1965–66 Yorkshire Cup

The 1965–66 Yorkshire Cup was the fifty-eighth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

1965–66 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Bradford Northern
Runners-up	Hunslet
← 1964–65 1966–67 →

Bradford Northern winning the trophy by beating Hunslet by the score of 17-8

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 17,522 and receipts were £4,359

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.

Competition and results

^[1][2][3][4]

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 3 Sep 1965	Hunslet		8-2		Doncaster	Parkside
2	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Batley		9-37		Halifax	Mount Pleasant
3	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Castleford		22-8		Featherstone Rovers	Wheldon Road
47	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Dewsbury		4-27		Huddersfield	Crown Flatt	2,800			^[4]
5	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Hull Kingston Rovers		17-9		York	Craven Park (1)
6	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Keighley		2-19		Bradford Northern	Lawkholme Lane
7	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Leeds		40-4		Bramley	Headingley
8	Sat 4 Sep 1965	Wakefield Trinity		4-8		Hull F.C.	Belle Vue				^[5]

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon? 13 Sep 1965	Hunslet		9-8		Hull F.C.	Parkside				^[5]
2	Tue 14 Sep 1965	Castleford		25-8		Halifax	Wheldon Road
3	Wed 15 Sep 1965	Bradford Northern		12-6		Hull Kingston Rovers	Odsal
4	Wed 15 Sep 1965	Huddersfield		16-6		Leeds	Fartown	4,008			^[4]

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	Mon? 27 Sep 1965	Hunslet		17-10		Castleford	Parkside	9,347
2	Wed 29 Sep 1965	Bradford Northern		7-7		Huddersfield	Odsal

Semi-final - replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Thu 30 Sep 1965	Huddersfield		4-7		Bradford Northern	Fartown

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 16 October 1965	Bradford Northern		17-8		Hunslet	Headingley	17,522	£4,359	1	^[6]^[7]

Teams and scorers

Bradford Northern	No.	Hunslet
	teams
Joe Scattergood?	1	Billy Langton
Lionel Williamson	2	Barry Lee
Ian Brooke	3	Geoff Shelton
Alan Rhodes	4	Arthur Render
Willie Walker	5	Tommy Thompson
Dave Stockwell	6	Alan Preece
Thomas Smales	7	Alan Marchant
Albert Tonkinson	8	Dennis Hartley
Dennis Morgan?	9	Bernard Prior
Dave Hill	10	William "Billy" Baldwinson/Ken Eyre
G Ashton	11	Bill Ramsey
Terry Clawson	12	Geoff Gunney
Johnny Rae	13	Fred Ward
Gus Risman	Coach	Fred Ward
17	score	8
7	HT	3
	Scorers
	Tries
Lionel Williamson (2)	T	Barry Lee (1)
Ian Brooke (1)	T	Tommy Thompson (1)
	T
	T
	Goals
Terry Clawson (4)	G	Billy Langton (1)
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee		Eric Lawrenson (Warrington)

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

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Keighley		2
	Bradford Northern		19
						Bradford Northern		12
						Hull Kingston Rovers		6
	Hull Kingston Rovers		17
	York		9
											Bradford Northern		7 (7)
											Huddersfield		7 (4)
	Dewsbury		4
	Huddersfield		27
						Huddersfield		16
						Leeds		6
	Leeds		40
	Bramley		4
																Bradford Northern		17
																Hunslet		8
	Hunslet		8
	Doncaster		2
						Hunslet		9
						Hull F.C.		8
	Wakefield Trinity		4
	Hull F.C.		8
											Hunslet		17
											Castleford		10
	Castleford		22
	Featherstone Rovers		8
						Castleford		25
						Halifax		8
	Batley		9
	Halifax		37

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.

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)

See also

• 1965–66 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
3. HC&AC Committee (1966). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1966 (price 1/-). HC&AC Supporters' Club.
4. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1966" (PDF).
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
6. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
7. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97