1925–26 Yorkshire Cup

The 1925–26 Yorkshire Cup was the eighteenth competition in this series. This year again saw a new name added to the list of cup winners. This time it was Dewsbury winning the trophy by beating Huddersfield in the final 2–0. The match was played at Belle Vue, in the City of Wakefield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 12,616 and receipts were £718. This was the last time for another fourteen years that a new name would be added.

1925–26 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	15
Winners	Dewsbury
Runners-up	Huddersfield

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

This season there was only one junior/amateur club taking part, Castleford, at the time still a junior club, but which would be joining the league in the next closed season. This resulted in a reduction in entrants of just one, giving a total of fifteen entrants. This in turn resulted in one bye in the first round.[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one bye) and 15 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Batley		4-6		Wakefield Trinity	Mount Pleasant
2	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Bradford Northern		9-9		Castleford	Birch Lane			1
3	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Dewsbury		22-7		Bramley	Crown Flatt
4	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Halifax		0-2		Leeds	Thrum Hall
5	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Hull		16-3		Hunslet	Boulevard				[3]
6	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Hull Kingston Rovers		10-14		York	Craven Park (1)
7	Sat 10 Oct 1925	Keighley		4-18		Featherstone Rovers	Lawkholme Lane
8		Huddersfield				bye

Round 1 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Wed 14 Oct 1925	Castleford		5-11		Bradford Northern	Sandy Desert			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	Tue 20 Oct 1925	Dewsbury		13-3		Hull	Crown Flatt				[3]
2	Wed 21 Oct 1925	Bradford Northern		15-5		York	Birch Lane
3	Wed 21 Oct 1925	Huddersfield		16-11		Leeds	Fartown
4	Wed 21 Oct 1925	Wakefield Trinity		2-23		Featherstone Rovers	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	Wed 4 Nov 1925	Huddersfield		15-9		Featherstone Rovers	Fartown
2	Wed 11 Nov 1925	Dewsbury		13-5		Bradford Northern	Crown Flatt

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 28 November 1925	Dewsbury		2-0		Huddersfield	Belle Vue	12,616	£718	2	[4][5]

Teams and Scorers

Dewsbury	No.	Huddersfield
teams unknown	teams	teams unknown
	1
	2
	3
	4
	5
	6
	7
	8
	9	Douglas Clark
	10
	11
	12
	13
??	Coach	??
2	score	0
2	HT	0
	Scorers
	Goals
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee		unknown

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
	Dewsbury		22
	Bramley		7
						Dewsbury		13
						Hull		3
	Hull		16
	Hunslet		3
											Dewsbury		13
											Bradford Northern		5
	Bradford Northern		9 (11)
	Castleford		9 (5)
						Bradford Northern		15
						York		5
	Hull Kingston Rovers		10
	York		14
																Dewsbury		2
																Huddersfield		0
	Huddersfield
	bye
						Huddersfield		16
						Leeds		11
	Halifax		0
	Leeds		2
											Huddersfield		15
											Featherstone Rovers		9
	Batley		4
	Wakefield Trinity		6
						Wakefield Trinity		2
						Featherstone Rovers		23
	Keighley		4
	Featherstone Rovers		18

Notes

1 * Castleford were at that time a junior club. They joined the league for season 1926–27

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

See also

• 1925–26 Northern Rugby Football League 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 1925–26" (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