1905–06 Yorkshire Cup

1905 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams20
WinnersHunslet
Runners-upHalifax
1906 →

The 1905 Yorkshire Cup competition was a knock-out competition between (mainly professional) rugby league clubs from the county of Yorkshire. 1905 was the inaugural year for the Rugby League Yorkshire Cup competition. The cup was won by Hunslet who beat Halifax by a score of 13-3.

Background

Following the great schism of 1895 which led to the formation of rugby league there appear to be very little interest in a competitive competition organised on a regional basis, at least between clubs based in Yorkshire. Prior to the breakaway from rugby union this was something that had been discouraged as it was feared that competition would lead to professionalism, as had happened in other sports like Association Football.
One of the exceptions was the trophy played for by the Yorkshire Rugby Union clubs. "T'owd Tin Pot", or officially, the Yorkshire Challenge Cup. The Governing body of the RFU were appalled at the idea, but turned a blind eye as all the proceeds from the final were distributed among various charities.

It was around 10 years after the "great schism" before the idea of a County Cup for the Rugby League game became a reality. There appears to be very little, if any, details of how the introduction of the county cup competitions came about, or any details of any of the instigators or of any campaign, but the County Cups became the last part of what would become known as the four cups. The competitions were played on the same basis as was the Challenge Cup, i.e. a free draw with matches played on a sudden death straight knock-out basis, and with the final played (usually) on a neutral ground.

Competition and results

For this inaugural competition, a total of twenty clubs had entered, and so a preliminary round was introduced involving eight clubs, to reduce the number of clubs taking part in the main competition to sixteen, a full complement for a four round knock-out tournament.[1]

Preliminary round

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
P1 Sat 16 Sep 1905 Featherstone Rovers 9-10 Huddersfield unknown 1
P2 Wed 04 Oct 1905 York 2-0 Pontefract Clarence Street
P3 Sat 07 Oct 1905 Outwood Parish Church 3-0 Normanton unknown 2
P4 Sat 07 Oct 1905 Saville Green 10-0 Brighouse Rangers unknown 3

Round 1

Involved 5 matches (with three byes) and 13 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 14 Oct 1905 Batley 7-2 Wakefield Trinity Mount Pleasant
2 Sat 14 Oct 1905 Hull 5-2 Bramley Barley Mow 4 [2]
3 Sat 14 Oct 1905 Dewsbury 0-0 Bradford Crown Flatt
4 Sat 14 Oct 1905 Keighley 30-8 Castleford (1896) Lawkholme Lane
5 Sat 14 Oct 1905 Leeds 5-7 Halifax Headingley
6 Sat 14 Oct 1905 Outwood Parish Church 0-24 Hull Kingston Rovers unknown 2
7 Sat 14 Oct 1905 York 4-3 Huddersfield Clarence Street
8 Sat 21 Oct 1905 Hunslet 14-0 Saville Green Parkside 3

Round 1 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
R Tue 24 Oct 1905 Bradford 5-0 Dewsbury Park Avenue

Round 2 - Quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 28 Oct 1905 Batley 5-5 Hull Kingston Rovers Mount Pleasant
2 Sat 28 Oct 1905 Halifax 10-0 Hull Thrum Hall [2]
3 Sat 28 Oct 1905 Hunslet 37-3 Keighley Parkside
4 Sat 28 Oct 1905 York 2-0 Bradford Clarence Street

Round 2 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
R Tue 07 Nov 1905 Hull Kingston Rovers 7-4 Batley Craven Street (off Holderness Road)

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 18 Nov 1905 Halifax 11-5 York Thrum Hall
2 Sat 18 Nov 1905 Hull Kingston Rovers 3A12 Hunslet Craven Street (off Holderness Road) 5

Semifinal - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
R Wed 22 Nov 1905 Hunslet 14-3 Hull Kingston Rovers Parkside 6

Final

The match was played at Park Avenue in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 18,500 and receipts were £465.

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 2 December 1905 Hunslet 13-3 Halifax Park Avenue 18500 465 7 [3][4]

Teams and scorers

Hunslet Halifax
teams
Herbert Place 1 Billy Little
Charlie Ward 2 Herman Hartley
William Eagers 3 William Williams
Walter Goldthorpe 4 William Wedgewood
William Ward 5 W. Drummond
Albert Goldthorpe 6 Joe Riley
Albert Everson 7 James Hilton
Jack Shooter 8 Ike Bartle
Bill Jukes 9 Fred Hammond
Bill Brookes 10 George Langhorn
Walter Wray 11 Walter Morton
Harry Wilson 12 Reggie Norton
Harry Wilcox 13 Jack Riley
Tom Walsh 14 Jack Swinbank
Jack Glew 15 Bob Winskill
Coaches
13 score 3
4 HT 3
Scorers
Charlie Ward (1) Tries W. Drummond (1)
Walter Goldthorpe (2) Goals
Albert Goldthorpe (3)
Referee William McCutcheon (Oldham)

Points Value: Try = 3 points; Goal (any type)= 2 points

[5]

The road to success

The following chart excludes any preliminary round fixtures/results

First round Second round Semifinals Final
            
Batley 7
Wakefield Trinity 2
Batley 5 (4)
Hull Kingston Rovers 5 (7)
Outwood Parish Church 0
Hull Kingston Rovers 24
Hull Kingston Rovers 3 (3)
Hunslet 12 (14)
Hunslet 14
Saville Green 0
Hunslet 37
Keighley 3
Keighley 30
Castleford (1896) 8
Hunslet 13
Halifax 3
Leeds 5
Halifax 7
Halifax 10
Hull 0
Hull 5
Bramley 2
Halifax 11
York 5
York 4
Huddersfield 3
York 2
Bradford 0
Dewsbury 0 (0)
Bradford 0 (5)

Notes and comments

1 * Featherstone Rovers were at the time a junior/amateur club from FeatherstonE
2 * Outwood Parish Church were a junior/amateur club from Outwood (a district to the North of Wakefield) who were playing in the Yorkshire Second Competition (Eastern Section)
3 * Saville Green were a junior/amateur club from the East Leeds area
4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives Bramley as the home team (and playing at Barley Mow) but the official Hull F.C. archives give the venue as Boulevard, Hull FC's home ground.
5 * Match abandoned after 63 minutes due to "bad light"
6 * Unknown reason for replayed fixture being reversed instead at Craven Park.
7 * Park Avenue was the home ground of Bradford from 1880 until "The Great Betrayal", in 1907. Although the ground capacity is not known it is estimated to have been between 20,000-30,000

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results 1896/1897".
  3. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  4. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  5. ^ Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 11 – 1905–06". Rugby Leaguer ISBN n/a

External links

  • Saints Heritage Society
  • 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
  • Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
  • Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
  • The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org
  • v
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Lancashire Cup
(1905–1992)
Yorkshire Cup
(1905–1992)