| 1904–05 Northern Rugby Football Union season | |
| League: | Championship |
| No Of Teams: | First Division: 18 Second Division: 14 |
| Season: | First Division |
| Season Champs: | Oldham (1st title) |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| Second Place: | Bradford F.C. |
| Top Scorer: | James Lomas Salford) (146) |
| Top Try Scorer: | James Dechan (Bradford F.C.) (31) |
| Season2: | Second Division |
| Season Champs2: | Dewsbury |
| Season Champ Name2: | Champions |
| Leave3: | Birkenhead Holbeck South Shields Lancaster |
| Leave Reason3: | Resigned from the League |
| Prevseason Link: | 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1903–04 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1905–06 Northern Rugby Football Union season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1905–06 |
The 1904–05 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the tenth season of rugby league football.
Oldham won their first Division One Championship whilst Warrington won the Challenge Cup.
Holbeck and South Shields dropped out, reducing the competition to 15 teams.[1]
Birkenhead resigned after 4 games, the results of which were struck out of the table. They lost all four games, conceding 93 points and scoring none.
On 4 March 1905, a record 11 tries were scored by George West (Hull Kingston Rovers) v Brookland Rovers in the Northern Union Challenge Cup. In this same match the record for most points in a match, 53 (11t, 10g) by George West (Hull Kingston Rovers) was recorded.[2]
There was no county league competition this season.
At the end of the season, all division one and division two clubs. except Lancaster, were elected to the new single top division, the NRFU Championship.
| width=175 | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oldham | 34 | 25 | 1 | 8 | 291 | 158 | 51 | |
| 2 | Bradford | 34 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 294 | 156 | 48 | |
| 3 | Broughton Rangers | 34 | 22 | 2 | 10 | 295 | 175 | 46 | |
| 4 | Leeds | 34 | 20 | 4 | 10 | 232 | 150 | 44 | |
| 5 | Warrington | 34 | 20 | 2 | 12 | 220 | 150 | 42 | |
| 6 | Salford | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 276 | 204 | 40 | |
| 7 | Wigan | 34 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 230 | 195 | 37 | |
| 8 | Hull | 34 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 224 | 214 | 34 | |
| 9 | Hunslet | 34 | 16 | 1 | 17 | 240 | 216 | 33 | |
| 10 | Halifax | 34 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 204 | 155 | 32 | |
| 11 | Leigh | 34 | 14 | 3 | 17 | 165 | 209 | 31 | |
| 12 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 15 | 0 | 19 | 200 | 220 | 30 | |
| 13 | Swinton | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 155 | 196 | 28 | |
| 14 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 154 | 211 | 28 | |
| 15 | Batley | 34 | 12 | 3 | 19 | 160 | 228 | 27 | |
| 16 | Widnes | 34 | 13 | 1 | 20 | 128 | 280 | 27 | |
| 17 | St. Helens | 34 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 168 | 351 | 19 | |
| 18 | Runcorn | 34 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 133 | 301 | 15 |
| width=175 | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dewsbury | 26 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 247 | 48 | 46 | |
| 2 | Barrow | 26 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 286 | 68 | 44 | |
| 3 | York | 26 | 18 | 3 | 5 | 205 | 76 | 39 | |
| 4 | Keighley | 26 | 15 | 2 | 9 | 259 | 94 | 32 | |
| 5 | Huddersfield | 26 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 231 | 143 | 30 | |
| 6 | Rochdale Hornets | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 154 | 145 | 26 | |
| 7 | Millom | 26 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 139 | 173 | 24 | |
| 8 | Pontefract | 26 | 10 | 1 | 15 | 156 | 175 | 21 | |
| 9 | Castleford | 26 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 104 | 199 | 21 | |
| 10 | Normanton | 26 | 9 | 1 | 16 | 105 | 228 | 19 | |
| 11 | Brighouse Rangers | 26 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 111 | 169 | 17 | |
| 12 | Lancaster | 26 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 106 | 257 | 17 | |
| 13 | Morecambe | 26 | 7 | 2 | 17 | 88 | 272 | 16 | |
| 14 | Bramley | 26 | 5 | 2 | 19 | 95 | 239 | 12 |
See main article: 1905 Challenge Cup. Warrington beat Hull Kingston Rovers 6–0 in the final at Leeds before a crowd of 19,638 to win the Cup at their third attempt in a final.