1921–22 Yorkshire Cup

The 1921–22 Yorkshire Cup was the fourteenth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. This year saw another new name on the trophy when Leeds won the cup by beating Dewsbury by the score of 11-3 in the final. The match was played at Thrum Hall, Halifax, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 20,000 and receipts were £1,650. This was the first of Leeds' Yorkshire Cup successes, and they would go on to (eventually) triumph on a record seventeen occasions.

1921–22 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Leeds
Runners-up	Dewsbury

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 no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no "leavers" but Featherstone Rovers joined for the first time as a league team, after being newly admitted to the league during the close-season. This resulted in one additional entrant, bringing the total up to fourteen. This in turn resulted in only two byes in the first round.[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 6 matches (with two byes) and 14 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 15 Oct 1921	Batley		5-4		Hunslet	Mount Pleasant
2	Sat 15 Oct 1921	Bradford Northern		2-14		Bramley	Birch Lane
3	Sat 15 Oct 1921	Dewsbury		3-0		Hull	Crown Flatt				[3]
4	Sat 15 Oct 1921	Hull Kingston Rovers		16-7		Keighley	Craven Street (off Holderness Road)
5	Sat 15 Oct 1921	Leeds		11-2		Huddersfield	Headingley
6	Sat 15 Oct 1921	York		3-4		Wakefield Trinity	Clarence Street
7		Halifax				bye
8		Featherstone Rovers				bye

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 29 Oct 1921	Batley		5-5		Bramley	Mount Pleasant
2	Sat 29 Oct 1921	Dewsbury		15-2		Wakefield Trinity	Crown Flatt
3	Sat 29 Oct 1921	Featherstone Rovers		0-12		Hull Kingston Rovers	Post Office Road			1
4	Sat 29 Oct 1921	Leeds		20-2		Halifax	Headingley

Round 2 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Wed 2 Nov 1921	Bramley		6-0		Batley	Barley Mow

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 12 Nov 1921	Bramley		4-11		Leeds	Barley Mow
2	Sat 12 Nov 1921	Dewsbury		8-3		Hull Kingston Rovers	Crown Flatt

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 26 November 1921	Leeds		11-3		Dewsbury	Thrum Hall	20000	1650	2 3	[4][5]

Teams and Scorers

Leeds	№	Dewsbury
	teams	team unknown
Roberts	1
Syd Walmsley	2
Wm A Davies	3
Janes "Jim" Bacon	4
W H Davies	5
Joe Brittain	6
Archie Brown	7
Bernard Gould	8
Hardaker	9
Godwad	10
Boagey	11
Pearson	12
Billy Ward?	13
??	Coach	??
11	score	3
8	HT	3
	Scorers
	Tries
James "Jim" Bacon (2)	T	1
Syd Walmsley (1)	T
	Goals
1	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee		unknown

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

[6]

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Batley		5
	Hunslet		4
						Batley		5 (0)
						Bramley		5 (6)
	Bradford Northern		2
	Bramley		14
											Bramley		4
											Leeds		11
	Leeds		11
	Huddersfield		2
						Leeds		20
						Halifax		2
	Halifax
	bye
																Leeds		11
																Dewsbury		3
	Dewsbury		3
	Hull		0
						Dewsbury		15
						Wakefield Trinity		2
	York		3
	Wakefield Trinity		4
											Dewsbury		8
											Hull Kingston Rovers		3
	Featherstone Rovers
	bye
						Featherstone Rovers		0
						Hull Kingston Rovers		12
	Hull Kingston Rovers		19
	Keighley		7

Notes

1 * Featherstone Rovers played their first Yorkshire Cup match since being elected to the league, and at Post Office Road

2 * The attendance is given as 22,001 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] but only 20,000 by the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991-92[4] and 1990-91[5]

3 * Thrum Hall was the home ground of Halifax with a final capacity of 9,832 (The attendance record of 29,153 was set on 21 March 1959 for a third round Challenge Cup tie v Wigan). The club finally moved out in 1998 to take part ownership and ground-share with Halifax Town FC at The Shay Stadium.

See also

• 1921–22 Northern Rugby Football Union 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. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991–1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
5. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
6. "Leeds Rhinos history". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-03-20.

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