1951–52 Yorkshire Cup

The 1951–52 Yorkshire Cup was the forty-fourth occasion on which rugby league's Yorkshire Cup competition was held. Wakefield Trinity won the trophy by beating Keighley in the final.

1951–52 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Wakefield Trinity
Runners-up	Keighley

Background

This season no junior/amateur clubs were invited to take part, but newly elected to the league Doncaster were added to the competition, thus the number of entrants 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][3][4]

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 1 Sep 1951	Dewsbury		15-10		Halifax	Crown Flatt
2	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Hull Kingston Rovers		19-13		Huddersfield	Craven Park (1)		6,404			[3]
3	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Castleford		14-11		Keighley	Wheldon Road
4	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Wakefield Trinity		15-5		Hull	Belle Vue					[5]
5	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Doncaster		4-9		Hunslet	York Road Greyhound Stadium				1
6	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Featherstone Rovers		4-2		Bradford Northern	Post Office Road
7	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Leeds		18-8		Bramley	Headingley
8	Sat 1 Sep 1951	Batley		7-8		York	Mount Pleasant

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	Mon 3 Sep 1951	Halifax		9-3		Dewsbury	Thrum Hall	19-18
2	Mon 3 Sep 1951	Huddersfield		25-5		Hull Kingston Rovers	Fartown	38-24	12,198			[3]
3	Tue 4 Sep 1951	Keighley		9-0		Castleford	Lawkholme Lane	20-14
4	Wed 5 Sep 1951	Hull		18-18		Wakefield Trinity	Boulevard	23-33				[5]
5	Wed 5 Sep 1951	Hunslet		12-2		Doncaster	Parkside	21-6
6	Mon 10 Sep 1951	Bradford Northern		11-9		Featherstone Rovers	Odsal	13-13
7	Mon 10 Sep 1951	Bramley		9-25		Leeds	Barley Mow	17-43
8	Mon 10 Sep 1951	York		5-21		Batley	Clarence Street	13-28

Round 1 - Replay

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Wed 12 Sep 1951	Featherstone Rovers		9-17		Bradford Northern	Post Office Road

Round 2 - Quarterfinals

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 24 Sep 1951	Hunslet		27-8		Batley	Parkside
2	Tue 25 Sep 1951	Keighley		18-14		Halifax	Lawkholme Lane
3	Wed 26 Sep 1951	Bradford Northern		13-14		Leeds	Odsal
4	Wed 26 Sep 1951	Wakefield Trinity		14-5		Huddersfield	Belle Vue		15,400			[3]

Round 3 – Semifinals

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	Mon 8 Oct 1951	Leeds		17-18		Wakefield Trinity	Headingley
2	Tue 16 Oct 1951	Keighley		15-9		Hunslet	Lawkholme Lane

Final

This was Keighley's only appearance in a Yorkshire Cup final (except for the 1943 Wartime final). Wakefield Trinity won the trophy by beating Keighley by the score of 17-3. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 25,495 and receipts were £3,347

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 27 October 1951	Wakefield Trinity		17-3		Keighley	Fartown		25,495	£3,347	2 3	[3][6][7][8]

Teams and scorers

Wakefield Trinity	№	Keighley
	teams
Ernest Luckman	1
John "Johnny" Duggan	2
Leslie "Les" Hirst	3
Donald "Don" Froggett	4
Denis "Dinny" Boocker	5
Glyn Meredith	6
Arthur Fletcher	7
John "Jack" Booth	8
Dennis Horner	9
Bill Hudson	10
W J Derek Howes	11
Don Robinson	12
Reginald "Reg" Hughes	13
James Croston (standing in for Harry Beverley)	Coach	??
17	score	3
5	HT	3
	Scorers
	Tries
Don Robinson (1)	T	1
Denis "Dinny" Boocker (1)	T
Reginald "Reg" Hughes (1)	T
	Goals
Leslie "Les" Hirst (4)	G
Referee		unknown ()

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

[3][4][8]

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
	Featherstone Rovers		22
	Bradford Northern		30
						Bradford Northern		13
						Leeds		14
	Leeds		43
	Bramley		17
											Leeds		17
											Wakefield Trinity		18
	Wakefield Trinity		33
	Hull		23
						Wakefield Trinity		14
						Huddersfield		5
	Hull Kingston Rovers		24
	Huddersfield		38
																Wakefield Trinity		17
																Keighley		3
	Castleford		14
	Keighley		20
						Keighley		18
						Halifax		14
	Dewsbury		18
	Halifax		19
											Keighley		15
											Hunslet		9
	Doncaster		6
	Hunslet		21
						Hunslet		27
						Batley		8
	Batley		28
	York		13

Notes and comments

1 * The first Yorkshire Cup match to be played by newly elected to the league, Doncaster, and also at this stadium

2 * The receipts are given as £3,237 by the official Huddersfield 1952 Yearbook[3] but given as £3,227 by "100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973"[8] and £3,347 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] and by the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991-92[6] and 1990-91[7]

3 * Fartown was the home ground of Huddersfield from 1878 to the end of the 1991-92 season to Huddersfield Town FC's Leeds Road stadium, and then to the McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Fartown remained as a sports/Rugby League ground but is now rather dilapidated, and is only used for staging amateur rugby league games.

Due to lack of maintenance, terrace closures and finally major storm damage closing one of the stands in 1986, the final ground capacity had been reduced to just a few thousands although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup semi-final on 19 April 1947 when a crowd of 35,136 saw Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 21-0

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

• 1951–52 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups
• Keighley RLFC (post war)

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
3. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1952" (PDF).
4. HC&AC Committee (1952). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1952. HC&AC Supporters' Club.
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.
8. 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.

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