1923–24 Yorkshire Cup

The 1923–24 Yorkshire Cup was the sixteenth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. This year, for the fourth consecutive year, produced another new name was inscribed on the trophy. Hull F.C. (previously three times beaten finalists) won the trophy by beating Huddersfield by the score of 10-4 in the final. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 23,300 and receipts were £1,728.

1923–24 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Hull
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 were again two junior/amateur clubs taking part, Elland Wanderers again, and Castleford. The number of entries remained at last year's "full house" total of sixteen again obviating the necessity of having byes.[1][2]

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 13 Oct 1923	Castleford		3-17		Batley	Sandy Desert			1
2	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Dewsbury		13-5		Leeds	Crown Flatt
3	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Elland Wanderers		2-53		Huddersfield	venue unknown			2
4	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Featherstone Rovers		6-15		Hull Kingston Rovers	Post Office Road
5	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Halifax		27-0		Bradford Northern	Thrum Hall
6	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Hull		16-3		Bramley	Boulevard				[3]
7	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Keighley		5-3		York	Lawkholme Lane
8	Sat 13 Oct 1923	Wakefield Trinity		4-13		Hunslet	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 Oct 1923	Huddersfield		19-2		Halifax	Fartown
2	Sat 27 Oct 1923	Hull		16-7		Hunslet	Boulevard				[3]
3	Sat 27 Oct 1923	Hull Kingston Rovers		7-16		Batley	Craven Park (1)
4	Sat 27 Oct 1923	Keighley		6-8		Dewsbury	Lawkholme Lane

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	Sat 10 Nov 1923	Dewsbury		3-12		Hull	Crown Flatt				[3]
2	Sat 10 Nov 1923	Huddersfield		10-9		Batley	Fartown				[4]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 24 November 1923	Hull		10-4		Huddersfield	Headingley	23,300	£1,728	3	[3][5][6]

Teams and Scorers

[7]

Hull	№	Huddersfield
team unknown	teams	team unknown
	1
	2	Joe Oliver
	3
	4
	5
	6
	7	Johnny Rogers
	8	Ben Gronow
	9	Douglas Clark
	10
	11
	12
	13
??	Coach	??
10	score	4
3	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
	T
	T
	Goals
	G	Ben Gronow (1)
	G	Joe Oliver (1)
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
	DG
Referee		unknown

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

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Keighley		5
	York		3
						Keighley		6
						Dewsbury		8
	Dewsbury		13
	Leeds		6
											Dewsbury		3
											Hull		12
	Hull		16
	Bramley		3
						Hull		16
						Hunslet		7
	Wakefield Trinity		4
	Hunslet		13
																Hull		10
																Huddersfield		4
	Elland Wanderers		2
	Huddersfield		53
						Huddersfield		19
						Halifax		2
	Halifax		27
	Bradford Northern		0
											Huddersfield		10
											Batley		9
	Featherstone Rovers		6
	Hull Kingston Rovers		15
						Hull Kingston Rovers		7
						Batley		16
	Castleford		3
	Batley		17

Notes

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

2 * Elland Wanderers were a Junior/amateur club from Elland (Halifax)

3 * 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

• 1923–24 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. "Batley official/history".
5. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991–1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
6. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
7. "Huddersfield RL Heritage 1923–24" (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