1995–96 Rugby Football League season

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]