1953–54 Yorkshire Cup

1953–54 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams16
WinnersBradford Northern
Runners-upHull

The 1953–54 Yorkshire Cup was the forty-sixth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

Bradford Northern won the trophy by beating Hull F.C. by the score of 7-2

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 22,147 and receipts were £3,833

Background

This season no junior/amateur clubs were invited to take part, there were no new additions and no club "dropped out", and so the number of entrants remained at the same as last season's total number of sixteen.

This in turn resulted in no byes in the first round.

The competition again followed the original formula of a knock-out tournament, with the exception of the first round which was still played on a two-legged home and away basis.

Competition and results

[1][2][3][4]

Round 1 - First leg

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

All first round ties are played on a two-legged home and away basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Batley 10-34 Bradford Northern Mount Pleasant
2 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Castleford 0-11 Halifax Wheldon Road
3 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Featherstone Rovers 7-21 Leeds Post Office Road
4 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Huddersfield 47-9 Wakefield Trinity Fartown 16,137 [4][5]
5 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Hull 30-14 Bramley Boulevard [6]
6 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Hunslet 27-13 Hull Kingston Rovers Parkside
7 Sat 5 Sep 1953 Keighley 11-6 Dewsbury Lawkholme Lane
8 Mon 7 Sep 1953 York 19-2 Doncaster Clarence Street

Round 1 - Second leg

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

All first round ties are played on a two-legged home and away basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Wed 9 Sep 1953 Bradford Northern 15-18 Batley Odsal 49-28
2 Mon 7 Sep 1953 Halifax 9-3 Castleford Thrum Hall 20-3
3 Wed 9 Sep 1953 Leeds 32-7 Featherstone Rovers Headingley 53-14
4 Wed 9 Sep 1953 Wakefield Trinity 20-7 Huddersfield Belle Vue 29-54 6,222 [4][5]
5 Tue 8 Sep 1953 Bramley 9-17 Hull Barley Mow 23-47 [6]
6 Wed 9 Sep 1953 Hull Kingston Rovers 7-11 Hunslet Craven Park (1) 20-38
7 Tue 8 Sep 1953 Dewsbury 2-0 Keighley Crown Flatt 8-11
8 Thu 10 Sep 1953 Doncaster 2-21 York Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield 4-40 1

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

All second round ties are played on a knock-out basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Wed 23 Sep 1953 Bradford Northern 27-9 Leeds Odsal
2 Wed 23 Sep 1953 Huddersfield 19-7 York Fartown 9,425 [4]
3 Wed 23 Sep 1953 Hunslet 11-2 Keighley Parkside
4 Mon 28 Sep 1953 Hull 16-4 Halifax Boulevard [6]

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Both semi-final ties are played on a knock-out basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Wed 30 Sep 1953 Huddersfield 10-11 Bradford Northern Fartown 15,438 [4]
2 Wed 21 Oct 1953 Hunslet 2-3 Hull Parkside 2 [6]

Round 3 – semifinals - replay

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Both semi-final ties are played on a knock-out basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
R Thu 22 Oct 1953 Hunslet 5-9 Hull Parkside [6]

Final

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 31 October 1953 Bradford Northern 7-2 Hull Headingley 22,147 £3,833 3 [6][7][8]

Teams and scorers

Bradford Northern № Hull
teams
Joe Phillips 1 Colin Hutton
Bob Hawes 2 Keith Bowman
Joe Mageen 3 Bill Riches
Bill Seddon 4 Carl Turner
Jack Mc Lean 5 Ivor Watts
Bill Jenkins 6 Bernard Conway
Roy Goddard 7 Albert Tripp
Barry Tyler 8 Mick Scott
Norman Haley 9 Tommy Harris
Wynn Jones 10 Bob Coverdale
Trevor Foster 11 Harry Markham
Tony Storey 12 Arthur Bedford
Ken Trail 13 Johnny Whiteley
Dai Rees Coach Roy Francis
7 score 2
7 HT 0
Scorers
Bob Hawes Tries
T
Joe Phillips (2) Goals Colin Hutton
G
G
Referee George Phillips (Widnes)

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

The road to success

All the ties in the first round were played on a two leg (home and away) basis.

For the first round ties, the first club named in each of the ties played the first leg at home.

For the first round ties, the scores shown are the aggregate score over the two legs.

First round Second round Semifinals Final
            
Huddersfield 54
Wakefield Trinity 29
Huddersfield 19
York 7
York 40
Doncaster 4
Huddersfield 10
Bradford Northern 11
Batley 28
Bradford Northern 49
Bradford Northern 27
Leeds 9
Featherstone Rovers 14
Leeds 53
Bradford Northern 7
Hull 2
Hunslet 38
Hull Kingston Rovers 20
Hunslet 11
Keighley 2
Keighley 11
Dewsbury 8
Hunslet 5
Hull 9
Hull 47
Bramley 23
Hull 16
Halifax 4
Castleford 3
Halifax 20

Notes and comments

1 * The first Yorkshire Cup match played by Doncaster at their new Bentley Road Stadium - soon to be renamed "Tatters field" (ot Tattersfield) after the former chairman Len Tattersfield.

2 * Match abandoned after 32 minutes due to fog.

3 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947.

General information for those unfamiliar

The Rugby League 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 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)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
  3. ^ HC&AC committee (1954). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1954. HC&AC Supporters' Club.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1954" (PDF).
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  7. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  8. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.