1945–46 Yorkshire Cup


The 1945–46 Yorkshire Cup was the thirty-eighth occasion on which the competition was held.
In this, the first peacetime Cup final for five years, there was a new name on the trophy. Bradford Northern, who previously won the trophy in 1940–41, 1941–42 and 1943–44, could now lay claim to a genuine trophy; the wartime competitions were not counted officially in the records. Bradford Northern won by beating Wakefield Trinity by a score of 5–2.
The match was played at Thrum Hall, Halifax, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 24,252 and receipts were £1,934.

Background

The Second World War was now over, and things were beginning to return to normal, although there was still a long way to go. Hull Kingston Rovers and Bramley re-joined the competition and the four Lancashire clubs returned to their own competition. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, which resulted in the number of entrants falling by two, leaving the total number of entries at 15.
This in turn resulted in one bye in the first round.
The competition reverted to its original formula of a knock-out tournament, with the exception of the first round, which was still played on a two-legged home and away basis.

Competition and results

Round 1 – first leg

Round 1's first leg involved seven matches and 15 clubs.
All first round ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
Game no.Fixture dateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueAggAttRecNotesRef
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1Sat 6 Oct 1945Batley5–21HunsletMount Pleasant
2Sat 6 Oct 1945Bramley14–22KeighleyBarley Mow
3Sat 6 Oct 1945Halifax18–5HullThrum Hall
4Sat 6 Oct 1945Hull Kingston Rovers5–4DewsburyCraven Park (1)
5Sat 6 Oct 1945Leeds11–4CastlefordHeadingley
6Sat 6 Oct 1945Wakefield Trinity20–5HuddersfieldBelle Vue
7Sat 6 Oct 1945York?Featherstone RoversClarence Street
8Bradford Northernbye

Round 1 – second leg

Round 1's second leg involved seven matches and 15 clubs.
All first round ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
Game no.Fixture dateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueaggAttRecNotesRef
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1Sat 13 Oct 1945Hunslet19–0BatleyParkside40–5
2Sat 13 Oct 1945Keighley17–15BramleyLawkholme Lane39–29
3Sat 13 Oct 1945Hull30–5HalifaxBoulevard35–23
4Sat 13 Oct 1945Dewsbury20–4Hull Kingston RoversCrown Flatt24–9
5Sat 13 Oct 1945Castleford11–10LeedsWheldon Road15–21
6Sat 13 Oct 1945Huddersfield7–32Wakefield TrinityFartown12–52
7Sat 13 Oct 1945Featherstone Rovers24–5YorkPost Office Road?
8Bradford Northernbye

Round 2 – quarterfinals

Round 2's quarterfinals involved four matches and eight clubs.
All second round ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
Game no.Fixture dateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueAggAttRecNotesRef
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1Tue 16 Oct 1945Dewsbury10–3KeighleyCrown Flatt
2Wed 17 Oct 1945Wakefield Trinity34–7HullBelle Vue1
3Wed 17 Oct 1945Bradford Northern8–0HunsletOdsal
4Wed 17 Oct 1945Leeds11–4Featherstone RoversHeadingley

Round 3 – semifinals

Round 3's semifinals involved two matches and four clubs.
Both semi-final ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
Game no.Fixture dateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueAggAttRecNotesRef
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1Tue 23 Oct 1945Dewsbury2–7Bradford NorthernCrown Flatt
2Wed 24 Oct 1945Wakefield Trinity14–7LeedsBelle Vue

Final

Teams and scorers

Scoring – Try = three points – Goal = two points – Drop goal = two points

The road to success

All the ties in the first round were played on a two leg basis.
For the first round ties, the first club named in each of the ties played the first leg at home.
For the first round ties, the scores shown are the aggregate score over the two legs.

General information

The Rugby League Yorkshire Cup competition was a knock-out competition between 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 ran from around August through to around May, and this competition always took place early in the season, in the autumn, with the final taking place in December. The only exception to this was when disruption of the fixture list occurred during, and immediately after, the two World Wars.