1955–56 Yorkshire Cup Explained

1955–56 Yorkshire Cup
Structure:Regional knockout championship
Season Champs:Halifax
Season Champ Name:Winners
Runner-Up Name:Runner-up
Second Place:Hull F.C.
Prevseason Link:1954 Yorkshire Cup
Prevseason Year:1954–55
Nextseason Link:1956 Yorkshire Cup
Nextseason Year:1956–57
No Of Teams:16

1955–56 was the forty-eighth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

This year's final was a repeat of last years' final and between cup holder Halifax and last season runner-up Hull F.C. with the same outcome (albeit via a replay). Halifax won the trophy by beating Hull F.C. by the score of 10-10 in a replayed final.

The original final, which ended in a 10-10 draw, was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 23,520 and receipts were £4,385.

The replay was played 11 days later at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 14,000 and receipts were £2,439.

This was the second of Halifax's two successive victories, both against Hull FC, for whom it was their third successive cup final defeat.

Background

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.

This season saw a continuation of the simple knock-out formulas, there was to be no return to the two-legged ties.

Competition and results

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

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Sat 27 Aug 1955Batley13-25Hull F.C.Mount Pleasant[5]
2Sat 27 Aug 1955Bradford Northern27-23HunsletOdsal
3Sat 27 Aug 1955Bramley16-13DoncasterBarley Mow
4Sat 27 Aug 1955Castleford29-8Dewsbury
5Sat 27 Aug 1955Featherstone Rovers26-9HuddersfieldPost Office Road9,000
6Sat 27 Aug 1955Hull Kingston Rovers21-13KeighleyCraven Park (1)
7Sat 27 Aug 1955Leeds13-31Wakefield TrinityHeadingley
8Wed 31 Aug 1955York5-13HalifaxClarence Street

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Mon 5 Sep 1955Hull F.C.12-5Featherstone RoversBoulevard
2Fri 9 Sep 1955Bramley5-12Bradford NorthernBarley Mow
3Wed 14 Sep 1955Castleford17-0Hull Kingston Rovers
4Thu 15 Sep 1955Wakefield Trinity4-21HalifaxBelle Vue

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Tue 20 Sep 1955Hull F.C.23-16Bradford NorthernBoulevard
2Wed 28 Sep 1955Castleford8-24Halifax

Final

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=45 abbr="Att" Attwidth=60 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
Saturday 22 October 1955Halifax10-10Hull F.C.Headingley23,520£4,3851[6] [7]

Final - replay

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=45 abbr="Att" Attwidth=60 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
Wednesday 2 November 1955Halifax7-0Hull F.C.Odsal14,000£2,4392

Teams and scorers

width=280 abbr=winnerHalifaxwidth=60 abbr="Number"width=280 abbr=runner-upHull F.C.
teams
1Jack Watkinson
2Keith Bowman
3Carl R. Turner
4William "Bill" Riches
5Ivor Watts
Ken Dean6Rowley Moat
7Tommy Finn
8Mick Scott (c)
Alvin Ackerley (c)9Tommy Harris
10Bob Coverdale
11Harry Markham
12Bill Drake
13Johnny Whiteley
??CoachRoy Francis
10score10
7HT0
Scorers
Tries
T
T
Goals
G
G
Drop Goals
DG
RefereeG.S. Phillips (Widnes)
Replay
teams
1Colin Hutton
2Keith Bowman
3William "Bill" Riches
4Carl R. Turner
5Ivor Watts
Ken Dean6Rowley Moat
7Tommy Finn
8Mick Scott (c)
Alvin Ackerley (c)9Tommy Harris
10Bob Coverdale
11Harry Markham
12Bill Drake
13Johnny Whiteley
CoachRoy Francis
7score0
2HT0
Scorers
Tries
T
Goals
G
G
Drop Goals
DG
RefereeN.T. Railton (Wigan)
three (3) - Try = points two (2) - Goal = points two (2) - Drop goal = points

The road to success

Notes and comments

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.

2 * Odsal is the home ground of Bradford Northern from 1890 to 2010 and the current capacity is in the region of 26,000, The ground is famous for hosting the largest attendance at an English sports ground when 102,569 (it was reported that over 120,000 actually attended as several areas of boundary fencing collapse under the sheer weight of numbers) attended the replay of the Challenge Cup final on 5 May 1954 to see Halifax v Warrington

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

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rugby League Project.
  2. Book: Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding. John Player Yearbook 1975-76. 1991. Queen Anne Press.
  3. Book: HC&AC Committee. Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1956. 1956. HC&AC Supporters' Club.
  4. Web site: Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1956.
  5. Web site: HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results.
  6. Book: Raymond Fletcher and David Howes. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. 1991. Queen Anne Press. 0 35617852 8.
  7. Book: Raymond Fletcher and David Howes. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. 1990. Queen Anne Press. 0 35617851 X.