| 1898–99 Northern Rugby Football Union season | |
| Structure: | Separate county championships |
| Season: | 1898–99 Season |
| Top Scorer: | Billy Jaques (Hull F.C.) 169 |
| Top Try Scorer: | Sam Williams (Oldham) 39 |
| Season2: | Lancashire Senior Competition |
| Season Champs2: | Broughton Rangers |
| Season Champ Name2: | Champions |
| Top Try Scorer2: | Sam Williams (Oldham) 39 |
| Promote2: | Millom |
| Promote From2: | Lancashire second competition |
| Relegate2: | Morecambe |
| Relegate To2: | Lancashire second competition |
| Season3: | Yorkshire Senior Competition |
| Season Champs3: | Batley |
| Season Champ Name3: | Champions |
| Top Try Scorer3: | Cyril Lemprière (Hull F.C.) 24 |
| Membership Type3: | Promotion and relegation |
| Join3: | Hull Kingston Rovers |
| Join Method3: | Promoted from Yorkshire No. 2 competition |
| Leave3: | Heckmondwike |
| Leave Reason3: | Relegated to Yorkshire No. 2 competition |
| Prevseason Link: | 1897–98 Northern Rugby Football Union season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1897–98 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1899–1900 Northern Rugby Football Union season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1899–1900 |
The 1897–98 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the fourth season of rugby league football.
The Lancashire Senior Competition was won by Broughton Rangers and the Yorkshire Senior Competition by Batley.[1]
Although participating in the Lancashire Senior Competition, Runcorn and Stockport were from Cheshire. Champions Broughton Rangers beat a team representing the rest of the Lancashire competition 5–3 in an end of season finale on 22 April 1899.[2] Morecambe finished bottom of the competition and lost the promotion/relegation test match to Millom - winners of the Lancashire second competition - by 11 points to 3.[3] Millom were admitted to the Senior Competition and Morecambe were admitted to the second competition.[4]
| width=20 abbr="Position" | width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Points for" | PF | width=20 abbr="Points against" | PA | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broughton Rangers | 26 | 21 | 0 | 5 | 277 | 74 | 42 | |||||||||
| 2 | Oldham | 26 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 385 | 58 | 40 | |||||||||
| 3 | Salford | 26 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 206 | 113 | 38 | |||||||||
| 4 | Widnes | 26 | 17 | 2 | 7 | 196 | 113 | 36 | |||||||||
| 5 | Leigh | 26 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 168 | 125 | 34 | |||||||||
| 6 | Swinton | 26 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 228 | 79 | 32 | |||||||||
| 7 | Runcorn | 26 | 15 | 2 | 9 | 193 | 113 | 32 | |||||||||
| 8 | St. Helens | 26 | 12 | 3 | 11 | 168 | 18 | 27 | |||||||||
| 9 | Warrington | 26 | 11 | 1 | 14 | 134 | 217 | 23 | |||||||||
| 10 | Rochdale Hornets | 26 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 112 | 216 | 21 | |||||||||
| 11 | Stockport | 26 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 102 | 317 | 11 | |||||||||
| 12 | Tyldesley | 26 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 82 | 240 | 11 | |||||||||
| 13 | Wigan | 26 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 66 | 238 | 10 | |||||||||
| 14 | Morecambe | 26 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 47 | 281 | 5 |
Champions Batley played a team representing the rest of the Yorkshire competition at Mount Pleasant on 22 April 1899 with Batley winning 3–0.[5] The promotion/relegation test match was contested by Heckmondwike who finished bottom of the competition and Hull Kingston Rovers, winners of the no.2 competition. Hull Kingston Rovers won the match 21–3 to take Heckmondwike's place.[6]
| width=20 abbr="Position" | width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Points for" | PF | width=20 abbr="Points against" | PA | width=20 abbr="Points Difference" | Diff | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Batley | 30 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 279 | 75 | 204 | 48 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Hull | 30 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 429 | 101 | 328 | 47 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Bradford | 30 | 21 | 0 | 9 | 330 | 139 | 191 | 42 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Leeds Parish Church | 30 | 20 | 2 | 8 | 201 | 114 | 87 | 42 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Hunslet | 30 | 16 | 5 | 9 | 314 | 140 | 174 | 37 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Huddersfield | 30 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 169 | 147 | 22 | 33 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Manningham | 30 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 222 | 212 | 10 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Halifax | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 156 | 158 | 2 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Wakefield Trinity | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 209 | 61 | 48 | 28 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Brighouse Rangers | 30 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 114 | 191 | 77 | 26 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Leeds | 30 | 11 | 3 | 16 | 127 | 186 | 59 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Castleford | 30 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 159 | 214 | 55 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Holbeck | 30 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 134 | 220 | 86 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Bramley | 30 | 7 | 3 | 20 | 62 | 266 | 204 | 17 | ||||||||||
| 15 | Liversedge | 30 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 131 | 439 | 308 | 13 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Heckmondwike | 30 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 70 | 343 | 273 | 12 |