1907 Yorkshire Cup

The 1907 Yorkshire Cup was the third occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition was held. This year's final was a repeat of the first Yorkshire Cup final in which the same two clubs reached the same outcome. Hunslet won the trophy for the second time in three years by beating Halifax by the score of 17–0

1907–08 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	13
Winners	Hunslet
Runners-up	Halifax

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 15,000 and receipts were £397

Background

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, Pontefract folded part way through the last season, and last years cup winner and cup holder, Bradford, became turncoats to play with the round ball. As replacement, a new club Bradford Northern joined the league, resulting in an overall decrease of two from 1906, and giving a total of thirteen entrants.

This in turn resulted in three byes in the first round.

Competition and results

[1][2]

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 09 Nov 1907	Halifax		10–5		Batley	Thrum Hall
2	Sat 09 Nov 1907	Hull		21–10		Keighley	Boulevard				[3]
3	Sat 09 Nov 1907	Hunslet		50–0		Bramley	Parkside
4	Sat 09 Nov 1907	Leeds		16–2		Hull Kingston Rovers	Headingley
5	Sat 09 Nov 1907	York		14–15		Bradford Northern	Clarence Street			1
6	09 Nov 1907	Dewsbury		0		bye
7	09 Nov 1907	Huddersfield		0		bye
8	09 Nov 1907	Wakefield Trinity		0		bye

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 23 Nov 1907	Dewsbury		3–15		Hull	Crown Flatt				[3]
2	Sat 23 Nov 1907	Halifax		31–0		Bradford Northern	Thrum Hall
3	Sat 23 Nov 1907	Huddersfield		2–2		Wakefield Trinity	Fartown
4	Sat 23 Nov 1907	Hunslet		17–10		Leeds	Parkside

Round 2 – Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Wed 27 Nov 1907	Wakefield Trinity		12–0		Huddersfield	Belle Vue

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 07 Dec 1907	Hull		2–16		Halifax	Boulevard				[3]
2	Sat 07 Dec 1907	Hunslet		10–0		Wakefield Trinity	Parkside

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 21 December 1907	Hunslet		17–0		Halifax	Headingley	15,000	397	2	[4][5]

Teams and scorers

[6][7]

Hunslet	№	Halifax
	teams
Herbert Place	1	Billy Little
Fred Farrar	2	Harry Morley
C. Ward	3	Fred Atkins
Billy Eagers	4	Eddie Ward
Billy Batten	5	Joe Riley
Albert Goldthorpe	6	Jimmy Hilton
Fred Smith	7	Tommy Grey
Harry Wilson	8	Joseph Brearley
Billy Brookes	9	Fred Hammond
Bill Dukes	10	Asa Robinson
Jack Randall	11	Fred Littlewood
Tom Walsh	12	J.W. Langhorn
W. Wray	13	L Sunderland
	Coach
17	score	0
4	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
Billy Batten	T
Fred Smith	T
Albert Goldthorpe	T
	T
	T
	Goals
C. Ward	G
Billy Eagers	G
Albert Goldthorpe (2)	G
	DG
Referee		W. Mc Cutcheon (Oldham)
Attendance: 15,000

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
	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 * 1 * First Yorkshire Cup match played by newly formed club Bradford Northern who replaced Bradford who had converted to Soccer

2 * 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

• 1907–08 Northern Rugby Football Union season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
3. "HULL&PROUD – Stats – Fixtures & Results 1896/1897".
4. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991–1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
5. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
6. "Hunslet Remembered". Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
7. Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 13 – 1907–08". 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