# 1939–40 Yorkshire Cup

The 1939–40 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 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, as was the case with this season)
Due to the start of the Second World War, the competition was delayed until early 1940 (see later).
1939–40 was the thirty-second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.
This season's competition is classed as a "Wartime Emergency Competition" and therefore the results did not count as an official competition win. However, this aside, there was a new winner for this season's trophy, Featherstone Rovers winning the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 12-9
The match was played at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 7,077 and receipts were £403
Unlike the 1939–40 Lancashire Cup, the Yorkshire cup was played on a straightforward knock-out basis, and not on a two-legged basis.

## Preamble to changes

Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played two or three fixtures (on Saturday 26th, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).
During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner. The Challenge Cup and both County Cups were suspended. There was to be no Yorkshire Cup competition in 1939.
But later in the season both County Cups were resurrected.
The Yorkshire Cup started on Saturday 25 May/1 June and was played on consecutive weekends.
Each and every match was played on a knock-out basis.

### Background

Batley, Bramley and Keighley, (the three clubs who finishing as the bottom three in the Yorkshire League) did not appear to enter this year's competition. All had competed in the league programme, and all competed again next season The number of teams entering this year’s competition therefore decreased by three reducing the total number of entrants to twelve.
This in turn resulted in four byes in the first round.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

Involved 4 matches (with four byes) and 12 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 25 May 1940 | Dewsbury | 23-14 | York | Crown Flatt | |
| 2 | Sat 1 Jun 1940 | Bradford Northern | 22-3 | Leeds | Odsal | |
| 3 | Sat 1 Jun 1940 | Castleford | 17-10 | Hunslet | Wheldon Road | |
| 4 | Sat 1 Jun 1940 | Featherstone Rovers | 18-2 | Halifax | Post Office Road | |
| 5 | | Huddersfield | | bye | | 1 |
| 6 | | Hull | | bye | | 1 |
| 7 | | Hull Kingston Rovers | | bye | | 1 |
| 8 | | Wakefield Trinity | | bye | | 1 |

### Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 8 Jun 1940 | Castleford | 6-12 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wheldon Road |
| 2 | Sat 8 Jun 1940 | Featherstone Rovers | 21-6 | Bradford Northern | Post Office Road |
| 3 | Sat 8 Jun 1940 | Huddersfield | 9-23 | Dewsbury | Fartown |
| 4 | Sat 8 Jun 1940 | Wakefield Trinity | 27-3 | Hull | Belle Vue |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Sat 15 Jun 1940 | Featherstone Rovers | 15-11 | Dewsbury | Post Office Road | | | | |
| 2 | Sat 15 Jun 1940 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 5-5 | Wakefield Trinity | Craven Park (1) | | | | |

### Semifinal - replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| R | Wed 19 Jun 1940 | Wakefield Trinity | 8-7 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Belle Vue | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 22 June 1940 | Featherstone Rovers | 12-9 | Wakefield Trinity | Odsal | 7,077 | £403 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Featherstone Rovers | № | Wakefield Trinity |
| | teams | |
| John Haley | 1 | William "Billy" Teall |
| Albany Longley | 2 | Reg Jenkinson |
| Walter Tennant | 3 | Horace Turner |
| Bill Hughes | 4 | Robert "Bob" Oliver |
| Jack Blackburn | 5 | George Henry "Mick" Exley |
| Ray Hamer | 6 | Sam Herberts |
| Harold Moxon | 7 | Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow |
| Frank Hemingway | 8 | Harry Wilkinson |
| Joe Golby | 9 | Victor "Vic" Darlison |
| John "Jack" Dyson | 10 | Harry Nicholson |
| Wilf Pearson | 11 | Sandy Orford |
| George Taylor | 12 | Alan Flowers |
| Bill Sherwood | 13 | Leonard "Len" Marson |
| xBilly Williams | Coach | ?? |
| 12 | score | 9 |
| 3 | HT | 7 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| 2 | T | Horace Turner (1) |
| | T | |
| | Goals | |
| 3 | G | William "Billy" Teall (3) |
| | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | unknown |
Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

### The road to success

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 2 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 21 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 6 | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 22 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 6 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 3 | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 15 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 11 | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 11 | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 9 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 23 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 23 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 23 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 14 | | | | | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 12 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 9 |
| Castleford | Castleford | 17 | | | | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 9 |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 10 | Castleford | Castleford | 6 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 12 | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 5 (7) | | | | |
| | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 5 (8) | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 5 (8) | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 3 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull | Hull | | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | | Hull | Hull | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |