1945–46 Yorkshire Cup

1945–46 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	15
Winners	Bradford Northern
Runners-up	Wakefield Trinity

The 1945–46 Yorkshire Cup was the thirty-eighth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition was held.

In this, the first peacetime Cup final for five years, there was a new name on the trophy. Bradford Northern, who previously won the trophy in 1940–41, 1941–42 and 1943–44, could now lay claim to a genuine trophy; the wartime competitions were not counted officially in the records. Bradford Northern won by beating Wakefield Trinity by a score of 5–2.

The match was played at Thrum Hall, Halifax, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 24,252 and receipts were £1,934.

Background

The Second World War was now over, and things were beginning to return to normal, although there was still a long way to go. Hull Kingston Rovers and Bramley re-joined the competition and the four Lancashire clubs returned to their own competition. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, which resulted in the number of entrants falling by two, leaving the total number of entries at 15.

This in turn resulted in one bye in the first round.

The competition reverted to its 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

Round 1 – first leg

Round 1's first leg involved seven matches (with one bye) and 15 clubs.

All first round ties were 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 6 Oct 1945	Batley	5–21	Hunslet	Mount Pleasant
2	Sat 6 Oct 1945	Bramley	14–22	Keighley	Barley Mow
3	Sat 6 Oct 1945	Halifax	18–5	Hull	Thrum Hall
4	Sat 6 Oct 1945	Hull Kingston Rovers	5–4	Dewsbury	Craven Park (1)
5	Sat 6 Oct 1945	Leeds	11–4	Castleford	Headingley
6	Sat 6 Oct 1945	Wakefield Trinity	20–5	Huddersfield	Belle Vue
7	Sat 6 Oct 1945	York	?	Featherstone Rovers	Clarence Street
8		Bradford Northern		bye

Round 1 – second leg

Round 1's second leg involved seven matches (with one bye) and 15 clubs.

All first round ties were 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 13 Oct 1945	Hunslet	19–0	Batley	Parkside	40–5
2	Sat 13 Oct 1945	Keighley	17–15	Bramley	Lawkholme Lane	39–29
3	Sat 13 Oct 1945	Hull	30–5	Halifax	Boulevard	35–23
4	Sat 13 Oct 1945	Dewsbury	20–4	Hull Kingston Rovers	Crown Flatt	24–9
5	Sat 13 Oct 1945	Castleford	11–10	Leeds	Wheldon Road	15–21
6	Sat 13 Oct 1945	Huddersfield	7–32	Wakefield Trinity	Fartown	12–52
7	Sat 13 Oct 1945	Featherstone Rovers	24–5	York	Post Office Road	?
8		Bradford Northern		bye

Round 2 – quarterfinals

Round 2's quarterfinals involved four matches and eight clubs.

All second round ties were 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 16 Oct 1945	Dewsbury	10–3	Keighley	Crown Flatt
2	Wed 17 Oct 1945	Wakefield Trinity	34–7	Hull	Belle Vue
3	Wed 17 Oct 1945	Bradford Northern	8–0	Hunslet	Odsal
4	Wed 17 Oct 1945	Leeds	11–4	Featherstone Rovers	Headingley

Round 3 – semifinals

Round 3's semifinals involved two matches and four clubs.

Both semi-final ties were 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 23 Oct 1945	Dewsbury	2–7	Bradford Northern	Crown Flatt
2	Wed 24 Oct 1945	Wakefield Trinity	14–7	Leeds	Belle Vue

Final

Game no.	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 3 November 1945	Bradford Northern	5–2	Wakefield Trinity	Thrum Hall		24252	£1,934

Teams and scorers

Bradford Northern	No.	Wakefield Trinity
	Teams
George Carmichael	1	William "Billy" Teall
Eric Batten	2	Ronnie Copley
Jack Kitching	3	William "Billy" Stott
Ernest Ward	4	Johnny Jones
Walter Best	5	Dennis Baddeley
George Bennett	6	Ronald "Ron" Rylance
Donald Ward	7	Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow
Frank Whitcombe	8	Harry Wilkinson
Vic Darlison	9	Leonard "Len" Marson
Leonard Higson	10	James "Jim" Higgins
Laurie Roberts	11	Harry Murphy
Alf Marklew	12	Frank Moore
William Hutchinson	13	Leonard "Len" Bratley
Dai Rees	Coach	James "Jim" Croston
5	Score	2
0	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Frank Whitcombe	T
	Goals
George Carmichael	G	William "Billy" Stott
Referee		unknown

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

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					Semifinals					Final
	Hull Kingston Rovers		9
	Dewsbury		24
						Dewsbury		10
						Keighley		3
	Bramley		29
	Keighley		39
											Dewsbury		2
											Bradford Northern		7
	Bradford Northern
	bye
						Bradford Northern		8
						Hunslet		0
	Batley		5
	Hunslet		40
																Bradford Northern		5
																Wakefield Trinity		2
	Wakefield Trinity		52
	Huddersfield		12
						Wakefield Trinity		34
						Hull		7
	Halifax		23
	Hull		35
											Wakefield Trinity		14
											Leeds		7
	Leeds		21
	Castleford		15
						Leeds		11
						Featherstone Rovers		4
	York		L
	Featherstone Rovers		W

See also

• 1945–46 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

External links

• Saints Heritage Society Archived 2 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings – One team, one passion Season In Review – 1896–97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org