1973–74 Yorkshire Cup

The 1973–74 Yorkshire Cup was the sixty-sixth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup Rugby competition had been held.

1973–74 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Leeds
Runners-up	Wakefield Trinity

Leeds won the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 7-2. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 7,621 and receipts were £3,728.[1][2][3]

This was Leeds' fourth victory (and the second of two consecutive victories) in what would be eight times in the space of thirteen seasons. It was also the first of two consecutive Yorkshire Cup Final appearances by Wakefield Trinity, both of which would result in defeat

Background

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)

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

Competition and results

[1][4]

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 31 Aug 1973	Castleford	32-8	York	Wheldon Road	1697
2	Sat 01 Sep 1973	Batley	23-8	Hull Kingston Rovers	Mount Pleasant	691
3	Sat 01 Sep 1973	Halifax	15-17	Keighley	Thrum Hall	1352
4	Sat 01 Sep 1973	Hull F.C.	8-10	Huddersfield	Boulevard	1800		[5]
5	Sat 01 Sep 1973	Leeds	30-5	Dewsbury	Headingley	5882
6	Sun 02 Sep 1973	Bradford Northern	29-7	New Hunslet	Odsal	4418	[lower-alpha 1]
7	Sun 02 Sep 1973	Bramley	4-19	Featherstone Rovers	McLaren Field	1950
8	Sun 02 Sep 1973	Wakefield Trinity	39-7	Doncaster	Belle Vue	2548

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 07 Sep 1973	Castleford	29-8	Huddersfield	Wheldon Road	1700
2	Sat 08 Sep 1973	Batley	2-27	Leeds	Mount Pleasant	2542
3	Sun 09 Sep 1973	Bradford Northern	27-14	Featherstone Rovers	Odsal	5369
4	Sun 09 Sep 1973	Keighley	4-39	Wakefield Trinity	Lawkholme Lane	2620

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 25 Sep 1973	Leeds	10-5	Bradford Northern	Headingley	6416
2	Tue 26 Sep 1973	Wakefield Trinity	19-18	Castleford	Belle Vue	4642

Final

Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
Saturday 20 October 1973	Leeds	7-2	Wakefield Trinity	Headingley	7,621	£3,728	[lower-alpha 2]	[2][3][6]

Teams and Scorers

[3][4]

Leeds	№	Wakefield Trinity
	teams
John Holmes	1	Geoff Wraith
John Langley	2	David Smith
Syd Hynes	3	Terry "TC" Crook
Les Dyl	4	John Hegarty
John Atkinson	5	Barry Parker
Alan Hardisty (c)	6	David Topliss
Keith Hepworth	7	Joseph "Joe" Bonnar
David Jeanes	8	Rob Valentine
David Ward	9	Mick Morgan (c)
Geoffrey Clarkson	10	Roy Bratt
Graham Eccles	11	David Knowles
Phil Cookson	12	Ken Endersby
Ray Batten	13	Ernest Holmes
David Marshall (for John Langley)	14	Les Sheard (for Geoff Wraith 33m)
Bill Ramsey (for David Jeanes)	15	George Ballantyne (for David Knowles 57m)
Eric Ashton	Coach	Neil Fox
7	score	2
5	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
John Langley (1)	T
	Goals
David Marshall (1)	G	Terry "TC" Crook (1)
Syd Hynes (1)	G
Referee		Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes)
White Rose Trophy for Man of the match		Keith Hepworth - Leeds - scrum-half

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Batley		23
	Hull Kingston Rovers		8
						Batley		2
						Leeds		27
	Leeds		30
	Dewsbury		5
											Leeds		10
											Bradford Northern		5
	Bradford Northern		29
	New Hunslet		7
						Bradford Northern		27
						Featherstone Rovers		14
	Bramley		4
	Featherstone Rovers		19
																Leeds		7
																Wakefield Trinity		2
	Halifax		15
	Keighley		17
						Keighley		4
						Wakefield Trinity		39
	Wakefield Trinity		39
	Doncaster		7
											Wakefield Trinity		19
											Castleford		18
	Castleford		32
	York		8
						Castleford		29
						Huddersfield		8
	Hull F.C.		8
	Huddersfield		10

See also

• 1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

Notes and comments

1. The first Yorkshire Cup match played by the newly re-formed New Hunslet club
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.

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
3. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
4. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Yearbook 1974–75. Queen Anne Press.
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
6. Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974). News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year. News of the World Ltd.

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