Ellery Hanley Leeds 25

Most goals (including drop goals)

Player Team Goals
Frano Botica Wigan 188
John Gallagher London Crusaders 159
Deryck Fox Bradford Northern 148
Lee Crooks Castleford 137
Jonathan Davies Warrington 132
Mark Conway Dewsbury 130
Robert Turner Doncaster 123
Mark Aston Sheffield Eagles 123
Graham Holroyd Leeds 103
Dean Marwood Workington Town 100

References

  1. ^ a b Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-96. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-7472-7817-7.
  2. ^ Baker, Andrew (1995-08-20). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  3. ^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David (27 March 1997). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997. London: Headline. pp. 163–7. ISBN 978-0-7472-7764-4.

Sources

  • 1993–94 Rugby Football League season at rlhalloffame.org.uk
  • 1993–94 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
  • Wigan's record Cup run at news.bbc.co.uk
  • Great Britain Competitions 1993-1994 at hunterlink.net.au
  • Championship 1993/94 at rugbyleagueproject.org
  • v
  • t
  • e
Rugby Football League era
(1895–1996)
1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96
Super League era
(1996–present)
  • v
  • t
  • e
Wigan Warriors
Est. 1872 in Wigan, England
The Club
Home grounds
  • Folly Field (1872–1877; 1879–1886)
  • Prescott Street (1877–1879; 1886–1901)
  • Springfield Park (1901–1902)
  • Central Park (1902–1999)
  • Brick Community Stadium (1999–present)
League
Titles
Seasons
Culture
Affiliation