The top 7 sides in 1900-01 resigned from the Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the NRFU and merged into a new league in 1901-02. In doing so they formed the Northern Rugby League and with that the phrase "Rugby League" was officially used for first time.

Wigan though remained in a Lancashire only competition for one more season until the rest of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Competition clubs joined up to form a new two division structure in 1902-03.

1901-02 also saw the introduction of the South West Lancashire League which ran until 1906-07. Only six teams competed (Wigan, Warrington, St Helens, Widnes, Leigh and Runcorn). They met home & away but if they met in the league that result counted towards the South West Lancashire League (indicated with SWLL on the List)

Wigan Final League Position: 1st in Lancashire Senior Competition
League Champions: Broughton Rangers
Lancashire League Winners: Wigan (1)
Challenge Cup Winners: Broughton Rangers (25-0 v Salford)

1901-1902 Northern Rugby League - Lancashire Senior Competition CC = Challenge Cup SWLL = South West Lancashire League

Date	Opposition	Venue	Resultl	Tries	Goals
Sat 7 Sept	St Helens (SWLL)	Away	Won 08-02	Barr, Rouse	Brown 1
Sat 14 Sept	Morecambe	Home	Won 12-00	Lees, Barr	Rothwell 3
Sat 21 Sept	Rochdale Hornets	Away	Won 11-07	Rothwell, Barr, Nelson	Nelson 1
Sat 28 Sept	Lancaster	Home	Won 11-00	Eckersley, Rothwell, Reid	Nelson 1
Sat 5 Oct	Birkenhead	Home	Won 15-03	Barr 2, Rigby	Nelson 3
Sat 12 Oct	Rochdale Hornets	Home	Won 11-02	Rigby 2, W.Yates	Nelson 1
Sat 19 Oct	Widnes (SWLL)	Away	Lost 06-08	Eckersley, Rothwell, Reid	Nelson 1
Sat 26 Oct	Barrow	Home	Won 09-06	Rothwell	Nelson 3
Sat 2 Nov	Altrincham	Away	Won 28-02	Barr 4, Nelson, W.Yates	Nelson 3, Barr 2
Sat 9 Nov	Morecambe	Away	Won 17-00	Eckersley 2, Rothwell, Barr, Rouse	Nelson 1
Sat 23 Nov	Lancaster	Away	Won 05-02	Rouse	Nelson 1
Sat 30 Nov	Barrow	Away	Lost 03-12	Nelson	-
Sat 14 Dec	Altrincham	Home	Won 38-00	Barr 3, Rouse 2, Lees 2, Rothwell, Webster, Halliwell	Rothwell 4
Wed 25 Dec	Stockport	Away	Lost 05-06	Rouse	Nelson 1
Wed 1 Jan	Stockport	Home	Won 10-03	Barr, Rouse	Nelson 2
Thu 2 Jan	SWLL: Leigh	Home	Won 08-00	Ball, Barr	Nelson 1
Sat 11 Jan	SWLL: Runcorn	Away	Lost 05-08	(Scoring Details Unknown)	-
Sat 18 Jan	Hull Kingston Rovers	Home	Won 05-04	Rothwell	Nelson 1
Wed 22 Jan	Hull Kingston Rovers	Away	Won 03-00	Barr	-
Sat 1 March	Millom	Home	Won 08-00	Nelson, Rigby	McCauley 1
Thu 6 March	Birkenhead	Away	Won 17-02	Barr 3, Rouse, Eckersley	Rothwell 1
Sat 8 March	Radcliffe	Home	Won 22-00	Barr 2, Rothwell, Rouse	Nelson 5
Sat 15 Mar	CC R 1: Bramley	Home	Won 02-00	-	Rothwell 1
Wed 19 Mar	Widnes (SWLL)	Home	Won 04-00	-	Nelson 1, Rothwell 1
Sat 22 Mar	CC R2: Castleford	Away	Lost 00-16	-	-
Fri 28 Mar	SWLL: Leigh	Away	Won 04-00	-	Nelson 1, Rothell 1
Mon 31 Mar	SWLL: Warrington	Away	Lost 05-10	(Scoring Details Unknown)	-
Sat 5 April	SWLL: Warrington	Home	Lost 00-07	-	-
Mon 7 April	Radcliffe	Away	Won 21-05	Rigby 2, Barr 2, Rouse	Nelson 3
Sat 12 April	St Helens (SWLL)	Home	Won 11-02	Barr 2, Rouse	Nelson 1
Mon 14 Apr	Millom	Away	Won 08-00	Barr, Nelson	Barr 1
Sat 19 April	SWLL: Runcorn	Home	Lost 00-02	-	-

Top Try Scorers

Player	Tries
Jimmy Barr	25
Benny Rouse	11
Dicky Rothwell	7
George Rigby	6
Joe Nelson	5
T Eckersley	4
F Lees	3
William Yates	2
W Reid	1
Billy Halliwell	1
Albert Webster	1

Lancashire Senior Competition

Wigan 42
Widnes 40
St Helens 33
Barrow 31
Hull KR 30*
Stockport 27*
Millom 24
Rochdale Hornets 24
Birkenhead 19
Lancaster 17
Morecambe 11
Altrincham 3*
Radcliffe 3*

* = 2pts deducted

Yorkshire Senior Competition

Leeds 46
Manningham 37*
Keighley 34*
Wakefield Trinity 31
Holbeck 30*
York 29*
Dewsbury 29
Normanton 28
Castleford 21
Bramley 21
Heckmondwike 17
Goole 13
Sowerby Bridge 12*
Liversedge 6

The top seven clubs in each county league resigned to form the new Northern Rugby League.

 1 Broughton Rangers    26 21  1  4  -  285  112       43
 2 Salford              26 15  3  8  -  235  125       31*
 3 Runcorn              26 15  2  9  -  185  101       30*
 4 Swinton              26 16  0 10  -  226  121       28**
 5 Halifax              26 12  4 10  -  142  165       28
 6 Bradford             26 14  1 11  -  201  157       27*
 7 Warrington           26 14  0 12  -  162  150       26*
 8 Hull                 26 11  2 13  -  166  193       24
 9 Oldham               26 10  2 14  -  190  169       22
10 Leigh                26 11  0 15  -  158  162       22
11 Hunslet              26 13  0 13  -  164  207       22**
12 Batley               26  8  4 14  -  136  198       20
13 Huddersfield         26  8  2 16  -  122  262       18
14 Brighouse Rovers     26  3  1 22  -   74  324        7
  * Salford, Runcorn, Bradford and Warrington each had
    2 points deducted for a breach of the professional rules.
 ** Swinton and Hunslet each had 4 points deducted for
    breaches of the professional rules.

Wigan in South West Lancashire League: P 10 W 5 D 0 L 5 F 51 A 39 PTS 10 Final Position: 3rd