The 1967–68 Rugby Football League season was the 73rd season of rugby league football.
Season summary The playing of matches on Sundays was sanctioned for the first time in December 1967. This change was made to avoid competition from association football clubs.
Leeds had ended the regular season as league leaders for the second successive season. Wakefield Trinity won their second Championship, the second in successive seasons, when they beat Hull Kingston Rovers 17-10 in the Championship Final. Gary Cooper was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.
The Challenge Cup winners were Leeds who beat Wakefield Trinity 11-10 in the final.
Clive Sullivan of Hull F.C. set a club record of 7-tries scored in a match against Doncaster on 15 April 1968.
Warrington won the Lancashire League, and Leeds won the Yorkshire League.
Championship
TeamPldWDLPts1Leeds342806562Wakefield Trinity342419493Hull Kingston Rovers342419494St. Helens342419495Warrington3424010486Bradford Northern3424010487Leigh3422111458Castleford3422111459Salford34220124410Workington Town34211124311Wigan34210134212Hull34210134213Halifax34192134014Swinton34181153715Huddersfield34172153616Widnes34171163517Dewsbury34170173418Featherstone Rovers34160183219Barrow34140202820Bramley34140202821Hunslet34130212622Oldham34130212623Rochdale Hornets34130212624Liverpool City34112212425Whitehaven34101232126York3491241927Keighley3480261628Blackpool Borough3461271329Doncaster3442281030Batley3441299
Play-offs
Final
Wakefield TrinityNumberHull Kingston Rovers Teams Gary Cooper1David WainwrightGert Coetzer2Chris YoungIan Brooke3John MooreNeil Fox4Alan BurwellKenneth Batty5Paul LongstaffHarold Poynton6Roger MillwardRay Owen7Colin CooperDavid Jeanes8Les FosterGeorge Shepherd9Peter FlanaganDon Fox10Brian MennellBob Haigh11Phil LoweMatthew McLeod12Terry MajorDavid Hawley13Frank FosterSubsKenneth Hirst14Phil CouplandEdward Campbell15Bill HollidayKen TraillCoachColin Hutton
Challenge Cup
Leeds beat Wakefield 11-10 in the final played at Wembley in front of a crowd of 87,100. This was Leeds’ ninth Cup Final win in eleven Final appearances. The Leeds winning team coached by Roy Francis was; Bev Risman, Alan Smith, Syd Hynes, Bernard Watson, John Atkinson, Mick Shoebottom, Barry Seabourne, Mick Clark (c), Tony Crosby, Ken Eyre, Bill Ramsey, Albert Eyre, Ray Batten subs: John Langley, Mick Joyce.
Dubbed the "Watersplash Final", this match was remembered for the atrocious pitch conditions caused by a torrential downpour that left many large puddles on the playing surface. The conditions contributed to a nail biting finale. Leeds had taken an 11-7 lead with a minute to go, but Wakefield scored a try next to the posts from the kick-off. Don Fox had only to convert to win the Final, but pushed it wide of the posts.
County cups
St. Helens beat Warrington 2–2 (replay 13–10) to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Hull F.C. 8–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners were Castleford who beat Leigh 8-5 in the final.
Kangaroo Tour
From September until December also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1967–68 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 2–1 by Australia), The Kangaroos played matches against club and county representative sides
The 1967–68 Kangaroos were captain-coached by champion St George Dragons centre Reg Gasnier who was making his third tour following from 1959–60 and 1967–68. While his team achieved success, the tour was a tragedy for Gasnier. He broke his leg during the first test at Headingley that saw him sit out the remainder of the English leg. He returned to the field in France but in a minor game against Les Espoirs in Avignon, he suffered a further break. This would ultimately cause him to announce his retirement from playing at the age of just 28. He later told in an interview that he never regretted his decision to retire, explaining that he had been playing rugby league including juniors, junior representative games, the Sydney premiership and senior representative teams which included multiple interstate and overseas tours, virtually non-stop since the early 1950s, and felt it was about time that he started devoting more time to his family.
References
Sources
1967-68 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com The Challenge Cup at The Rugby Football League website