1952–53 Yorkshire Cup

1952–53 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams16
WinnersHuddersfield
Runners-upBatley

The 1952–53 Yorkshire Cup was the forty-fifth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

Huddersfield won the trophy by beating Batley by the score of 18-8

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 15,500 and receipts were £2,471

This was Huddersfield's second appearance in the Yorkshire Cup final in the last three years, winning in 1950

Background

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This season there were no junior/amateur clubs invited, no new entrants and no club "dropped out", and so 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

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[1][2][3][4][5]

Round 1 – first leg

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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 30 Aug 1952 Huddersfield 19-14 Hunslet Fartown 14,780 [3]
2 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Halifax 35-2 Bramley Thrum Hall
3 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Keighley 16-7 Castleford Lawkholme Lane
4 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Wakefield Trinity 15-22 Hull Kingston Rovers Belle Vue
5 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Featherstone Rovers 25-6 York Post Office Road
6 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Batley 12-10 Dewsbury Mount Pleasant
7 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Hull 7-8 Leeds Boulevard [6]
8 Sat 30 Aug 1952 Doncaster 12-11 Bradford Northern York Road Greyhound Stadium

Round 1 – second leg

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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 Tue 2 Sep 1952 Hunslet 2-18 Huddersfield Parkside 16-37 15,199 [3]
2 Wed 3 Sep 1952 Bramley 12-20 Halifax Barley Mow 14-55
3 Wed 3 Sep 1952 Castleford 8-6 Keighley Wheldon Road 15-22
4 Wed 3 Sep 1952 Hull Kingston Rovers 16-11 Wakefield Trinity Craven Park (1) 38-26
5 Wed 3 Sep 1952 York 16-8 Featherstone Rovers Clarence Street 22-33
6 Fri 5 Sep 1952 Dewsbury 4-16 Batley Crown Flatt 14-28
7 Fri 5 Sep 1952 Leeds 2-10 Hull Headingley 10-17 [6]
8 Mon 8 Sep 1952 Bradford Northern 9-11 Doncaster Odsal 20-23

Round 2 - quarterfinals

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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 22 Sep 1952 Hull 9-29 Huddersfield Boulevard 13,630 [3][6]
2 Tue 23 Sep 1952 Batley 20-11 Keighley Mount Pleasant
3 Wed 24 Sep 1952 Featherstone Rovers 14-4 Hull Kingston Rovers Post Office Road
4 Wed 24 Sep 1952 Halifax 4-3 Doncaster Thrum Hall

Round 3 – semifinals

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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 8 Oct 1952 Featherstone Rovers 4-8 Batley Post Office Road
2 Mon 13 Oct 1952 Huddersfield 9-9 Halifax Fartown 8,998 [3]

Round 3 – semifinals - Replay

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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 Thu 16 Oct 1952 Halifax 5-15 Huddersfield Thrum Hall 12,000 [3]

Final

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Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 15 November 1952 Huddersfield 18-8 Batley Headingley 15,500 £2,471 1 2 [3][7][8]

Teams and scorers

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Huddersfield Batley
teams
Johnny Hunter 1 Phil Walshaw
Peter Henderson 2 Gordon Harrison
Peter Ramsden 3 George Kenny
Pat Devery 4 William "Bill" Riches
Lionel Cooper 5 John Etty
Russell Pepperell 6 William "Billy" Riley
Billy Banks 7 Raymond "Ray" Laycock (c)
Ted Slevin 8 Frank Wagstaff
George Curran 9 Harold McIntyre
William Griffin 10 Trevor Jones
John "Jack" Brown 11 George Palmer
John "Jack" Large 12 Clarrie Briggs
Dave Valentine (c) 13 John Westbury
William R. 'Bill' Smith Coach Alex Fiddes
18 score 8
10 HT 3
Scorers
Tries
Lionel Cooper (3) T John Etty (1)
Dave Valentine (1) T George Kenny (1)
Goals
Pat Devery (3) G Raymond "Ray" Laycock (1)
Referee C F (Charlie) Appleton (Warrington)

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

The road to success

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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 Semifinals 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

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1 * The attendance is variably given as 15,500 by the official Huddersfield 1953 Yearbook,[3] 15,000 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] but 14,705 by the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991-92[7] and 1990-91[8]

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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1953" (PDF).
  4. ^ HC&AC committee. Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1953. HC&AC Supporters' Club.
  5. ^ "Huddersfield RL Heritage 1952–53" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b c "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  7. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  8. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
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