# 1952–53 Northern Rugby Football League season

The 1952–53 Rugby Football League season was the 58th season of rugby league football.

## Season summary

St. Helens won their second Rugby Football League Championship when they beat Halifax 24–14 in the play-off final. They also ended the regular season as league leaders.
The Challenge Cup Winners were Huddersfield who beat St. Helens 15–10 in the final.
Cardiff dropped out of the league.
St. Helens won the Lancashire League, and Halifax won the Yorkshire League. Leigh beat St. Helens 22–5 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Huddersfield beat Batley 18–8 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

## Championship

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts |
| 1 | St. Helens | 36 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 769 | 273 | 66 |
| 2 | Halifax | 36 | 29 | 2 | 5 | 620 | 309 | 60 |
| 3 | Bradford Northern | 36 | 28 | 0 | 8 | 700 | 329 | 56 |
| 4 | Huddersfield | 36 | 27 | 2 | 7 | 747 | 366 | 56 |
| 5 | Barrow | 36 | 27 | 1 | 8 | 585 | 322 | 55 |
| 6 | Leeds | 36 | 24 | 0 | 12 | 690 | 452 | 48 |
| 7 | Leigh | 36 | 23 | 2 | 11 | 556 | 377 | 48 |
| 8 | Oldham | 36 | 22 | 2 | 12 | 599 | 280 | 46 |
| 9 | Warrington | 36 | 20 | 1 | 15 | 733 | 486 | 41 |
| 10 | Whitehaven | 36 | 19 | 3 | 14 | 465 | 486 | 41 |
| 11 | Wigan | 36 | 19 | 2 | 15 | 673 | 414 | 40 |
| 12 | Hunslet | 36 | 20 | 0 | 16 | 485 | 358 | 40 |
| 13 | Salford | 36 | 20 | 0 | 16 | 508 | 441 | 40 |
| 14 | Swinton | 36 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 441 | 401 | 36 |
| 15 | Hull | 36 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 461 | 451 | 36 |
| 16 | Workington Town | 36 | 16 | 2 | 18 | 453 | 460 | 34 |
| 17 | Keighley | 36 | 16 | 1 | 19 | 465 | 547 | 33 |
| 18 | Wakefield Trinity | 36 | 16 | 0 | 20 | 410 | 595 | 32 |
| 19 | Dewsbury | 36 | 15 | 1 | 20 | 410 | 440 | 31 |
| 20 | Castleford | 36 | 15 | 0 | 21 | 392 | 502 | 30 |
| 21 | Batley | 36 | 14 | 2 | 20 | 405 | 579 | 30 |
| 22 | Rochdale Hornets | 36 | 13 | 3 | 20 | 443 | 536 | 29 |
| 23 | Widnes | 36 | 13 | 2 | 21 | 336 | 478 | 28 |
| 24 | Featherstone Rovers | 36 | 12 | 1 | 23 | 415 | 535 | 25 |
| 25 | York | 36 | 10 | 0 | 26 | 370 | 496 | 20 |
| 26 | Doncaster | 36 | 10 | 0 | 26 | 377 | 665 | 20 |
| 27 | Belle Vue Rangers | 36 | 10 | 0 | 26 | 301 | 705 | 20 |
| 28 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 36 | 9 | 1 | 26 | 337 | 646 | 19 |
| 29 | Bramley | 36 | 6 | 0 | 30 | 293 | 898 | 12 |
| 30 | Liverpool City | 36 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 225 | 837 | 8 |
* Play-offs

### Play-off

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Championship final | Championship final | Championship final |
| 1 | St. Helens | 46 | | | |
| 4 | Huddersfield | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Huddersfield | 0 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 24 |
| | | | Halifax | Halifax | 14 |
| 2 | Halifax | 18 | Halifax | Halifax | 14 |
| 3 | Bradford Northern | 16 | | | |
* 1 May 1953
| St Helens | 24 – 14 | Halifax |
| Tries: Blakemore (2), Moses, Greenall, Metcalfe, Cale Goals: Metcalfe (3) | | Tries: Lynch, Wilkinson Goals: Griffiths (4) |
* Maine Road, Manchester Attendance: 51,083 Referee: A. Hill (Dewsbury)
| St Helens | Number | Halifax |
| | Teams | |
| Glyn Moses | 1 | Tuss Griffiths |
| Steve Llewellyn | 2 | Brian Vierod |
| Duggie Greenall | 3 | Tommy Lynch |
| Don Gullick | 4 | Martin Creeney |
| Stan McCormick | 5 | Terry Cook |
| Peter Metcalfe | 6 | Ken Dean |
| John Dickinson | 7 | Stan Kielty |
| Alan Prescott | 8 | Mike Condon |
| Reg Blakemore | 9 | Alvin Ackerley |
| George Parr | 10 | Jack Wilkinson |
| George Parsons | 11 | Harry Greenwood |
| Bill Bretherton | 12 | Albert Fearnley |
| Ray Cale | 13 | Des Clarkson |
| | 0 | |
| Jim Sullivan | Coach | |

## Challenge Cup

A club record 69,429 people watch the Challenge Cup 3rd Round tie at Odsal between Bradford Northern and Huddersfield. Larger crowds had watched matches at Odsal, but this was the largest involving the home side.
In the Final, Huddersfield beat St. Helens 15–10 at Wembley in front of a crowd of 89,588. This produced a record gate taking for a Challenge Cup final of £31,000.
This was Huddersfield’s sixth Cup Final win in seven Final appearances, including one win during the Second World War. Peter Ramsden, their stand-off half, became the youngest player to win the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match at 19. the Huddersfield team also featured Australian Pat Devery and New Zealand's Peter Henderson.