# 1905–06 Yorkshire Cup

The 1905 Yorkshire Cup competition was a knock-out competition between (mainly professional) rugby league clubs from the county of Yorkshire. 1905 was the inaugural year for the Rugby League Yorkshire Cup competition. The cup was won by Hunslet who beat Halifax by a score of 13–3.

## Background

Following the great schism of 1895 which led to the formation of rugby league there appear to be very little interest in a competitive competition organised on a regional basis, at least between clubs based in Yorkshire. Prior to the breakaway from rugby union this was something that had been discouraged as it was feared that competition would lead to professionalism, as had happened in other sports like Association Football. One of the exceptions was the trophy played for by the Yorkshire Rugby Union clubs. "T'owd Tin Pot", or officially, the Yorkshire Challenge Cup. The Governing body of the RFU were appalled at the idea, but turned a blind eye as all the proceeds from the final were distributed among various charities.
It was around 10 years after the "great schism" before the idea of a County Cup for the Rugby League game became a reality. There appears to be very little, if any, details of how the introduction of the county cup competitions came about, or any details of any of the instigators or of any campaign, but the County Cups became the last part of what would become known as the four cups. The competitions were played on the same basis as was the Challenge Cup, i.e. a free draw with matches played on a sudden death straight knock-out basis, and with the final played (usually) on a neutral ground.

## Competition and results

For this inaugural competition, a total of twenty clubs had entered, and so a preliminary round was introduced involving eight clubs, to reduce the number of clubs taking part in the main competition to sixteen, a full complement for a four round knock-out tournament.

### Preliminary round

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| P1 | Sat 16 Sep 1905 | Featherstone Rovers | 9–10 | Huddersfield | unknown |
| P2 | Wed 04 Oct 1905 | York | 2–0 | Pontefract | Clarence Street |
| P3 | Sat 07 Oct 1905 | Outwood Parish Church | 3–0 | Normanton | unknown |
| P4 | Sat 07 Oct 1905 | Saville Green | 10–0 | Brighouse Rangers | unknown |

### Round 1

Involved 5 matches (with three byes) and 13 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | Batley | 7–2 | Wakefield Trinity | Mount Pleasant |
| 2 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | Hull | 5–2 | Bramley | Barley Mow |
| 3 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | Dewsbury | 0–0 | Bradford | Crown Flatt |
| 4 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | Keighley | 30–8 | Castleford (1896) | Lawkholme Lane |
| 5 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | Leeds | 5–7 | Halifax | Headingley |
| 6 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | Outwood Parish Church | 0–24 | Hull Kingston Rovers | unknown |
| 7 | Sat 14 Oct 1905 | York | 4–3 | Huddersfield | Clarence Street |
| 8 | Sat 21 Oct 1905 | Hunslet | 14–0 | Saville Green | Parkside |

### Round 1 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| R | Tue 24 Oct 1905 | Bradford | 5–0 | Dewsbury | Park Avenue | |

### Round 2 - Quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 28 Oct 1905 | Batley | 5–5 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Mount Pleasant |
| 2 | Sat 28 Oct 1905 | Halifax | 10–0 | Hull | Thrum Hall |
| 3 | Sat 28 Oct 1905 | Hunslet | 37–3 | Keighley | Parkside |
| 4 | Sat 28 Oct 1905 | York | 2–0 | Bradford | Clarence Street |

### Round 2 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| R | Tue 07 Nov 1905 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 7–4 | Batley | Craven Street (off Holderness Road) | |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| 1 | Sat 18 Nov 1905 | Halifax | 11–5 | York | Thrum Hall | |
| 2 | Sat 18 Nov 1905 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 3A12 | Hunslet | Craven Street (off Holderness Road) | |

### Semifinal - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| R | Wed 22 Nov 1905 | Hunslet | 14–3 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Parkside | |

### Final

The match was played at Park Avenue in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 18,500 and receipts were £465.
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Ref |
| | Saturday 2 December 1905 | Hunslet | 13–3 | Halifax | Park Avenue | 18500 | 465 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Hunslet | № | Halifax |
| | teams | |
| Herbert Place | 1 | Billy Little |
| Charlie Ward | 2 | Herman Hartley |
| William Eagers | 3 | William Williams |
| Walter Goldthorpe | 4 | William Wedgewood |
| William Ward | 5 | W. Drummond |
| Albert Goldthorpe | 6 | Joe Riley |
| Albert Everson | 7 | James Hilton |
| Jack Shooter | 8 | Ike Bartle |
| Bill Jukes | 9 | Fred Hammond |
| Bill Brookes | 10 | George Langhorn |
| Walter Wray | 11 | Walter Morton |
| Harry Wilson | 12 | Reggie Norton |
| Harry Wilcox | 13 | Jack Riley |
| Tom Walsh | 14 | Jack Swinbank |
| Jack Glew | 15 | Bob Winskill |
| | Coaches | |
| 13 | score | 3 |
| 4 | HT | 3 |
| Scorers |||
| Charlie Ward (1) | Tries | W. Drummond (1) |
| Walter Goldthorpe (2) | Goals | |
| Albert Goldthorpe (3) | Goals |
| Referee | | William McCutcheon (Oldham) |
Points Value: Try = 3 points; Goal (any type)= 2 points

### The road to success

The following chart excludes any preliminary round fixtures/results
| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Batley | Batley | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | Batley | Batley | 5 (4) | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 5 (7) | | | | | | | |
| Outwood Parish Church | Outwood Parish Church | 0 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 5 (7) | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 24 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 24 | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 3 (3) | | | | |
| | | | | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 (14) | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 14 | | | | | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 (14) | | | | |
| Saville Green | Saville Green | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Saville Green | Saville Green | 0 | Hunslet | Hunslet | 37 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Keighley | Keighley | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 30 | Keighley | Keighley | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford (1896) | Castleford (1896) | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford (1896) | Castleford (1896) | 8 | | | | | | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 13 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 3 |
| Leeds | Leeds | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 3 |
| Halifax | Halifax | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 7 | Halifax | Halifax | 10 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull | Hull | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | 5 | Hull | Hull | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 2 | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 11 | | | | |
| | | | | | | York | York | 5 | | | | |
| York | York | 4 | | | | | | | York | York | 5 | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 3 | York | York | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Bradford | Bradford | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 0 (0) | Bradford | Bradford | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Bradford | Bradford | 0 (5) | | | | | | | | | | |