# 1993–94 Rugby Football League season

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

* Stones Bitter League Champions: Wigan (15th title)
* Silk Cut Challenge Cup Winners: Wigan (26-16 v Leeds)
* Stones Bitter Premiership Trophy Winners: Wigan (24-20 v Castleford)
** Harry Sunderland Trophy: Sam Panapa
* Regal Trophy Winners: Castleford (33-2 v Wigan)
* 2nd Division Champions: Workington Town
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 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 3 | Warrington | 30 | 23 | 0 | 7 | 628 | 430 | +198 | 46 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 4 | Castleford | 30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 787 | 466 | +321 | 39 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 5 | Halifax | 30 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 682 | 581 | +101 | 36 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 6 | Sheffield Eagles | 30 | 16 | 2 | 12 | 704 | 671 | +33 | 34 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 7 | Leeds | 30 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 673 | 680 | −7 | 32 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 8 | St Helens | 30 | 15 | 1 | 14 | 704 | 537 | +167 | 31 | Qualification for the Premiership first round |
| 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 | Relegation to Second Division |

### 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 | Promoted to First Division Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round |
| 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 | Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round |
| 5 | Huddersfield | 30 | 20 | 0 | 10 | 661 | 518 | +143 | 40 | Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round |
| 6 | Keighley Cougars | 30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 856 | 472 | +384 | 39 | Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round |
| 7 | Dewsbury | 30 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 766 | 448 | +318 | 37 | Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round |
| 8 | Rochdale Hornets | 30 | 18 | 0 | 12 | 704 | 532 | +172 | 36 | Qualified for Divisional Premiership first round |
| 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 | |

## 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. Wigan's Martin Offiah opened the scoring with a ninety-plus metre try, and went on to win the game 26–16.

## Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1993–94 season.
| 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 |
| 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 |