1906–07 Yorkshire Cup

1906 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams15
WinnersBradford
Runners-upHull Kingston Rovers
← 1905
1907 →

The 1906 Yorkshire Cup was the second in the Rugby Football League club tournament's history. It was a knock-out competition between (mainly professional) rugby league clubs from the English county of Yorkshire. The actual area was at times increased to encompass other teams from outside the county such as Newcastle, Mansfield, Coventry, and even London (in the form of Acton & Willesden.

The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the Autumn, with the final taking place in (or just before) December (The only exception to this was when disruption of the fixture list was caused during, and immediately after, the two World Wars)

1906 was the second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

This year there were two new clubs to contest the final.

Bradford won the trophy by beating Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 8–5

The match was played at Belle Vue, in the City of Wakefield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 10,500 and receipts were £286

Background

Brighouse Rangers, Castleford (1896) and Normanton left the league and the three non league clubs from last season were not invited, but they were replaced by junior/amateur club New Blackpool. This resulted in an overall decrease of five clubs, leaving a total of fifteen entrants.

This, in turn, resulted in one bye in the first round.

Pontefract resigned after 8 league matches and their record was expunged, but by this time, they had played (and lost) in this competition.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one bye) and 15 Clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 13 Oct 1906 Bradford 68–2 Bramley Park Avenue
2 Sat 13 Oct 1906 Dewsbury 10–27 Huddersfield Crown Flatt
3 Sat 13 Oct 1906 Hull 3–6 Halifax Boulevard [2]
4 Sat 13 Oct 1906 Hull Kingston Rovers 44–0 Pontefract Craven Street (off Holderness Road)
5 Sat 13 Oct 1906 Keighley 34–2 New Blackpool Lawkholme Lane 2
6 Sat 13 Oct 1906 Wakefield Trinity 7–19 Leeds Belle Vue
7 Sat 13 Oct 1906 York 8–7 Batley Clarence Street
8 Hunslet bye

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 27 Oct 1906 Bradford 21–5 Leeds Park Avenue
2 Sat 27 Oct 1906 Halifax 6–0 Hunslet Thrum Hall
3 Sat 27 Oct 1906 Hull Kingston Rovers 11–3 Huddersfield Craven Street (off Holderness Road)
4 Sat 27 Oct 1906 Keighley 34–2 York Lawkholme Lane

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 17 Nov 1906 Bradford 6–4 Halifax Park Avenue
2 Sat 17 Nov 1906 Hull Kingston Rovers 21–0 Keighley Craven Street (off Holderness Road)

Final

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 1 December 1906 Bradford 8–5 Hull Kingston Rovers Belle Vue 10500 286 3 [3][4]

Teams and scorers

Bradford Hull Kingston Rovers
teams
Gomer Gunn 1 Alf Carmichael
James Dechan 2 George West
Ervine Mosby 3 William "Billy" Phipps
F. Heseltine 4 Dan Rees
J. Connell 5 W. Madley
S. Brear 6 James "Jim" Barry
Thomas Surman 7 A. Lofthouse
Alex Laidlaw 8 Jim Gath
N. Greenwood 9 xW. Smith (H. W. Smith?)
H. Francis 10 Arthur Spackman
H. Mann 11 C. J. Hambrecht
J. Feather (Harry Feather?) 12 S. Sherwood
Walton 13 Andrew Windle
Coach
8 score 5
8 HT 3
Scorers
Tries
James Dechan (1) T George West (1)
S. Brear (1) T
Goals
Alex Laidlaw (1) G W. Madley (1)
G
Drop Goals
DG
Referee William McCutcheon (Oldham)

Scoring – Try = four points – Goal = two points – Drop goal = one point

[5]

The road to success

First round Second round Semifinals Final
            
Bradford 68
Bramley 2
Bradford 21
Leeds 5
Wakefield Trinity 7
Leeds 19
Bradford 6
Keighley 4
Keighley 34
New Blackpool 2
Keighley 34
York 2
York 8
Batley 7
Bradford 8
Hull Kingston Rovers 5
Hull Kingston Rovers 44
Pontefract 0
Hull Kingston Rovers 11
Huddersfield 3
Dewsbury 10
Huddersfield 27
Hull Kingston Rovers 21
Halifax 0
Hull 3
Halifax 6
Halifax 6
Hunslet 0
Hunslet
bye

Notes and comments

1 * This was a record score at the time in the competition

2 * New Blackpool is/was a junior/amateur club from  ? (possibly Leeds area – can anyone shed light on this ?)

3 * Belle Vue is the home ground of Wakefield Trinity with a capacity of approximately 12,500. The record attendance was 37,906 on the 21 March 1936 in the Challenge Cup semi-final between Leeds and Huddersfield

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ "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 – № 12 – 1906–07". 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
  • t
  • e
Lancashire Cup
(1905–1992)
Yorkshire Cup
(1905–1992)