1974–75 Yorkshire Cup

The 1974–75 Yorkshire Cup was the sixty-seventh occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

1974–75 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Hull Kingston Rovers
Runners-up	Wakefield Trinity

Hull Kingston Rovers won the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 16-13

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 5,823 and receipts were £3,090

It was also the second consecutive Yorkshire Cup Final appearances by Wakefield Trinity, both of which would result in 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.

Competition and Results

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

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	Fri 30 Aug 1974	Castleford		13-19		York	Wheldon Road	1778
2	Fri 30 Aug 1974	Hull Kingston Rovers		16-0		Batley	Craven Park (1)	3151
3	Sat 31 Aug 1974	Leeds		16-5		Keighley	Headingley	3410
4	Sun 1 Sep 1974	Bradford Northern		49-5		Huddersfield	Odsal	4003
5	Sun 1 Sep 1974	Bramley		52-17		Doncaster	McLaren Field	800
6	Sun 1 Sep 1974	Dewsbury		12-15		Featherstone Rovers	Crown Flatt	3320
7	Sun 1 Sep 1974	New Hunslet		14-17		Hull F.C.	Elland Road Greyhound Stadium	2000		1	[5]
8	Sun 1 Sep 1974	Wakefield Trinity		22-12		Halifax	Belle Vue	2500

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	Wed 4 Sep 1974	Hull Kingston Rovers		23-10		Bramley	Craven Park (1)	3086		2
2	Tue 10 Sep 1974	Hull F.C.		12-8		Leeds	Boulevard	4000		3	[5]
3	Thu 12 Sep 1974	Wakefield Trinity		24-14		Featherstone Rovers	Belle Vue	3300
4	Thu 19 Sep 1974	York		4-26		Bradford Northern	Clarence Street	2576

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 24 Sep 1974	Bradford Northern		16-16		Hull Kingston Rovers	Odsal	2942
2	Tue 1 Oct 1974	Hull F.C.		6-8		Wakefield Trinity	Boulevard	4250			[5]

Semi-Final - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Wed 2 Oct 1974	Hull Kingston Rovers		5-3		Bradford Northern	Craven Park (1)	4047

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 26 October 1974	Hull Kingston Rovers		16-13		Wakefield Trinity	Headingley	5,823	£3,090	4	[6][7][4]

Teams and Scorers

[7][2]

Hull Kingston Rovers	№	Wakefield Trinity
	teams
Robert Smithies	1	Les Sheard
Clive Sullivan	2	David Smith
Bernard Watson	3	Terry "TC" Crook
Phillip "Phil" Coupland	4	John Hegarty
George Kirkpatrick	5	John Archer
Roger Millward (c)	6	David Topliss
Mike Stephenson	7	Joseph "Joe" Bonnar
John Millington	8	George Ballantyne
Dave Heslop	9	Raymond Handscombe
Paul Rose	10	Roy Bratt
Cliff Wallis	11	Trevor Skerrett
Neil Fox	12	Alan Tonks
Joseph "Joe" Brown	13	Mick Morgan (c)
Gerald "Ged" Dunn (for Clive Sullivan)	14	Neil Goodwin (for Alan Tonks)
Ian Madley (for Neil Fox)	15	Ernest Holmes (for Neil Goodwin)
??	Coach	Peter Fox
16	score	13
5	HT	7
	Scorers
	Tries
Gerald "Ged" Dunn (1)	T	David Smith (1)
Bernard Watson (2)	T	John Hegarty (1)
George Kirkpatrick (1)	T	Roy Bratt (1)
	Goals
Neil Fox (2)	G	Terry "TC" Crook (2)
Referee		Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes)
White Rose Trophy for Man of the match		Roger Millward - Hull KR - 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
	Castleford		13
	York		19
						York		4
						Bradford Northern		26
	Bradford Northern		49
	Huddersfield		5
											Bradford Northern		16 (3)
											Hull Kingston Rovers		16 (5)
	Hull Kingston Rovers		16
	Batley		0
						Hull Kingston Rovers		23
						Bramley		10
	Bramley		52
	Doncaster		17
																Hull Kingston Rovers		16
																Wakefield Trinity		13
	New Hunslet		14
	Hull F.C.		17
						Hull F.C.		12
						Leeds		8
	Leeds		16
	Keighley		5
											Hull F.C.		6
											Wakefield Trinity		8
	Wakefield Trinity		22
	Halifax		12
						Wakefield Trinity		24
						Featherstone Rovers		14
	Dewsbury		12
	Featherstone Rovers		15

Notes and comments

1 * The first Yorkshire Cup match played at this Elland Road Greyhound Stadium

2 * The score is given incorrectly as 0-10 by the John Player yearbook 1975–76[2] but as 23-10 by the RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1]> and others

3 * The date is given as Wednesday 11 September by RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] but by the official Hull[5] archives as Tuesday 10 September.

4 * 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

• 1974–75 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
3. Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974). News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year. News of the World Ltd.
4. Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1975). News of the World Football Annual 1975–76 - 89th year. News of the World Ltd.
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
6. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
7. 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