The 1939–40 season ended as the Battle of France was drawing to a close and the armed forces were planning the evacuation of British and French troops from Dunkirk.
The Rugby Football League's (RFL) annual general meeting was held in Leeds on 12 June when the prospects of the war for the British were not good, the Dunkirk evacuation had finished, the German army was about to occupy Paris and the evacuation of the second British Expeditionary Force from Brittany was about to begin.
At a very short RFL meeting the chairman, G. F. Hutchins, stated "it would be futile for the Rugby League to-day to attempt to come to any decision.
A. Bonner added "the Government may decide that it would be in the interests of the country for recreation to be provided for the people at home, but at the moment the prospects for football did not appear bright.
Two, Hull Kingston Rovers and Rochdale Hornets, gave notice that they would not be participating and several more had not yet made a decision by the date of the meeting.
[6] To add to the issues faced by the committee of the Lancashire county competition, Leigh confirmed that all their home games would have to be played away as their Mather Lane stadium was unavailable to the club.
When the competition ended in January 1941 only three teams, Oldham, Warrington and Wigan had played all their planned fixtures.
[20] At the other end of the table and partly due to the unplayed fixtures both Broughton Rangers and Leigh failed to win a single game.
The first half of the game was a much closer encounter than at Central Park and Bradford went in with a half-time lead 8–6 courtesy of tries from Winnard and Risman with a Ward conversion; Wigan had replied with tries by Aspinall and Johnson.
[28] A decision on the structure of the Challenge Cup was deferred at the December meeting of the council but in January the dates for the competition were finalised.
[38] On 4 February 1941 the committee cancelled the competition for the season as only three teams, Wigan, Leigh and Oldham were prepared to play.
This application was accepted and the two Lancashire clubs joined the 14 Yorkshire teams who had participated in the league in the competition.
[41] Neither Lancashire team progressed past the first round as Wigan lost 9–3 to Leeds and Oldham went down 17–5 to Wakefield.
Bradford won 15–5 in front of 13,316 spectators (gate receipts totalled £939) with two tries from Foster and one by Best and three kicked goals by Carmichael; Dewsbury's points came from a Sullivan penalty and a Tracey try.
[43] A single international match was played when England beat Wales 8–5 at Oldham's Watersheddings ground on 9 November 1940.
[44] Although not reported at the time, the game was suspended during the first half due to an air raid warning; play did not continue until the all-clear was sounded.