RFL Yorkshire Cup

See also: Rugby league county cups

The RFL Yorkshire Cup is a rugby league county cup competition for teams in Yorkshire. Starting in 1905 the competition ran, with the exception of 1915 to 1918, until the 1992–93 season, when it folded due to fixture congestion. In 2019, the competition was relaunched as a pre-season tournament,^[1] but not all Yorkshire clubs were invited, hence it is not a legitimate running of the competition, and was not played for ahead of the 2020 season.

Yorkshire Cup

Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	1905
Ceased	1992
Country	England
Last winners	Wakefield Trinity (10th title)
Most titles	Leeds (17 titles)

The competition was open to all senior member clubs of the Rugby Football League in Yorkshire and was normally played in the opening months of the season. On two occasions, 1918–19 and 1940–41 the competition was held towards the end of the season due to the two world wars. During the Second World War the Lancashire Cup was not played for between 1941 and 1945 and several Lancashire clubs were admitted into the Yorkshire Cup competition instead. The cup finals in 1942, 1943 and 1944 were played over two legs with the winner being determined by aggregate score over the two matches.

Between 1966 and 1993 a trophy, called the White Rose Trophy, was awarded to the man of the match in each final. The judging was conducted by members of the press.^[2]

Cup finals

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue
1905	Hunslet	13–3	Halifax	Park Avenue, Bradford
1906	Bradford FC	8–5	Hull Kingston Rovers	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1907	Hunslet	17–0	Halifax	Headingley, Leeds
1908–09	Halifax	9–5	Hunslet	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1909–10	Huddersfield	21–0	Batley	Headingley, Leeds
1910–11	Wakefield Trinity	8–2	Huddersfield
1911–12	Huddersfield	22–10	Hull Kingston Rovers	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1912–13	Batley	17–3	Hull F.C.	Headingley, Leeds
1913–14	Huddersfield	19–3	Bradford Northern	Thrum Hall, Halifax
1914–15	Huddersfield	31–0	Hull F.C.	Headingley, Leeds
1918–19	Huddersfield	14–8	Dewsbury
1919–20	Huddersfield	24–5	Leeds	Thrum Hall, Halifax
1920–21	Hull Kingston Rovers	2–0	Hull F.C.	Headingley, Leeds
1921–22	Leeds	11–3	Dewsbury	Thrum Hall, Halifax
1922–23	York	5–0	Batley	Headingley, Leeds
1923–24	Hull F.C.	10–4	Huddersfield
1924–25	Wakefield Trinity	9–8	Batley
1925–26	Dewsbury	2–0	Huddersfield	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1926–27	Huddersfield	10–3	Wakefield Trinity	Headingley, Leeds
1927–28	Dewsbury	8–2	Hull F.C.
1928–29	Leeds	5–0	Featherstone Rovers	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1929–30	Hull Kingston Rovers	13–7	Hunslet	Headingley, Leeds
1930–31	Leeds	10–2	Huddersfield	Thrum Hall, Halifax
1931–32	Huddersfield	4–2	Hunslet	Headingley, Leeds
1932–33	Leeds	8–0	Wakefield Trinity	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
1933–34	York	10–4	Hull Kingston Rovers	Headingley, Leeds
1934–35	Leeds	5–5,	Wakefield Trinity	Crown Flatt, Dewsbury
Replay 1		2-2		Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
Replay 2		13-0		Parkside, Hunslet
1935–36	Leeds	3–0	York	Thrum Hall, Halifax
1936–37	York	9–2	Wakefield Trinity	Headingley, Leeds
1937–38	Leeds	14–8	Huddersfield
1938–39	Huddersfield	18–10	Hull F.C.	Odsal Stadium, Bradford
1939–40	Featherstone Rovers	12–9	Wakefield Trinity
1940–41	Bradford Northern	15–5	Dewsbury	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
1941–42	Bradford Northern	24–0	Halifax
1942–43	Dewsbury	7–0,	Huddersfield	Crown Flatt, Dewsbury
		0–2, (9–2 on aggregate)		Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
1943–44	Bradford Northern	5–2,	Keighley	Odsal Stadium, Bradford
		5–5, (10–7 on aggregate)		Lawholme Lane, Keighley
1944–45	Halifax	12–3,	Hunslet	Parkside, Hunslet
		2–0, (14–3 on aggregate)		Thrum Hall, Halifax
1945–46	Bradford Northern	5–2	Wakefield Trinity
1946–47	Wakefield Trinity	10–0	Hull F.C.	Headingley, Leeds
1947–48	Wakefield Trinity	7–7	Leeds	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
Replay		8–7		Odsal Stadium, Bradford
1948–49	Bradford Northern	18–9	Castleford	Headingley, Leeds
1949–50	Bradford Northern	11–4	Huddersfield
1950–51	Huddersfield	16–3	Castleford
1951–52	Wakefield Trinity	17–3	Keighley	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
1952–53	Huddersfield	18–8	Batley	Headingley, Leeds
1953–54	Bradford Northern	7–2	Hull F.C.
1954–55	Halifax	22–14	Hull F.C.
1955–56	Halifax	10–10	Hull F.C.
Replay		7–0		Odsal Stadium, Bradford
1956–57	Wakefield Trinity	23–5	Hunslet	Headingley, Leeds
1957–58	Huddersfield	15–8	York
1958–59	Leeds	24–20	Wakefield Trinity	Odsal, Bradford
1959–60	Featherstone Rovers	15–14	Hull F.C.	Headingley, Leeds
1960–61	Wakefield Trinity	16–10	Huddersfield
1961–62	Wakefield Trinity	19–9	Leeds	Odsal Stadium, Bradford
1962–63	Hunslet	12–2	Hull Kingston Rovers	Headingley, Leeds
1963–64	Halifax	10–0	Featherstone Rovers	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1964–65	Wakefield Trinity	18–2	Leeds	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
1965–66	Bradford Northern	17–8	Hunslet	Headingley, Leeds
1966–67	Hull Kingston Rovers	25–12	Featherstone Rovers
1967–68	Hull Kingston Rovers	8–7	Hull F.C.
1968–69	Leeds	22–11	Castleford	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1969–70	Hull F.C.	12–9	Featherstone Rovers	Headingley, Leeds
1970–71	Leeds	23–7	Featherstone Rovers	Odsal Stadium, Bradford
1971–72	Hull Kingston Rovers	11–7	Castleford	Belle Vue, Wakefield
1972–73	Leeds	36–9	Dewsbury	Odsal Stadium, Bradford
1973–74	Leeds	7–2	Wakefield Trinity	Headingley, Leeds
1974–75	Hull Kingston Rovers	16–13	Wakefield Trinity
1975–76	Leeds	15–11	Hull Kingston Rovers
1976–77	Leeds	16–12	Featherstone Rovers
1977–78	Castleford	17–7	Featherstone Rovers
1978–79	Bradford Northern	18–8	York
1979–80	Leeds	15–6	Halifax
1980–81	Leeds	8–7	Hull Kingston Rovers	Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
1981–82	Castleford	10–5	Bradford Northern	Headingley, Leeds
1982–83	Hull F.C.	18–7	Bradford Northern
1983–84	Hull F.C.	13–2	Castleford	Elland Road, Leeds
1984–85	Hull F.C.	29–12	Hull Kingston Rovers	Boothferry Park, Hull
1985–86	Hull Kingston Rovers	22–18	Castleford	Headingley, Leeds
1986–87	Castleford	31–24	Hull F.C.
1987–88	Bradford Northern	12–12,	Castleford
Replay		11–2		Elland Road, Leeds
1988–89	Leeds	33–12	Castleford
1989–90	Bradford Northern	20–14	Featherstone Rovers	Headingley, Leeds
1990–91	Castleford	11–8	Wakefield Trinity	Elland Road, Leeds
1991–92	Castleford	28–6	Bradford Northern
1992–93	Wakefield Trinity	29–16	Sheffield Eagles
Source:^[3]

