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1951–52 Yorkshire Cup

1951–52 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams16
WinnersWakefield Trinity
Runners-upKeighley

The 1951–52 Yorkshire Cup was the forty-fourth occasion on which rugby league's Yorkshire Cup competition was held. Wakefield Trinity won the trophy by beating Keighley in the final.

Background

This season no junior/amateur clubs were invited to take part, but newly elected to the league Doncaster were added to the competition, thus the number of entrants remained at the same as last season's total number of sixteen.

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

The competition again followed the original formula of a knock-out tournament, with the exception of the first round which was still played on a two-legged home and away basis.

Competition and results

[1][2][3][4]

Round 1 - First leg

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

All first round ties are played on a two-legged home and away basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Dewsbury 15-10 Halifax Crown Flatt
2 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Hull Kingston Rovers 19-13 Huddersfield Craven Park (1) 6,404 [3]
3 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Castleford 14-11 Keighley Wheldon Road
4 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Wakefield Trinity 15-5 Hull Belle Vue [5]
5 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Doncaster 4-9 Hunslet York Road Greyhound Stadium 1
6 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Featherstone Rovers 4-2 Bradford Northern Post Office Road
7 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Leeds 18-8 Bramley Headingley
8 Sat 1 Sep 1951 Batley 7-8 York Mount Pleasant

Round 1 - Second leg

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

All first round ties are played on a two-legged home and away basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Mon 3 Sep 1951 Halifax 9-3 Dewsbury Thrum Hall 19-18
2 Mon 3 Sep 1951 Huddersfield 25-5 Hull Kingston Rovers Fartown 38-24 12,198 [3]
3 Tue 4 Sep 1951 Keighley 9-0 Castleford Lawkholme Lane 20-14
4 Wed 5 Sep 1951 Hull 18-18 Wakefield Trinity Boulevard 23-33 [5]
5 Wed 5 Sep 1951 Hunslet 12-2 Doncaster Parkside 21-6
6 Mon 10 Sep 1951 Bradford Northern 11-9 Featherstone Rovers Odsal 13-13
7 Mon 10 Sep 1951 Bramley 9-25 Leeds Barley Mow 17-43
8 Mon 10 Sep 1951 York 5-21 Batley Clarence Street 13-28

Round 1 - Replay

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
R Wed 12 Sep 1951 Featherstone Rovers 9-17 Bradford Northern Post Office Road

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

All second round ties are played on a knock-out basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Mon 24 Sep 1951 Hunslet 27-8 Batley Parkside
2 Tue 25 Sep 1951 Keighley 18-14 Halifax Lawkholme Lane
3 Wed 26 Sep 1951 Bradford Northern 13-14 Leeds Odsal
4 Wed 26 Sep 1951 Wakefield Trinity 14-5 Huddersfield Belle Vue 15,400 [3]

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Both semi-final ties are played on a knock-out basis

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Mon 8 Oct 1951 Leeds 17-18 Wakefield Trinity Headingley
2 Tue 16 Oct 1951 Keighley 15-9 Hunslet Lawkholme Lane

Final

This was Keighley's only appearance in a Yorkshire Cup final (except for the 1943 Wartime final). Wakefield Trinity won the trophy by beating Keighley by the score of 17-3. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 25,495 and receipts were £3,347

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 27 October 1951 Wakefield Trinity 17-3 Keighley Fartown 25,495 £3,347 2 3 [3][6][7][8]

Teams and scorers

Wakefield Trinity Keighley
teams
Ernest Luckman 1 Gerry Lockwood
Johnny Duggan 2 Len Ward
Les Hirst 3 Taylor
Don Froggett 4 Martin Creeney
Denis "Dinny" Boocker 5 Bill Ivill
Glyn Meredith 6 Eric Redman
Arthur Fletcher 7 Freddie Barratt
Jack Booth 8 Chris Brereton
Dennis Horner 9 Joe Britton
Bill Hudson 10 J. Ramsden
Derek Howes 11 A. Mulhall
Don Robinson 12 Bob Kelly
Reg Hughes 13 Sanderson
James Croston (standing in for Harry Beverley) Coach ??
17 score 3
5 HT 3
Scorers
Tries
Don Robinson (1) T Eric Redman (1)
Denis "Dinny" Boocker (1) T
Reg Hughes (1) T
Goals
Les Hirst (4) G
Referee F. Smith (Barrow)

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

[3][4][8]

The road to success

All the ties in the first round were played on a two leg (home and away) basis.

For the first round ties, the first club named in each of the ties played the first leg at home.

For the first round ties, the scores shown are the aggregate score over the two legs.

First round Second round Semifinals Final
            
Featherstone Rovers 22
Bradford Northern 30
Bradford Northern 13
Leeds 14
Leeds 43
Bramley 17
Leeds 17
Wakefield Trinity 18
Wakefield Trinity 33
Hull 23
Wakefield Trinity 14
Huddersfield 5
Hull Kingston Rovers 24
Huddersfield 38
Wakefield Trinity 17
Keighley 3
Castleford 14
Keighley 20
Keighley 18
Halifax 14
Dewsbury 18
Halifax 19
Keighley 15
Hunslet 9
Doncaster 6
Hunslet 21
Hunslet 27
Batley 8
Batley 28
York 13

Notes and comments

1 * The first Yorkshire Cup match to be played by newly elected to the league, Doncaster, and also at this stadium

2 * The receipts are given as £3,237 by the official Huddersfield 1952 Yearbook[3] but given as £3,227 by "100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973"[8] and £3,347 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] and by the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991-92[6] and 1990-91[7]

3 * Fartown was the home ground of Huddersfield from 1878 to the end of the 1991-92 season to Huddersfield Town FC's Leeds Road stadium, and then to the McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Fartown remained as a sports/Rugby League ground but is now rather dilapidated, and is only used for staging amateur rugby league games.

Due to lack of maintenance, terrace closures and finally major storm damage closing one of the stands in 1986, the final ground capacity had been reduced to just a few thousands although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup semi-final on 19 April 1947 when a crowd of 35,136 saw Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 21-0

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

References

  1. ^ a b "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1952" (PDF).
  4. ^ a b HC&AC Committee (1952). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1952. HC&AC Supporters' Club.
  5. ^ a b "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  6. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  7. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  8. ^ a b c J C Lindley and D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973. Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. ISBN 0 35617852 8.