| 1995–96 Rugby Football League season | |
| League: | Centenary Championship |
| Duration: | 20 Rounds |
| No Of Teams: | First Division 11 |
| Highest Attendance: | 19,526 Wigan vs St. Helens (26 Dec 95) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 761 London Broncos vs Sheffield Eagles (17 Dec 95) |
| Tv: | Sky Sports |
| Season: | First Division |
| Season Champs: | Wigan |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| Mvp Link: | Man of Steel Award |
| Top Scorer: | Bobbie Goulding (285) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Martin Offiah (28) David Plange (28) |
| Membership Type: | New franchise |
| Join: | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Join Method: | Awarded to |
| Season2: | Second Division |
| Season Champs2: | Salford |
| Season Champ Name2: | Champions |
| Season3: | Third Division |
| Season Champs3: | Hull Kingston Rovers |
| Season Champ Name3: | Champions |
| Prevseason Link: | 1994–95 Rugby Football League season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1994–95 |
| Nextseason Link: | Super League I |
| Nextseason Year: | 1996 |
The 1995–96 Rugby Football League season was the 101st season of rugby league football. Eleven English teams competed from August 1995 until January 1996 for the Stones Bitter Centenary Championship. The season was kept brief to accommodate the first season of the forthcoming new Super League competition, which would see top-level rugby league in the UK changed to a summer sport. It was also punctuated by the 1995 World Cup which took place in Britain throughout October. The 1996 Challenge Cup rounds started immediately after the Centenary Championship and the final was played in summer, during Super League I.
During pre-season, Kath Hetherington of Sheffield was elected as president of the Rugby Football League, succeeding Batley's Ronnie Teeman. Eleven years after becoming the first female member of the league's board of directors, she became the first woman to ascend to the presidency.[1]
Prior to the signing of the agreement paving the way for the Super League, the RFL had voted in February on an wage cap, limiting player salaries to 50 percent of a team's income.[2]
The 1995–96 First Division season served as a trial run of sorts for the Super League's inaugural season, which would follow it in the spring of 1996, and its format changes were largely made in anticipation of the latter's launch. Following intense negotiations, it was decided that only the top ten teams from the 1994–95 season, joined by second-tier capital representatives London Broncos (all the projected British entrants in the Super League), would participate in a condensed 1995–96 First Division. There would be no promotion or relegation between it and the inaugural Super League campaign (only the purpose-built Paris team would be added). Minor league clubs were split between a Second and a Third Division, marking a return to the three-tier professional pyramid last used in 1993.[3]
While the new setup was generally considered an appropriate compromise, 1994–95 second-tier champion Keighley and Widnes, a traditionally strong team which had missed the 10-team cutoff after an uncharacteristically poor season, launched legal proceedings after being left off. Hoping for a compromise, Widnes proposed a one-off 1995–96 schedule consisting of a 16-team, dual conference setup where the top five clubs within each conference would advance to the Super League. While some agreed that the plan would make the transitional season more meaningful, it did not come to pass, and their legal challenges were ultimately unsuccessful as well.[4]
The absence of relegation was blamed for a sizeable dip in attendance. Combined with a salary hike resulting from the announcement of the Super League, the season was a financial failure for many clubs, and powerhouse Wigan reported losses of about £450,000 at the end of the shortened campaign.[5]
| 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" | PD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - align=center style="background:#FFD700;" | 1 | Wigan | 20 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 810 | 316 | +494 | 36 | |||||||||
| 2 | Leeds | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 552 | 405 | +147 | 28 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 456 | 463 | -7 | 25 | |||||||||||
| 4 | St. Helens | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 732 | 508 | +224 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Sheffield Eagles | 20 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 482 | 528 | -46 | 20 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Castleford | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 448 | 566 | -118 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Bradford Northern | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 418 | 476 | -58 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Oldham | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 382 | 535 | -153 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Warrington | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 443 | 514 | -71 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 10 | London Broncos | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 466 | 585 | -119 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Workington Town | 20 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 317 | 610 | -293 | 8 | ||||||||||
| Champions |
| 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 | Salford Reds | 20 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 661 | 278 | 35 | |||||||||
| 2 | Keighley Cougars | 20 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 491 | 255 | 28 | |||||||||
| 3 | 20 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 475 | 334 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Hull | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 571 | 420 | 22 | |||||||||
| 5 | Featherstone Rovers | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 420 | 431 | 22 | |||||||||
| 6 | Whitehaven | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 345 | 435 | 22 | |||||||||
| 7 | Wakefield Trinity | 20 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 346 | 422 | 20 | |||||||||
| 8 | Rochdale Hornets | 20 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 365 | 483 | 17 | |||||||||
| 9 | Huddersfield | 20 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 395 | 485 | 14 | |||||||||
| 10 | Batley | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 302 | 492 | 11 | |||||||||
| 11 | Dewsbury | 20 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 261 | 597 | 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 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 20 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 744 | 231 | 36 | |||||||||
| 2 | Leigh Centurions | 20 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 592 | 335 | 32 | |||||||||
| 3 | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 514 | 315 | 28 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Swinton | 20 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 521 | 331 | 26 | |||||||||
| 5 | Carlisle | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 600 | 309 | 24 | |||||||||
| 6 | Ryedale-York | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 442 | 415 | 21 | |||||||||
| 7 | Bramley | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 400 | 434 | 19 | |||||||||
| 8 | Barrow Braves | 20 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 342 | 488 | 12 | |||||||||
| 9 | Chorley Chieftains | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 324 | 608 | 11 | |||||||||
| 10 | Doncaster Dragons | 20 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 348 | 646 | 10 | |||||||||
| 11 | Highfield | 20 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 249 | 964 | 1 | |||||||||
See main article: 1995–96 Regal Trophy.
The following are the top points scorers in the 1995–96 season.[6] Most tries
| Player | Team | Tries | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | |||
| 28 | |||
| 24 | |||
| 22 | |||
| 21 | |||
| Simon Ashcroft | 20 | ||
| 18 | |||
| Jason Viller | 18 | ||
| Gary Atkins | 18 | ||
| 17 | |||
| 17 |
| Player | Team | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 135 | |||
| Mike Fletcher | 117 | ||
| 101 | |||
| 99 | |||
| Willie Richardson | 96 | ||
| 93 | |||
| 92 | |||
| 86 | |||
| 81 | |||
| Chris Wilkinson | 81 |