1977–78 Yorkshire Cup

The 1977–78 Yorkshire Cup was the seventieth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. This year, for the first time for eighteen years (and the last time in the history of the Yorkshire Cup), a new name appeared on the trophy, with Castleford winning it by beating Featherstone Rovers in the final by the score of 17-7. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 6,318 and receipts were £4,528. It as also Featherstone Rovers's second consecutive Yorkshire Cup Final appearances, both of which resulted in a defeat.

1977–78 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Castleford
Runners-up	Featherstone Rovers

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 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.[1]

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 20 Aug 1977	Batley		6-33		Leeds	Mount Pleasant
2	Sat 20 Aug 1977	Bradford Northern		9-20		Featherstone Rovers	Odsal
3	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Dewsbury		5-12		Castleford	Crown Flatt
4	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Huddersfield		17-20		York	Fartown
5	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Hull F.C.		33-19		Bramley	Boulevard				[2]
6	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Keighley		16-0		Halifax	Lawkholme Lane
7	Sun 21 Aug 1977	New Hunslet		14-8		Hull Kingston Rovers	Elland Road Greyhound Stadium
8	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Wakefield Trinity		23-10		Doncaster	Belle Vue

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 27 Aug 1977	Leeds		18-18		Hull F.C.	Headingley				[2]
2	Sun 28 Aug 1977	Castleford		23-17		York	Wheldon Road
3	Sun 28 Aug 1977	Keighley		17-8		New Hunslet	Lawkholme Lane
4	Sun 28 Aug 1977	Wakefield Trinity		2-12		Featherstone Rovers	Belle Vue

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 31 Aug 1977	Hull F.C.		19-11		Leeds	Boulevard				[2]

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	Tue 13 Sep 1977	Hull F.C.		5-19		Featherstone Rovers	Boulevard				[2]
2	Fri 17 Sep 1977	Keighley		4-14		Castleford	Lawkholme Lane

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 15 October 1977	Castleford		17-7		Featherstone Rovers	Headingley	6,318	£4,528	1	[3][4][5]

Teams and Scorers

[4]

Castleford	№	Featherstone Rovers
	teams
Geoff Wraith	1	John Marsden
Terrence "Terry" Richardson	2	Steve Evans
John Joyner	3	John Gilbert
Philip Johnson	4	Steve Quinn
Steve Fenton	5	Ken Kellett
Bruce Burton	6	John Newlove
Clive Pickerill	7	Peter Butler
Tony Fisher	8	Jeff Townend
Robert Spurr	9	John "Keith" Bridges
Alf Weston	10	Vince Farrar (Captain)
James Huddlestone	11	Michael "Mick" Gibbins
Mal Reilly (Captain)	12	Richard 'Charlie' Stone
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd	13	Keith Bell
Gary Stephens (for Clive Pickerill)	14	Neil Tuffs (for Steve Quinn)
Derek Woodall (for Tony Fisher)	15	Peter Smith (for Richard Stone)
Malcolm "Mal" Reilly	Coach	Keith Cotton
17	score	7
4	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Bruce Burton (2)	T	Peter Smith (1)
	Goals
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd (5)	G	Steve Quinn (1)
	G	Townsend (1)
	Drop Goals
Bruce Burton (1)	DG
Referee		Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes)
White Rose Trophy for Man of the match		Bruce Burton - Castleford - stand-off
sponsored by
Competition Sponsor		Esso

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
	Keighley		16
	Halifax		0
						Keighley		17
						New Hunslet		8
	New Hunslet		14
	Hull Kingston Rovers		8
											Keighley		4
											Castleford		14
	Dewsbury		5
	Castleford		12
						Castleford		23
						York		17
	Huddersfield		17
	York		20
																Castleford		17
																Featherstone Rovers		7
	Batley		6
	Leeds		33
						Leeds		18 (11)
						Hull F.C.		18 (19)
	Hull F.C.		33
	Bramley		19
											Hull F.C.		5
											Featherstone Rovers		19
	Wakefield Trinity		23
	Doncaster		10
						Wakefield Trinity		2
						Featherstone Rovers		12
	Bradford Northern		9
	Featherstone Rovers		20

Notes

1 * 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.

See also

• 1977–78 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
3. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
4. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
5. Yorkshire County Rugby League Committee. Match Programme ESSO Yorkshitre Cup final 1976. Yorkshire CRL.

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