1918–19 (January) Northern Rugby Football Union Wartime Emergency League season
| 1918–1919 (January) Northern Rugby Football Union Wartime Emergency League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Northern Rugby League Wartime Emergency League |
| 1918–19 (Jan) Season | |
| Champions | No table produced |
| Runners-up | No table produced |
The 1918–19 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the fourth season of Rugby league's Wartime Emergency League football. Each club again played a differing number of fixtures, depending upon the closeness of neighbours, ease of travel etc.. The season tapered off towards the end when the 1919 (Feb-May) “Victory” League was hurriedly introduced.
The war was starting its fifth year and the Rugby League again started the season by continuing with the Wartime Emergency League set up. 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 :-
No clubs re-joined the League and no new clubs joined the league for this season.
Although it is known that St Helens Recs did play some matches during the season, it is not clear whether these were just friendlies or whether part of the league programme.
The armistice was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918, signifying an end to the Great War. This in turn meant a slight relaxation of the emergency rules on sport and leisure introduced by the British Government during the war. The Northern Union decided to organise a new “Victory” League" starting in February 1919. This in turn meant that the 1918–19 League programme seemed to peter out and was never finished. Consequently no table was ever produced for the “partial” season.
Note - Nowhere in the official archives is the word "Victory" used. It has been used in this article to distinguish between the two competitions held in the 1918–19 season.
There is very little information available for this partial season, although Wigan played 13 matches and Hull F.C. 12 matches.
The table below gives the teams competing in alphabetical order, only Wigan and Hull F.C. results are complete.
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