The Bottom 14 Championship was a rugby league knockout competition held by the Rugby Football League in the 1964–65 season. The competition was used by RFL secretary Bill Fallowfield to trial an experimental rule change where the play-the-ball was replaced with an alternative method of releasing the ball similar to rugby union. The tournament lasted only one season, and was won by Huddersfield.
Background In February 1965, the Rugby Football League (RFL) announced that a competition would be staged at the end of the 1964–65 season for the bottom 14 clubs, and would be used to trial an alternative method of playing the ball. The experiment was one of several attempts by the RFL to find a solution to discourage negative tactics being used by teams to keep possession of the ball.
Although some clubs declined to take part, the competition went ahead as planned. The final was contested by Doncaster and Huddersfield at Tattersfield, with Huddersfield winning 13–3 in front of a crowd of 2,450.
The competition was not held again after the 1964–65 season, and the rule change was ultimately rejected at the RFL's annual general meeting.
Results First round Bramley, Dewsbury, Liverpool City and Salford all withdrew from the competition, leaving their opponents with byes to the next round. Date Home team Score Away team28 April 1965 Batley 9–8 York 28 April 1965 Huddersfield 36–10 Rochdale Hornets 28 April 1965 Widnes 15–9 Bradford Northern 28 April 1965 Blackpool Borough w/o Bramley 28 April 1965 Doncaster w/o Dewsbury 28 April 1965 Keighley w/o Liverpool City 28 April 1965 Whitehaven w/o Salford
Second round Whitehaven received a bye into the next round. Date Home team Score Away team4 May 1965 Doncaster 24–9 Batley5 May 1965 Huddersfield 15–12 Widnes5 May 1965 Keighley 3–24 Blackpool Borough
Semi-final Date Home team Score Away team11 May 1965 Doncaster 22–9 Blackpool Borough12 May 1965 Huddersfield 48–0 Whitehaven
Final
References