1911–12 Yorkshire Cup

The 1911–12 Yorkshire Cup was the seventh occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition, a Rugby league tournament, was held. This year saw a previous winner, Huddersfield, win the trophy by beating Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 22-10

1911–12 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	13
Winners	Huddersfield
Runners-up	Hull Kingston Rovers

The match was played at Belle Vue, in the City of Wakefield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 20,000 and receipts were £700. This was Huddersfield's third appearance in what would be seven appearances in eight consecutive finals between 1909 and 1919 (which included four successive victories and six in total.)

Background

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, but last year's new entrant Coventry left to join the Lancashire Cup, reducing the number of entries by one to a total of thirteen. 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 11 Oct 1911	Hull		2-8		Hunslet	Boulevard				[3]
2	Sat 14 Oct 1911	Bramley		3-25		Dewsbury	Barley Mow
3	Sat 14 Oct 1911	Huddersfield		15-2		Batley	Fartown
4	Sat 14 Oct 1911	Hull Kingston Rovers		23-9		Wakefield Trinity	Hull Kingston Rovers
5	Sat 14 Oct 1911	Leeds		17-5		Keighley	Headingley
6		Bradford Northern				bye
7		Halifax				bye
8		York				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 14 Oct 1911	Bradford Northern		9-24		Hunslet	Birch Lane			1
2	Sat 28 Oct 1911	Huddersfield		34-6		Dewsbury	Fartown
3	Sat 28 Oct 1911	Hull Kingston Rovers		15-2		York	Hull Kingston Rovers
4	Sat 28 Oct 1911	Leeds		9-2		Halifax	Headingley

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 11 Nov 1911	Hunslet		3-5		Huddersfield	Parkside
2	Sat 11 Nov 1911	Leeds		0-11		Hull Kingston Rovers	Headingley

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 25 November 1911	Huddersfield		22-10		Hull Kingston Rovers	Belle Vue	20000	700	2	[4][5]

Teams and Scorers

Huddersfield	№	Hull Kingston Rovers
	teams
Jack Bartholomew	1	Alf Carmichael
Albert "Rozzi" Rosenfeld	2	George Spivey
Edgar Wrigley	3	Phil Thomas
Harold Wagstaff	4	R. Hughes
Stan Moorhouse	5	J. Charles "Slasher" Brain
Thomas Grey	6	Bruce Craven
Jim Davies	7	Thomas Surman
W. Brook	8	Arthur Moore
Con Byrne	9	William "Bill" Huskins
Douglas Clark	10	Jake Blackmore
Ben Gronow	11	Arthur Spackman
John Higson	12	C. McDonald
Herbert Sherwood	13	R. Fearnley
??	Coach	(??)
22	score	10
16	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
John Higson (1)	T	R. Hughes (1)
Albert "Rozzi" Rosenfeld (1)	T	C. McDonald (1)
Edgar Wrigley (1)	T
Harold Wagstaff (1)	T
Stan Moorhouse (1)	T
Thomas Grey (1)	T
	Goals
Thomas Grey (2)	G	Alf Carmichael (2)
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee		J. F. May (St. Helens)

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

[6][7]

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Bradford Northern
	bye
						Bradford Northern		9
						Hunslet		24
	Hull		2
	Hunslet		8
											Hunslet		3
											Huddersfield		6
	Huddersfield		16
	Batley		2
						Huddersfield		34
						Dewsbury		6
	Bramley		3
	Dewsbury		25
																Huddersfield		22
																Hull Kingston Rovers		10
	Leeds		17
	Keighley		5
						Leeds		9
						Halifax		2
	Halifax
	bye
											Leeds		0
											Hull Kingston Rovers		11
	Hull Kingston Rovers		23
	Wakefield Trinity		9
						Hull Kingston Rovers		15
						York		2
	York
	bye

Notes and comments

1 * The first Yorkshire Cup game played at this ground, to which Bradford Northern moved for season 1908-09 2 * 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

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

• 1911–12 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".
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. "Huddersfield RL Heritage 1911–12" (PDF).
7. Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 17 – 1911–12". 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