# 1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the eighth season of rugby league football.

## Season summary
### Overview

League Champions: Halifax
Challenge Cup Winners: Halifax (7-0 v Salford)
2nd Division Champions: Keighley

### Summary

* Four of the top five clubs from the 1901–02 Lancashire Senior Competition; Hull Kingston Rovers (although based in Yorkshire, and having played in the Yorkshire Senior Competition for the 1899–1900 and 1900–01 seasons, they had played the 1901–02 season in the Lancashire Senior Competition), St. Helens, Widnes, and Wigan joined the 14-clubs from the previous season's 1901–02 Northern Rugby League to make an 18-club Division 1, the exception was Barrow who despite finishing fourth in the 1901–02 Lancashire Senior Competition joined Division 2.
At the end of the season Manningham Rugby Club decided to switch to association football and became Bradford City A.F.C., whilst staying at Valley Parade.

## Tables
### First Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PAv | Pts | Relegation |
| 1 | Halifax (C) | 34 | 23 | 3 | 8 | 199 | 85 | 2.341 | 49 | |
| 2 | Salford | 34 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 244 | 130 | 1.877 | 45 | |
| 3 | Swinton | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 254 | 119 | 2.134 | 43 | |
| 4 | Runcorn | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 239 | 139 | 1.719 | 42 | |
| 5 | Broughton Rangers | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 222 | 97 | 2.289 | 41 | |
| 6 | Oldham | 34 | 20 | 0 | 14 | 200 | 128 | 1.563 | 40 | |
| 7 | Bradford F.C. | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 220 | 161 | 1.366 | 37 | |
| 8 | Warrington | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 148 | 164 | 0.902 | 35 | |
| 9 | Hunslet | 34 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 185 | 220 | 0.841 | 35 | |
| 10 | Hull F.C. | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 204 | 192 | 1.063 | 34 | |
| 11 | Batley | 34 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 176 | 214 | 0.822 | 34 | |
| 12 | Leigh | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 136 | 178 | 0.764 | 29 | |
| 13 | Widnes | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 131 | 167 | 0.784 | 28 | |
| 14 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 155 | 215 | 0.721 | 28 | |
| 15 | Huddersfield | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 116 | 196 | 0.592 | 28 | |
| 16 | Wigan | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 125 | 174 | 0.718 | 26 | |
| 17 | St Helens (R) | 34 | 9 | 2 | 23 | 125 | 309 | 0.405 | 20 | Relegation to Second Division |
| 18 | Brighouse Rangers (R) | 34 | 7 | 4 | 23 | 79 | 270 | 0.293 | 18 | Relegation to Second Division |

### Second Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PAv | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Keighley (C, P) | 34 | 27 | 2 | 5 | 270 | 92 | 2.935 | 56 | Promoted to First Division |
| 2 | Leeds (P) | 34 | 26 | 1 | 7 | 334 | 98 | 3.408 | 53 | Promoted to First Division |
| 3 | Millom | 34 | 22 | 3 | 9 | 238 | 118 | 2.017 | 47 | |
| 4 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 323 | 88 | 3.670 | 46 | |
| 5 | Holbeck | 34 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 213 | 83 | 2.566 | 45 | |
| 6 | Barrow | 34 | 22 | 0 | 12 | 230 | 140 | 1.643 | 44 | |
| 7 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 18 | 2 | 14 | 263 | 196 | 1.342 | 38 | |
| 8 | Bramley | 34 | 16 | 4 | 14 | 179 | 151 | 1.185 | 36 | |
| 9 | Birkenhead Wanderers | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 125 | 140 | 0.893 | 34 | |
| 10 | Manningham | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 141 | 170 | 0.829 | 33 | |
| 11 | Lancaster | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 123 | 214 | 0.575 | 30 | |
| 12 | Normanton | 34 | 12 | 4 | 18 | 160 | 228 | 0.702 | 28 | |
| 13 | York | 34 | 11 | 4 | 19 | 111 | 190 | 0.584 | 26 | |
| 14 | South Shields | 34 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 158 | 264 | 0.598 | 22 | |
| 15 | Castleford | 34 | 9 | 4 | 21 | 105 | 268 | 0.392 | 22 | |
| 16 | Dewsbury | 34 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 123 | 245 | 0.502 | 21 | |
| 17 | Morecambe | 34 | 9 | 2 | 23 | 88 | 220 | 0.400 | 20 | |
| 18 | Stockport | 34 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 69 | 348 | 0.198 | 11 | |

## Challenge Cup

Halifax beat Salford 7-0 in the final at Leeds before a crowd of 32,507

## Sources

* 1902-03 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
* The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website