1955–56 Yorkshire Cup
# 1955–56 Yorkshire Cup

1955–56 was the forty-eighth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

This year's final was a repeat of last years' final and between cup holder Halifax and last season runner-up Hull F.C. with the same outcome (albeit via a replay).

Halifax won the trophy by beating Hull F.C. by the score of 10-10 in a replayed final.

The original final, which ended in a 10-10 draw, was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 23,520 and receipts were £4,385.

The replay was played 11 days later at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 14,000 and receipts were £2,439.

This was the second of Halifax's two successive victories, both against Hull FC, for whom it was their third successive cup final defeat.

## Background

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no new entrants and no "leavers" and so the total of entries remained the same at sixteen.

This in turn resulted in no byes in the first round.

This season saw a continuation of the simple knock-out formulas, there was to be no return to the two-legged ties.

## Competition and results

### Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Batley | 13-25 | Hull F.C. | Mount Pleasant | |
| 2 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Bradford Northern | 27-23 | Hunslet | Odsal | |
| 3 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Bramley | 16-13 | Doncaster | Barley Mow | |
| 4 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Castleford | 29-8 | Dewsbury | Wheldon Road | |
| 5 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Featherstone Rovers | 26-9 | Huddersfield | Post Office Road | 9,000 |
| 6 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 21-13 | Keighley | Craven Park (1) | |
| 7 | Sat 27 Aug 1955 | Leeds | 13-31 | Wakefield Trinity | Headingley | |
| 8 | Wed 31 Aug 1955 | York | 5-13 | Halifax | Clarence Street | |

### Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mon 5 Sep 1955 | Hull F.C. | 12-5 | Featherstone Rovers | Boulevard |
| 2 | Fri 9 Sep 1955 | Bramley | 5-12 | Bradford Northern | Barley Mow |
| 3 | Wed 14 Sep 1955 | Castleford | 17-0 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wheldon Road |
| 4 | Thu 15 Sep 1955 | Wakefield Trinity | 4-21 | Halifax | Belle Vue |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 20 Sep 1955 | Hull F.C. | 23-16 | Bradford Northern | Boulevard | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 28 Sep 1955 | Castleford | 8-24 | Halifax | Wheldon Road | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Saturday 22 October 1955 | Halifax | 10-10 | Hull F.C. | Headingley | 23,520 | £4,385 | 1 | |

### Final - replay

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Wednesday 2 November 1955 | Halifax | 7-0 | Hull F.C. | Odsal | 14,000 | £2,439 | 2 | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Halifax | № | Hull F.C. |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| | 1 | Jack Watkinson |
| | 2 | Keith Bowman |
| | 3 | Carl R. Turner |
| | 4 | William "Bill" Riches |
| | 5 | Ivor Watts |
| Ken Dean | 6 | Rowley Moat |
| | 7 | Tommy Finn |
| | 8 | Mick Scott (c) |
| Alvin Ackerley (c) | 9 | Tommy Harris |
| | 10 | Bob Coverdale |
| | 11 | Harry Markham |
| | 12 | Bill Drake |
| | 13 | Johnny Whiteley |
| ?? | Coach | Roy Francis |
| 10 | score | 10 |
| 7 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| | T | |
| | T | |
| | Goals | |
| | G | |
| | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | G.S. Phillips (Widnes) |
| Replay |
| | teams | |
| | 1 | Colin Hutton |
| | 2 | Keith Bowman |
| | 3 | William "Bill" Riches |
| | 4 | Carl R. Turner |
| | 5 | Ivor Watts |
| Ken Dean | 6 | Rowley Moat |
| | 7 | Tommy Finn |
| | 8 | Mick Scott (c) |
| Alvin Ackerley (c) | 9 | Tommy Harris |
| | 10 | Bob Coverdale |
| | 11 | Harry Markham |
| | 12 | Bill Drake |
| | 13 | Johnny Whiteley |
| | Coach | Roy Francis |
| 7 | score | 0 |
| 2 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| | T | |
| | Goals | |
| | G | |
| | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | N.T. Railton (Wigan) |

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

### The road to success

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Castleford | Castleford | 29 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 8 | Castleford | Castleford | 17 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 21 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 13 | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 8 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 24 | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 13 | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 24 | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 31 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 31 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Halifax | Halifax | 21 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 5 | Halifax | Halifax | 21 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 13 | | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 10 (0) |
| | | | | | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 10 (7) |
| Batley | Batley | 13 | | | | | | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 10 (7) |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 25 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 25 | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 12 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 26 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 9 | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 23 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 16 | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 16 | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 16 | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 13 | Bramley | Bramley | 5 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 27 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 23 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * 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.

2 * Odsal is the home ground of Bradford Northern from 1890 to 2010 and the current capacity is in the region of 26,000, The ground is famous for hosting the largest attendance at an English sports ground when 102,569 (it was reported that over 120,000 actually attended as several areas of boundary fencing collapse under the sheer weight of numbers) attended the replay of the Challenge Cup final on 5 May 1954 to see Halifax v Warrington

### 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)

