1947–48 Yorkshire Cup
# 1947–48 Yorkshire Cup

The 1947–48 Yorkshire Cup was the fortieth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

Wakefield Trinity won the trophy by beating Leeds by the score of 8–7 in a replay, the first match having ended in a 7–7 draw.

The final was played at Fartown, Huddersfield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 24,334 and receipts were £3,463

The replay took place in mid-week, four days later at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was a marvellous 32,000 and receipts were £3,255

This was Wakefield Trinity's second Yorkshire cup final triumph in successive years, and their third final appearance in three years

## Background

This season, junior/amateur clubs Yorkshire Amateurs were again invited to take part and the number of clubs who entered 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

### 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 | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Thu 11 Sep 1947 | Yorkshire Amateurs | 0–41 | Dewsbury | Thrum Hall | 1 |
| 2 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Featherstone Rovers | 5–9 | Castleford | Post Office Road | |
| 3 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Huddersfield | 43–3 | Bramley | Fartown | |
| 4 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Hull | 20–6 | Batley | Boulevard | |
| 5 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 11–18 | Wakefield Trinity | Craven Park (1) | |
| 6 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Hunslet | 8-14 | Keighley | Parkside | |
| 7 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Leeds | 11-5 | Bradford Northern | Headingley | |
| 8 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | York | 7–16 | Halifax | Clarence Street | |

### 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 | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Sat 13 Sep 1947 | Dewsbury | 53–2 | Yorkshire Amateurs | Crown Flatt | 94–2 | 1 |
| 2 | Tue 16 Sep 1947 | Castleford | 6–3 | Featherstone Rovers | Wheldon Road | 15–8 | |
| 3 | Wed 17 Sep 1947 | Bramley | 12–26 | Huddersfield | Barley Mow | 15–69 | |
| 4 | Thu 16 Sep 1947 | Batley | 3–6 | Hull | Mount Pleasant | 9–26 | |
| 5 | Wed 17 Sep 1947 | Wakefield Trinity | 12–3 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Belle Vue | 30–14 | |
| 6 | Thu 16 Sep 1947 | Keighley | 8–13 | Hunslet | Lawkholme Lane | 22–21 | |
| 7 | Wed 24 Sep 1947 | Bradford Northern | 11–9 | Leeds | Odsal | 16–20 | |
| 8 | Mon 15 Sep 1947 | Halifax | 15–10 | York | Thrum Hall | 31–17 | |

### 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 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 23 Sep 1947 | Halifax | 7–18 | Huddersfield | Thrum Hall |
| 2 | Wed 24 Sep 1947 | Keighley | 2–9 | Castleford | Lawkholme Lane |
| 3 | Wed 1 Oct 1947 | Leeds | 15–7 | Dewsbury | Headingley |
| 4 | Wed 1 Oct 1947 | Wakefield Trinity | 23–14 | Hull | Belle Vue |

### 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 | Wed 15 Oct 1947 | Leeds | 19–4 | Castleford | Headingley | | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 15 Oct 1947 | Wakefield Trinity | 18–15 | Huddersfield | Belle Vue | | 20000 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Saturday 1 November 1947 | Wakefield Trinity | 7–7 | Leeds | Fartown | | 24,334 | £3,463 | 2 3 4 | |

### Final - Replay

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Wednesday 5 November 1947 | Wakefield Trinity | 8–7 | Leeds | Odsal | | 32,000 | £3,255 | 5 6 | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Wakefield Trinity | № | Leeds |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| William "Billy" Teall | 1 | |
| Jackie Perry | 2 | |
| William "Billy" Stott | 3 | |
| Denis "Dinny" Boocker | 4 | |
| Reginald Jenkinson | 5 | |
| Arthur Fletcher | 6 | |
| Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow | 7 | |
| Harry Wilkinson (c) | 8 | |
| Leonard "Len" Marson | 9 | |
| James "Jim" Higgins | 10 | |
| Harry Murphy | 11 | |
| John "Jack" Booth | 12 | |
| Leonard "Len" Bratley | 13 | |
| ?? | Coach | Dai Prosser |
| 7 | score | 7 |
| 2 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow (1) | T | 1 |
| | Goals | |
| William "Billy" Stott (2) | G | 2 |
| Referee | | unknown |
| Second Leg |
| Wakefield Trinity | teams | Leeds |
| William "Billy" Teall | 1 | |
| Jackie Perry | 2 | |
| Reginald Jenkinson | 3 | |
| Denis "Dinny" Boocker | 4 | |
| Ronald "Ron" Rylance | 5 | |
| Arthur Fletcher | 6 | |
| Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow | 7 | |
| Harry Wilkinson | 8 | |
| Leonard "Len" Marson | 9 | |
| James "Jim" Higgins | 10 | |
| Harry Murphy | 11 | |
| John "Jack" Booth | 12 | |
| Leonard "Len" Bratley | 13 | |
| ?? | Coach | ?? |
| 8 | score | 7 |
| 2 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Harry Wilkinson (1) | T | 1 |
| Leonard "Len" Bratley (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Jackie Perry (1) | G | 2 |
| | G | |
| Referee | 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 | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 30 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 30 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 23 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull | Hull | 14 | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | 26 | Hull | Hull | 14 | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 9 | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 18 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 15 | | | | |
| York | York | 17 | | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 15 | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 30 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 30 | Halifax | Halifax | 7 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 18 | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 69 | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 18 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 15 | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 7 (8) |
| | | | | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 7 (7) |
| Leeds | Leeds | 20 | | | | | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 7 (7) |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 16 | Leeds | Leeds | 15 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Yorkshire Amateurs | Yorkshire Amateurs | 2 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 94 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 94 | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 19 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 4 | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 21 | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 4 | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 22 | Keighley | Keighley | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Castleford | Castleford | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 8 | Castleford | Castleford | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

* Yorkshire Amateurs were a team from Yorkshire which appeared to have players selected from many both professional and amateur clubs Yorkshire Amateurs played on many grounds, this match was played at Parkside, the ground of Hunslet
* The attendance is given as 24,344 by the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991–92 and 1990–91 but 24,334 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject and also by "100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873–1973"
* The receipts were stated as £3,461 in the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991–92 and 1990–91 but £2 more in "100 Years of Rugby.
* 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
* The receipts were stated as £3,251 in the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991–92 and 1990–91 but £4 more in "100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873–1973".
* 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)

