1939–40 Yorkshire Cup - Misplaced Pages

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Rugby league season

1939–40 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	12
Winners	Featherstone Rovers
Runners-up	Wakefield Trinity
← 1938–39 1940–41 →

The 1939–40 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 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, as was the case with this season)

Due to the start of the Second World War, the competition was delayed until early 1940 (see later).

1939–40 was the thirty-second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

This season's competition is classed as a "Wartime Emergency Competition" and therefore the results did not count as an official competition win. However, this aside, there was a new winner for this season's trophy, Featherstone Rovers winning the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 12-9

The match was played at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 7,077 and receipts were £403

Unlike the 1939–40 Lancashire Cup, the Yorkshire cup was played on a straightforward knock-out basis, and not on a two-legged basis.

Preamble to changes

Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played two or three fixtures (on Saturday 26th, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).

During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner. The Challenge Cup and both County Cups were suspended. There was to be no Yorkshire Cup competition in 1939.

But later in the season both County Cups were resurrected.

The Yorkshire Cup started on Saturday 25 May/1 June and was played on consecutive weekends.

Each and every match was played on a knock-out basis.

Background

Batley, Bramley and Keighley, (the three clubs who finishing as the bottom three in the Yorkshire League) did not appear to enter this year's competition. All had competed in the league programme, and all competed again next season The number of teams entering this year’s competition therefore decreased by three reducing the total number of entrants to twelve.

This in turn resulted in four byes in the first round.

Competition and results

Round 1

Involved 4 matches (with four byes) and 12 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Notes

1	Sat 25 May 1940	Dewsbury	23-14	York	Crown Flatt
2	Sat 1 Jun 1940	Bradford Northern	22-3	Leeds	Odsal
3	Sat 1 Jun 1940	Castleford	17-10	Hunslet	Wheldon Road
4	Sat 1 Jun 1940	Featherstone Rovers	18-2	Halifax	Post Office Road
5		Huddersfield		bye		1
6		Hull		bye		1
7		Hull Kingston Rovers		bye		1
8		Wakefield Trinity		bye		1

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue

1	Sat 8 Jun 1940	Castleford	6-12	Hull Kingston Rovers	Wheldon Road
2	Sat 8 Jun 1940	Featherstone Rovers	21-6	Bradford Northern	Post Office Road
3	Sat 8 Jun 1940	Huddersfield	9-23	Dewsbury	Fartown
4	Sat 8 Jun 1940	Wakefield Trinity	27-3	Hull	Belle Vue

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue

1	Sat 15 Jun 1940	Featherstone Rovers	15-11	Dewsbury	Post Office Road
2	Sat 15 Jun 1940	Hull Kingston Rovers	5-5	Wakefield Trinity	Craven Park (1)

Semifinal - replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

R	Wed 19 Jun 1940	Wakefield Trinity		8-7		Hull Kingston Rovers	Belle Vue

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

	Saturday 22 June 1940	Featherstone Rovers		12-9		Wakefield Trinity	Odsal	7,077	£403	2

Teams and scorers

Featherstone Rovers	№	Wakefield Trinity

	teams
John Haley	1	William "Billy" Teall
Albany Longley	2	Reg Jenkinson
Walter Tennant	3	Horace Turner
Bill Hughes	4	Robert "Bob" Oliver
Jack Blackburn	5	George Henry "Mick" Exley
Ray Hamer	6	Sam Herbert s
Harold Moxon	7	Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow
Frank Hemingway	8	Harry Wilkinson
Joe Golby	9	Victor "Vic" Darlison
John "Jack" Dyson	10	Harry Nicholson
Wilf Pearson	11	Sandy Orford
George Taylor	12	Alan Flowers
Bill Sherwood	13	Leonard "Len" Marson
xBilly Williams	Coach	??

12	score	9
3	HT	7

	Scorers
	Tries
2	T	Horace Turner (1)
	T
	Goals
3	G	William "Billy" Teall (3)
	G
	Drop Goals
	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

Semifinals

Final

bye

bye

5 (7)

5 (8)

bye

bye

Notes

1 * Batley, Bramley and Keighley, (the three clubs who finishing as the bottom three in the Yorkshire League) did not appear to enter this year's competition

References

"Rugby League Project".
Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
^ "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
^ 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.
Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.

External links

v t e Featherstone Rovers squad – 1939–40 Yorkshire Cup Final winners
1 John Haley 2 Albany Longley 3 Walter Tennant 4 Bill Hughes 5 Jack Blackburn 6 Ray Hamer 7 Harold Moxon 8 Frank Hemingway 9 Joe Golby 10 John "Jack" Dyson 11 Wilf Pearson 12 George Taylor 13 Bill Sherwood Coach: xBilly Williams ((c) unknown)

v t e Rugby league County Cup competitions
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Rugby league County Cup competitions

Lancashire Cup
(1905–1992)