1969–70 Yorkshire Cup

The 1969–70 Yorkshire Cup was the sixty-second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

1969–70 Yorkshire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Hull F.C.
Runners-up	Featherstone Rovers
← 1968–69 1970–71 →

Hull F.C. won the trophy by beating Featherstone Rovers by the score of 12-9

The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 11,089 and receipts were £3,419

This was only Hull FC's second Yorkshire Cup win (the previous being in 1923) in thirteen Final appearances and in many quarters the club had been classed as "the bridesmaid but never the bride". It was also to be Featherstone Rovers's first of two successive final defeats

This was the last Yorkshire Cup final for 9 years in which the attendance would reach 10,000

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	Sun 3 Aug 1969	Dewsbury		8-19		Huddersfield	Crown Flatt	2,000			^[4]
2	Wed 6 Aug 1969	Bramley		2-6		Batley	McLaren Field
3	Thu 7 Aug 1969	Halifax		27-15		Wakefield Trinity	Thrum Hall
4	Fri 8 Aug 1969	Leeds		20-6		Bradford Northern	Headingley
5	Fri 8 Aug 1969	York		20-7		Hunslet	Clarence Street
6	Sat 9 Aug 1969	Hull F.C.		30-4		Castleford	Boulevard				^[5]
7	Sat 9 Aug 1969	Keighley		4-16		Hull Kingston Rovers	Lawkholme Lane
8	Sun 10 Aug 1969	Doncaster		18-20		Featherstone Rovers	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 15 Aug 1969	Leeds		44-6		Halifax	Headingley
2	Sat 16 Aug 1969	Batley		20-30		Hull Kingston Rovers	Mount Pleasant
3	Sat 16 Aug 1969	Featherstone Rovers		24-7		Huddersfield	Post Office Road	3,446			^[4]
4	Sat 16 Aug 1969	York		15-22		Hull F.C.	Clarence Street				^[5]

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Thu 28 Aug 1969	Featherstone Rovers		10-9		Hull Kingston Rovers	Post Office Road
2	Sat 30 Aug 1969	Leeds		17-20		Hull F.C.	Headingley				^[5]

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 20 September 1969	Hull F.C.		12-9		Featherstone Rovers	Headingley	11,089	£3,419	1	^[5]^[6]^[7]

Teams and scorers

Hull	№	Featherstone Rovers
	teams
Martin Owbridge	1	Cyril Kellett
Clive Sullivan	2	John Newlove
Dick Gemmell (c)	3	Gary Jordan
John Maloney	4	Michael "Mick" Smith
Alf Macklin	5	David "Dave" Hartley
Brian Hancock	6	David Kellett
Chris Davidson	7	Steve Nash
Mick Harrison	8	Les Tonks
Alan McGlone	9	Vince Farrar
Jim Macklin	10	Steve Lyons
Thomas "Tom" Kirchin	11	Arnold Morgan
Chris Forster	12	James "Jimmy" Thompson
Joe Brown	13	Tommy Smales
??	14	Terry Hudson (for Dave Hartley)
??	15	??
Johnny Whiteley	Coach	Laurie Gant
12	score	9
2	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Clive Sullivan (1)	T	Steve Nash (1)
Jim Macklin (1)	T
	Goals
John Maloney (2)	G	Cyril Kellett (3)
Joe Brown (1)	G
Referee		Richard Llewellyn "Dickie" /"Dicky" Thomas (Oldham)
White Rose Trophy for Man of the match		Joe Brown - Hull - loose forward
sponsored by

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

^[7]

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Leeds		20
	Bradford Northern		6
						Leeds		44
						Halifax		6
	Halifax		27
	Wakefield Trinity		15
											Leeds		17
											Hull F.C.		20
	York		20
	Hunslet		7
						York		15
						Hull F.C.		22
	Hull F.C.		30
	Castleford		4
																Hull F.C.		12
																Featherstone Rovers		9
	Doncaster		18
	Featherstone Rovers		20
						Featherstone Rovers		24
						Huddersfield		7
	Dewsbury		8
	Huddersfield		19
											Featherstone Rovers		10
											Hull Kingston Rovers		9
	Bramley		2
	Batley		6
						Batley		20
						Hull Kingston Rovers		30
	Keighley		4
	Hull Kingston Rovers		16

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

• 1969–70 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 (1970). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1970 (price 2/-). HC&AC Supporters' Club.
4. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1970" (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