Season summary The 1944–45 season began on Saturday 2 September 1944. As in the previous season, there are still only the three Lancashire clubs who have not had to close down and withdrawn from the League. The
Northern Rugby League continued with a single (now) 17 club single Competition. As the clubs are still playing different number of marches, the league positions and the title would be decided on a percentage basis. At the completion of the regular season
Bradford Northern were on top of the league on the percentage success (with 34 points from 20 games and a percentage success of 85.00%) with
Halifax second (27 points from 16 games @ 84.38%). Last season’s League Leaders
Wakefield Trinity although with the same number of points as
Bradford Northern had played more games and finished in third position with 34 points from 23 games – percentage success 73.91%
Wigan finished with one point more than
Bradford Northern but had played 4 more games and finished fourth (with a record of played 24 points 35 points and 72.92%)
Castleford finished in a creditable 6th position in their first season back after an earlier withdrawal.
St. Helens, for the third consecutive season, finished (this time joint with
York.) bottom (16th out of the 17 clubs) with only 9 points from 23 games and with a points difference of (minus) -217. The two clubs had almost identical records – but
St. Helens avoided the wooden spoon as they had a better points record than
York (points difference (minus)-273).
Bradford Northern beat
Halifax 26-20 on aggregate in the two legged play-off final. and win the Championship. The
Wartime Emergency League did not count as an official league championship. In the Final of the
Rugby league Challenge Cup,
Huddersfield beat
Bradford Northern 13-9 on aggregate over two legs in front of an aggregate crowd of 26,541. The
Lancashire County Cup, suspended for season
1940–41 remained so for the rest of the war and again Wigan competed in the Yorkshire Cup. In the Final of the
Yorkshire County Cup,
Halifax beat
Hunslet by 14-3 on aggregate in two low scoring legs before an aggregate crowd of 20,800.
Change in Club participation Previous withdrawals The following clubs had withdrawn from the League, before this 1944–45 season's completion began:- :
St Helens Recs – who folded before the war started. :
Hull Kingston Rovers – who withdrew after the end of the first
(1939–40) season finished and did not rejoin until the
1945–46 season. :
Rochdale Hornets – As
Hull Kingston Rovers. :
Widnes – As
Hull Kingston Rovers. :
Liverpool Stanley – withdrew after the end of the second
1940–41 season finished and did not rejoin until the
1945–46 season. :
Salford – As Liverpool Stanley. :
Swinton – As Liverpool Stanley. :
Warrington – As Liverpool Stanley. :
Broughton Rangers – withdrew early in the
1941–42 season and did not rejoin until the
1945–46 season. :
Leigh - During the Second World War, the club was forced to leave its ground as the adjacent cable factory extended onto the land. The townsfolk of Leigh, acting on chairman
James Hilton's inspiration, cleared some fields on the edge of the town, and built a new stadium, including moving and rebuilding the old grandstand from the original ground. In 1941–42, Leigh quit the wartime Lancashire league and would not return to the league until 1946–47 when they played as a temporary measure at the Athletic Ground, Holden Road before moving to Kirkhall Lane (which was later officially renamed
Hilton Park after
James Hilton). :
Bramley – withdrew after the end of the third
1941–42 season finished and did not re-join until the
1945–46 season. :
Castleford – withdrew after the end of the third
1941–42 season finished and did not participate for two seasons, re-joining for the 1944–45 season.
New withdrawals There were no more new withdrawals
Clubs Re-joining :
Castleford – had withdrawn after the end of the third
1941–42 season finished and did not participate for two seasons, now re-joined for this 1944–45 season. :
Barrow and
Hunslet who had re-joined the previous season, continued.
Special Note Dewsbury had a relatively successful time during the war years. Managed by Eddie Waring, and with the side boosted by the inclusion of a number of big-name guest players, the club won the Wartime Emergency League in
1941–42 and again the following season
1942–43 (though that championship was declared null and void when it was discovered they had played an ineligible player). They were also runners-up in the Championship in
1943–44, Challenge Cup winners in
1943 and Yorkshire Cup Final appearances in this season
1940–41 and winners in
1942–43. ==Championship==