1973–74 Yorkshire Cup
# 1973–74 Yorkshire Cup

The 1973–74 Yorkshire Cup was the sixty-sixth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup Rugby competition had been held.

Leeds won the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 7-2. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 7,621 and receipts were £3,728.

This was Leeds' fourth victory (and the second of two consecutive victories) in what would be eight times in the space of thirteen seasons. It was also the first of two consecutive Yorkshire Cup final appearances by Wakefield Trinity, both of which would result in defeat

## Background

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)

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.

## 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 | Fri 31 Aug 1973 | Castleford | 32-8 | York | Wheldon Road | 1697 |
| 2 | Sat 01 Sep 1973 | Batley | 23-8 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Mount Pleasant | 691 |
| 3 | Sat 01 Sep 1973 | Halifax | 15-17 | Keighley | Thrum Hall | 1352 |
| 4 | Sat 01 Sep 1973 | Hull F.C. | 8-10 | Huddersfield | Boulevard | 1800 |
| 5 | Sat 01 Sep 1973 | Leeds | 30-5 | Dewsbury | Headingley | 5882 |
| 6 | Sun 02 Sep 1973 | Bradford Northern | 29-7 | New Hunslet | Odsal | 4418 |
| 7 | Sun 02 Sep 1973 | Bramley | 4-19 | Featherstone Rovers | McLaren Field | 1950 |
| 8 | Sun 02 Sep 1973 | Wakefield Trinity | 39-7 | Doncaster | Belle Vue | 2548 |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Fri 07 Sep 1973 | Castleford | 29-8 | Huddersfield | Wheldon Road | 1700 |
| 2 | Sat 08 Sep 1973 | Batley | 2-27 | Leeds | Mount Pleasant | 2542 |
| 3 | Sun 09 Sep 1973 | Bradford Northern | 27-14 | Featherstone Rovers | Odsal | 5369 |
| 4 | Sun 09 Sep 1973 | Keighley | 4-39 | Wakefield Trinity | Lawkholme Lane | 2620 |

### Round 3 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 25 Sep 1973 | Leeds | 10-5 | Bradford Northern | Headingley | 6416 | | |
| 2 | Tue 26 Sep 1973 | Wakefield Trinity | 19-18 | Castleford | Belle Vue | 4642 | | |

### Final

| Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday 20 October 1973 | Leeds | 7-2 | Wakefield Trinity | Headingley | 7,621 | £3,728 | | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Leeds | № | Wakefield Trinity |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| John Holmes | 1 | Geoff Wraith |
| John Langley | 2 | David Smith |
| Syd Hynes | 3 | Terry "TC" Crook |
| Les Dyl | 4 | John Hegarty |
| John Atkinson | 5 | Barry Parker |
| Alan Hardisty (c) | 6 | David Topliss |
| Keith Hepworth | 7 | Joseph "Joe" Bonnar |
| David Jeanes | 8 | Rob Valentine |
| David Ward | 9 | Mick Morgan (c) |
| Geoffrey Clarkson | 10 | Roy Bratt |
| Graham Eccles | 11 | David Knowles |
| Phil Cookson | 12 | Ken Endersby |
| Ray Batten | 13 | Ernest Holmes |
| David Marshall (for John Langley) | 14 | Les Sheard (for Geoff Wraith 33m) |
| Bill Ramsey (for David Jeanes) | 15 | George Ballantyne (for David Knowles 57m) |
| Eric Ashton | Coach | Neil Fox |
| 7 | score | 2 |
| 5 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| John Langley (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| David Marshall (1) | G | Terry "TC" Crook (1) |
| Syd Hynes (1) | G | |
| Referee | | Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes) |
| White Rose Trophy for Man of the match | | Keith Hepworth - Leeds - scrum-half |

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

### The road to success

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Batley | Batley | 23 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | Batley | Batley | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 27 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 30 | Leeds | Leeds | 27 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 10 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 5 | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 29 | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 5 | | | | |
| New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 7 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 27 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 14 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 4 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 14 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 19 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 19 | | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 7 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 |
| Halifax | Halifax | 15 | | | | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 |
| Keighley | Keighley | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 17 | Keighley | Keighley | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 39 | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 39 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 39 | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 7 | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 19 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 18 | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 32 | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 18 | | | | |
| York | York | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 8 | Castleford | Castleford | 29 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 8 | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
