| 1970–71 Rugby Football League season | |
| League: | Northern Rugby Football League |
| Season Champs: | St. Helens |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| League Leaders: | Wigan |
| League Leaders Name: | League Leaders |
| Top Scorer: | Kel Coslett 395 |
| Top Try Scorer: | Bob Haigh 40 Les Jones 40 |
| Prevseason Link: | 1969–70 Northern Rugby Football League season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1969–70 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1971–72 |
The 1970–71 Rugby Football League season was the 76th season of rugby league football.
Sunday afternoon rugby was allowed for the first time by the RFL on 17 December 1967. Initially most clubs chose not to switch away from Saturday's despite competition from football. The first ever Sunday fixtures were Bradford Northern v York, and Leigh v Dewsbury.[1]
St. Helens won their sixth Championship when they beat Wigan 16–12 in the Championship Final. Wigan had ended the regular season as the league leaders.
The Challenge Cup Winners were Leigh when they beat Leeds 24–7 in the final.[2]
There was no county league competition this season, other than a break between the 1902–03 and 1906–07 seasons, and breaks for World War I and World War II, this was the first season in which the Lancashire League and Yorkshire League titles were no longer awarded.
| 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" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wigan | 34 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 60 | |||||||
| 2 | St. Helens | 34 | 29 | 0 | 5 | 58 | |||||||
| 3 | Leeds | 34 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 56 | |||||||
| 4 | Leigh | 34 | 26 | 0 | 8 | 52 | |||||||
| 5 | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | 24 | 1 | 9 | 49 | |||||||
| 6 | Keighley | 34 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 42 | |||||||
| 7 | Salford | 34 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 41 | |||||||
| 8 | Hull | 34 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 41 | |||||||
| 9 | Workington Town | 34 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 41 | |||||||
| 10 | Halifax | 34 | 20 | 0 | 14 | 40 | |||||||
| 11 | Dewsbury | 34 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 37 | |||||||
| 12 | Castleford | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 36 | |||||||
| 13 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 36 | |||||||
| 14 | Batley | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 34 | |||||||
| 15 | Huddersfield | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 34 | |||||||
| 16 | Oldham | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 31 | |||||||
| 17 | Bramley | 34 | 15 | 1 | 18 | 31 | |||||||
| 18 | Widnes | 34 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 30 | |||||||
| 19 | York | 34 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 29 | |||||||
| 20 | Featherstone Rovers | 34 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 29 | |||||||
| 21 | Barrow | 34 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 28 | |||||||
| 22 | Warrington | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 28 | |||||||
| 23 | Swinton | 34 | 13 | 0 | 21 | 26 | |||||||
| 24 | Huyton | 34 | 11 | 2 | 21 | 24 | |||||||
| 25 | Rochdale Hornets | 34 | 9 | 3 | 22 | 21 | |||||||
| 26 | Blackpool Borough | 34 | 10 | 1 | 23 | 21 | |||||||
| 27 | Bradford Northern | 34 | 8 | 2 | 24 | 18 | |||||||
| 28 | Doncaster | 34 | 7 | 3 | 24 | 17 | |||||||
| 29 | Whitehaven | 34 | 8 | 1 | 25 | 17 | |||||||
| 30 | Hunslet | 34 | 6 | 1 | 27 | 13 | |||||||
| Champions | Play-offs |
Round 1:
Hull 14 beat Workington Town 3.
Leigh 10 beat Hull Kingston Rovers 5.
St Helens 28 beat Huddersfield 5.
Wakefield Trinity 10 beat Castleford 4.
Round 2:
Wakefield Trinity 8 beat Leigh 5.
St Helens 30 beat Hull 5.
Semi-finals:
St Helens 22 beat Leeds 7.
Wigan 49 beat Wakefield Trinity 15.
See main article: 1970–71 Challenge Cup. Leigh beat Leeds 24–7 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 15 May 1971, in front of a crowd of 85,514.
This was Leigh's second Cup final win in two final appearances. To date it was also their last appearance in a Challenge Cup final.[3]
In the final, Lance Todd Trophy winner, Leigh's captain-coach, Alex Murphy,[4] was stretchered off after a clash with Leeds player, Syd Hynes. For his part in the "clash", Hynes was sent off.[5]
See main article: 1970–71 Lancashire Cup.
See main article: 1970–71 Yorkshire Cup. Leigh beat St. Helens 7–4 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Featherstone Rovers 23–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.