1913–14 Yorkshire Cup

The 1913–14 Yorkshire Cup was the ninth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition, a Rugby league tournament, was held. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no new entrants and no "leavers" and so the total of entries remained the same at thirteen. This in turn resulted in three byes in the first round.

1913–14 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	13
Winners	Huddersfield
Runners-up	Bradford Northern

This year saw a previous two-time winner, Huddersfield taking the trophy by beating Bradford Northern by the score of 19-3 in the final. The match was played at Thrum Hall, Halifax, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 12,000 and receipts were £430. This was Huddersfield's fourth appearance in what would be seven appearances in eight consecutive finals between 1909 and 1919 (which included four successive victories and six in total), and who knows, but for the intervention of the First World War and suspension of the competition, it may have been more. It was also the first of the four consecutive wins.

Background

The Rugby Football League's 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).

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 18 Oct 1913	Bradford Northern		4-2		Keighley	Birch Lane
2	Sat 18 Oct 1913	Halifax		9-0		Batley	Thrum Hall
3	Sat 18 Oct 1913	Huddersfield		67-0		Bramley	Fartown			1
4	Sat 18 Oct 1913	Hunslet		8-19		Dewsbury	Parkside
5	Sat 18 Oct 1913	Wakefield Trinity		8-0		Hull	Belle Vue				[3]
6		Hull Kingston Rovers				bye
7		Leeds				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 1 Nov 1913	Dewsbury		18-5		Hull Kingston Rovers	Crown Flatt
2	Sat 1 Nov 1913	Halifax		0-39		Huddersfield	Thrum Hall
3	Sat 1 Nov 1913	Leeds		7-15		Wakefield Trinity	Headingley
4	Sat 1 Nov 1913	York		4-9		Bradford Northern	Clarence Street

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 Nov 1913	Bradford Northern		13-2		Wakefield Trinity	Birch Lane
2	Sat 15 Nov 1913	Huddersfield		37-0		Dewsbury	Fartown

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 29 November 1913	Huddersfield		19-3		Bradford Northern	Thrum Hall	12000	430	2	[4][5]

Teams and Scorers

Huddersfield	№	Bradford Northern
	teams
Major Holland	1	H. Schofield
Albert Rosenfeld	2	W. H. Irving
Tom Gleeson	3	N. Wilby
Robert Habron	4	G. Hall
George Todd	5	F. Wilson
Jim Davies	6	J. McEwan
Johnny Rogers	7	C. Carter
Fred Longstaff	8	Joe Winterburn
Ben Gronow	9	J. Haley
Jack Chilcott	10	W. H. Mitchell
Douglas Clark	11	J. Ruck
Aaron Lee	12	J. B. Simmonds
John Higson	13	Harry Feather(?)
??	Coach	??
19	score	3
8	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
George Todd (2)	T	N. Wilby (1)
Robert Habron (2)	T
Albert "Rozzi" Rosenfeld (1)	T
	Goals
Major Holland (2)	G
Referee		B. Ennion (Wigan)

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

[6]

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Halifax		9
	Batley		0
						Halifax		0
						Huddersfield		39
	Huddersfield		67
	Bramley		0
											Huddersfield		37
											Dewsbury		0
	Hunslet		8
	Dewsbury		19
						Dewsbury		18
						Hull Kingston Rovers		5
	Hull Kingston Rovers
	bye
																Huddersfield		19
																Bradford Northern		3
	York
	bye
						York		4
						Bradford Northern		9
	Bradford Northern		4
	Keighley		2
											Bradford Northern		13
											Wakefield Trinity		2
	Leeds
	bye
						Leeds		7
						Wakefield Trinity		15
	Wakefield Trinity		8
	Hull		0

Notes

1 * Highest winning margin at the time (beating Bradford's 68-2 victory over Bramley in 1906

2 * Thrum Hall was the home ground of Halifax with a final capacity of 9,832 (The attendance record of 29,153 was set on 21 March 1959 for a third round Challenge Cup tie v Wigan). The club finally moved out in 1998 to take part ownership and ground-share with Halifax Town FC at The Shay Stadium.

See also

• 1913–14 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 1913–14" (PDF).

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