1984–85 Yorkshire Cup
# 1984–85 Yorkshire Cup

The 1984–85 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-seventh occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. 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. In this year's final, Hull F.C. beat close neighbours and fierce rivals Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 29-12. The match was played at Boothferry Park, Kingston upon Hull. The city was formally in the East Riding of Yorkshire, followed by Humberside and is now (back) in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire. It was moved to this stadium from the provisionally reserved venue due to the interest showed by fans and after requests by both finalists, and the organisers were rewarded with a crowd of 25,237 and gate receipts more than doubled from last year's £33,572 to £68,639. This is only the third meeting of these two clubs in the Yorkshire Cup final, on the two previous occasions Hull Kingston Rovers defeated Hull FC, in 1920-21 by 2-0 and 1967 by 8-7; this time it was revenge and by a wider margin. This is the third successive Yorkshire Cup final victory for Hull F.C. And the first of two successive Final appearances by Hull Kingston Rovers

## 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).

## Competition and results

### Round 1

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Sat 15 Sep 1984 | Wakefield Trinity | 0-30 | Bradford Northern | Belle Vue | 2403 | |
| 2 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | Batley | 17-18 | Featherstone Rovers | Mount Pleasant | 1611 | |
| 3 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | Castleford | 14-16 | Leeds | Wheldon Road | 4706 | |
| 4 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | Dewsbury | 4-12 | Bramley | Crown Flatt | 861 | |
| 5 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | Doncaster | 4-48 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield | 1889 | |
| 6 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | Huddersfield Barracudas | 9-6 | Keighley | Arena 84 | 1016 | 1 |
| 7 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | Hull F.C. | 30-10 | Halifax | Boulevard | 7797 | |
| 8 | Sun 16 Sep 1984 | York | 20-16 | Hunslet | Clarence Street | 2377 | |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wed 26 Sep 1984 | Bradford Northern | 4-10 | Leeds | Odsal | 7650 |
| 2 | Wed 26 Sep 1984 | Featherstone Rovers | 18-2 | Bramley | Post Office Road | 1503 |
| 3 | Wed 26 Sep 1984 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 18-2 | Huddersfield Barracudas | Craven Park (1) | 5186 |
| 4 | Wed 26 Sep 1984 | York | 8-38 | Hull F.C. | Clarence Street | 4494 |

### Round 3 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 16 Oct 1984 | Hull F.C. | 24-1 | Leeds | Boulevard | 10477 | | 2 3 | |
| 2 | Wed 17 Oct 1984 | Featherstone Rovers | 2-22 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Post Office Road | 4354 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Saturday 27 October 1984 | Hull F.C. | 29-12 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Boothferry Park | 25,237 | £68,639 | 4 | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Hull | № | Hull Kingston Rovers |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| Gary Kemble | 1 | George Fairbairn |
| A'au James Leuluai | 2 | Garry Clark |
| Garry Schofield | 3 | Ian Robinson |
| Steve Evans | 4 | Gary Prohm |
| Dane O'Hara | 5 | David Laws |
| Fred Ah Kuoi | 6 | Mike Smith |
| Peter Sterling | 7 | Paul Harkin |
| Phil Edmonds | 8 | Mark Broadhurst |
| Shaun Patrick | 9 | David Watkinson |
| Lee Crooks | 10 | Asuquo "Zook" Ema |
| Steve 'Knocker' Norton | 11 | Chris Burton |
| Wayne Proctor | 12 | Andy Kelly |
| Gary Divorty | 13 | Dave Hall |
| Paul Rose | 14 | Chris Rudd (for Paul Harkin) |
| David Topliss | 15 | Steve Hartley (for Dave Hall) |
| Arthur Bunting | Coach | Roger Millward |
| 29 | score | 12 |
| 8 | HT | 12 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Gary Kemble (2) | T | George Fairbairn (1) |
| Steve Evans (1) | T | Ian Robinson (1) |
| Lee Crooks (1) | T | David Hall (1) |
| Steve 'Knocker' Norton (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Garry Schofield (4) | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| Garry Schofield (1) | DG | |
| Referee | | G. Fred Lindop (Wakefield) |
| White Rose Trophy for Man of the match | | Peter Sterling - Hull - scrum-half |
| sponsored by | | |
| Competition Sponsor | | Phillips Video |

Scoring - Try = four 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 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| York | York | 20 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 16 | York | York | 8 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 38 | | | | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 30 | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 38 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 10 | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 24 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 1 | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 0 | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 1 | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 30 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 30 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 14 | Leeds | Leeds | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 16 | | | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 29 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 12 |
| Batley | Batley | 17 | | | | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 12 |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 18 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 18 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Bramley | Bramley | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 4 | Bramley | Bramley | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 12 | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 22 | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 4 | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 22 | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 48 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 48 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 18 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Huddersfield Barracudas | Huddersfield Barracudas | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield Barracudas | Huddersfield Barracudas | 9 | Huddersfield Barracudas | Huddersfield Barracudas | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * This is the first Yorkshire Cup match played by the newly renamed Huddersfield Barracudas and also since Fartown was renamed as Arena 84

2 * This was the first Yorkshire Cup tie in which one of the teams scored a single point.

3 * The attendance is given as 10,477 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject but the official Hull F.C. archives give the attendance as 10,775

4 * Boothferry Park was the home ground of Hull City from 31 August 1946 until December 2002. The final capacity was 15,160 although the record attendance was 55,019 set on 26 February 1949 in an FA Cup quarter-final when Hull City played host to Manchester United

