1948–49 Yorkshire Cup

1948–49 was the forty-first occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

1948–49 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Bradford Northern
Runners-up	Castleford

Bradford Northern won the trophy by beating Castleford by the score of 18-9

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 31,393 and receipts were £5,053

The first of two successive wins for Bradford Northern

Background

This season, junior/amateur clubs Yorkshire Amateurs were again invited to take part and the number of clubs who entered 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]

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 11 Sep 1948	Castleford		37-7		Bramley	Wheldon Road
2	Sat 11 Sep 1948	Dewsbury		5-3		Bradford Northern	Crown Flatt
3	Sat 11 Sep 1948	Huddersfield		79-5		Yorkshire Amateurs	Fartown				1
4	Sat 11 Sep 1948	Hull		22-7		Batley	Boulevard					[3]
5	Sat 11 Sep 1948	Keighley		7-8		Hunslet	Lawkholme Lane
6	Sat 11 Sep 1948	Leeds		10-10		Halifax	Headingley
7	Sat 11 Sep 1948	Wakefield Trinity		20-5		Hull Kingston Rovers	Belle Vue
8	Sat 11 Sep 1948	York		12-14		Featherstone Rovers	Clarence Street

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	Wed 15 Sep 1948	Bramley		9-12		Castleford	Barley Mow	16-49
2	Wed 15 Sep 1948	Bradford Northern		20-5		Dewsbury	Odsal	23-10
3	Thu 16 Sep 1948	Yorkshire Amateurs		0-61		Huddersfield	Crown Flatt	5-140			1
4	Tue 14 Sep 1948	Batley		5-12		Hull	Mount Pleasant	12-34				[3]
5	Wed 15 Sep 1948	Hunslet		9-5		Keighley	Parkside	17-12
6	Tue 14 Sep 1948	Halifax		5-11		Leeds	Thrum Hall	15-21
7	Wed 15 Sep 1948	Hull Kingston Rovers		14-4		Wakefield Trinity	Craven Park (1)	19-24
8	Wed 15 Sep 1948	Featherstone Rovers		17-9		York	Post Office Road	31-21

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

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 20 Sep 1948	Bradford Northern		19-12		Huddersfield	Odsal
2	Mon 27 Sep 1948	Featherstone Rovers		5-19		Wakefield Trinity	Post Office Road
3	Tue 28 Sep 1948	Castleford		11-0		Hull	Wheldon Road					[3]
4	Thu 30 Sep 1948	Leeds		7-10		Hunslet	Headingley

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

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	Wed 13 Oct 1948	Bradford Northern		7-7		Hunslet	Odsal
2	Wed 13 Oct 1948	Castleford		6-5		Wakefield Trinity	Wheldon Road					[4]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals - Replay

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
R	Mon 18 Oct 1948	Hunslet		5-12		Bradford Northern	Parkside

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 30 October 1948	Bradford Northern		18-9		Castleford	Headingley		31,393	£5,053	2	[5][6]

Teams and Scorers

Bradford Northern	№	Castleford
	teams
George Carmichael	1	Ronald Lewis
Eric Batten	2	Arthur Bastow
William "Bill" Leake	3	Leonard "Len" Skidmore
Ernest Ward (c)	4	Norman Guest
Alan Edwards	5	Reg Lloyd
Willie Davies	6	Arthur Fisher
Donald	7	George Langfield
Frank Whitcombe	8	Dyl Harris
Vic Darlison	9	Jimmy Jones
Ronald "Ron" Greaves	10	James Crossley
Trevor Foster	11	Desmond "Des" Foreman
Barry Tyler	12	Charles Staines
Ken Traill	13	Frank Mugglestone
Dai Rees	Coach	??
18	score	9
2	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Allen Edwards (2)	T	Des Foreman (1)
Leake (1)	T
Foster (1)	T
	Goals
Allen Edwards (3)	G	Des Foreman (1)
	G	Charlie Staines (1)
	Drop Goals
	DG	George Langfield (1)
Referee		G.S.Phillips(Widnes)

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

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					Semi Finals					Final
	Dewsbury		10
	Bradford Northern		23
						Bradford Northern		19
						Huddersfield		12
	Huddersfield		140
	Batley		5
											Bradford Northern		7 (5)
											Hunslet		7 (12)
	Leeds		21
	Halifax		15
						Leeds		7
						Hunslet		10
	Keighley		12
	Hunslet		17
																Bradford Northern		18
																Castleford		9
	Castleford		49
	Bramley		16
						Castleford		11
						Hull		0
	Hull		34
	Batley		12
											Castleford		6
											Wakefield Trinity		5
	York		21
	Featherstone Rovers		31
						Featherstone Rovers		6
						Wakefield Trinity		19
	Wakefield Trinity		24
	Hull Kingston Rovers		19

Notes and comments

1 * Yorkshire Amateurs were a team from Yorkshire which appeared to have players selected from many both professional and amateur clubs - can anyone comment ? Yorkshire Amateurs played on many grounds, this match was played at Parkside, the ground of Hunslet

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.

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

• 1948–49 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. 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.
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.

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