Wins by club

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Leeds	17	1921, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1958, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980 & 1988
2	Huddersfield	12	1909, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1919,^[a] 1919, 1926, 1931, 1938, 1950, 1952 & 1957
3	Bradford	11	1941,^[b] 1941, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1965, 1978, 1987 & 1989
4	Wakefield Trinity	10	1910, 1924, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1964 & 1992
5	Hull Kingston Rovers	7	1920, 1929, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1974 & 1985
6=	Castleford	5	1977, 1981, 1986, 1990 & 1991
	Hull F.C.	5	1923, 1969, 1982, 1983 & 1984
	Halifax	5	1908, 1944, 1954, 1955 & 1963
9=	Hunslet	3	1905, 1907 & 1962
	Dewsbury	3	1925, 1927 & 1942
	York	3	1922, 1933 & 1936
12	Featherstone Rovers	2	1940 & 1959
13=	Batley	1	1912
	Bradford FC	1	1906

1. The 1918–1919 competition was played in April — May 1919
2. The 1940–1941 competition was played in March — April 1941

Sponsors

Years	Sponsor	Name
1972–1979	Esso	Esso Yorkshire Cup
1980–1982	Webster's Brewery	Webster's Yorkshire Cup
1983–1984	Phillips	Phillips Yorkshire Cup
1985–1992	John Smith's Brewery	John Smith's Yorkshire Cup

Results

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance
2019	Bradford Bulls	14–12	Batley Bulldogs	Mount Pleasant, Batley	2,278

See also

•  Sports portal

• RFL Yorkshire League

References

1. "Yorkshire Cup returns for 2019". Total Rugby League. League Publications. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
2. Fletcher, Raymond & Howes, David. Rothman's Rugby League Yearbook 1994–95. p. 245. ISBN 9 780747 278511.
3. Fletcher, Raymond & Howes, David. Rothman's Rugby League Yearbook 1994–95. pp. 241–2. ISBN 9 780747 278511.