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1939–40 Yorkshire Cup

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1940 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams12
WinnersFeatherstone Rovers
Runners-upWakefield Trinity

The 1940 Yorkshire Cup competition was a knock-out competition between (mainly professional) rugby league clubs from the 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 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, as was the case with this season)
Due to the start of the Second World War, there was no Yorkshire (or Lancashire) Count Cup Cup completions during 1939. The competition was delayed until early 1940 (see later).
Spring 1940 was the thirty-second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.
This season's competition is classed as a "Wartime Emergency Competition" and therefore the results did not count as an official competition win. However, this aside, there was a new winner for this season's trophy, Featherstone Rovers winning the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 12-9
The match was played at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 7,077 and receipts were £403
Unlike the 1940 (Spring) Lancashire Cup, the Yorkshire cup was played on a straightforward knock-out basis, and not on a two-legged basiss.

Preamble to changes

Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played two or three fixtures (on Saturday 26th, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).
During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner. The Challenge Cup and both County Cups were suspended. There was to be no Yorkshire Cup competition in 1939.
But later in the season both County Cups were resurrected.
The Yorkshire Cup started on Saturday 25 May/1 June and was played on consecutive weekends.
Each and every match was played on a knock-out basis.

Background

Batley, Bramley and Keighley, (the three clubs who finishing as the bottom three in the Yorkshire League) did not appear to enter this year's competition. All had competed in the league programme, and all ccompeted again next season The number of teams entering this year’s competition therefore decreased by three reducing the total number of entrants to twelve.
This in turn resulted in four byes in the first round.

Competition and Results[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 4 matches (with four byes) and 12 Clubs


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 25 May 1940 Dewsbury 23-14 York Crown Flatt
2 Sat 1 Jun 1940 Bradford Northern 22-3 Leeds Odsal
3 Sat 1 Jun 1940 Castleford 17-10 Hunslet Wheldon Road
4 Sat 1 Jun 1940 Featherstone Rovers 18-2 Halifax Post Office Road
5 Huddersfield bye 1
6 Hull bye 1 [3]
7 Hull Kingston Rovers bye 1
8 Wakefield Trinity bye 1

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 8 Jun 1940 Castleford 6-12 Hull Kingston Rovers Wheldon Road
2 Sat 8 Jun 1940 Featherstone Rovers 21-6 Bradford Northern Post Office Road
3 Sat 8 Jun 1940 Huddersfield 9-23 Dewsbury Fartown
4 Sat 8 Jun 1940 Wakefield Trinity 27-3 Hull Belle Vue [3]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 15 Jun 1940 Featherstone Rovers 15-11 Dewsbury Post Office Road
2 Sat 15 Jun 1940 Hull Kingston Rovers 5-5 Wakefield Trinity Craven Park (1)

Semi-Final - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
R Wed 19 Jun 1940 Wakefield Trinity 8-7 Hull Kingston Rovers Belle Vue

Final


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 22 June 1940 Featherstone Rovers 12-9 Wakefield Trinity Odsal 7,077 £403 2 [4][5][6]

Teams and Scorers[4]

Featherstone Rovers № Wakefield Trinity
teams
John Haley 1 William "Billy" Teall
Albany Longley 2 Reg Jenkinson
Walter Tennant 3 Horace Turner
Bill Hughes 4 Robert "Bob" Oliver
Jack Blackburn 5 George Henry "Mick" Exley
Ray Hamer 6 Sam Herberts
Harold Moxon 7 Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow
Frank Hemingway 8 Harry Wilkinson
Joe Golby 9 Victor "Vic" Darlison
John "Jack" Dyson 10 Harry Nicholson
Wilf Pearson 11 Sandy Orford
George Taylor 12 Alan Flowers
Bill Sherwood 13 Leonard "Len" Marson
xBilly Williams Coach ??
12 score 9
3 HT 7
Scorers
Tries
2 T Horace Turner (1)
T
Goals
3 G William "Billy" Teall (3)
G
Drop Goals
DG
Referee unknown

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

The road to success

First Round Second Round Semi Finals Final
            
Featherstone Rovers 18
Halifax 2
Featherstone Rovers 21
Bradford Northern 6
Bradford Northern 22
Leeds 3
Featherstone Rovers 15
Dewsbury 11
Huddersfield
bye
Huddersfield 9
Dewsbury 23
Dewsbury 23
York 14
Featherstone Rovers 13
Wakefield Trinity 9
Castleford 17
Hunslet 10
Castleford 6
Hull Kingston Rovers 12
Hull Kingston Rovers
bye
Hull Kingston Rovers 5 (7)
Wakefield Trinity 5 (8)
Wakefield Trinity
bye
Wakefield Trinity 3
Hull
Hull
bye

Notes

1 * Batley, Bramley and Keighley, (the three clubs who finishing as the bottom three in the Yorkshire League) did not appear to enter this year's competition
2 * Odsal is the home ground of Bradford Northern from 1890 to 2010 and the current capacity is in the region of 26,000, The ground is famous for hosting the largest attendance at an English sports ground when 102,569 (it was reported that over 120,000 actually attended as several areas of boundary fencing collapse under the sheer weight of numbers) attended the replay of the Challenge Cup final on 5 May 1954 to see Halifax v Warrington

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
  3. ^ a b "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  4. ^ a b J C Lindley and D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973. Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  5. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  6. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
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