# 1940–41 Yorkshire Cup

The 1940–41 Yorkshire Cup was held in spring 1941.
The 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.
The Second World War was continuing and the Yorkshire Cup was moved to the end of the 1940–41 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season.
1940–41 was the thirty-third 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 and for the second consecutive competition, there was a new winner for this season's trophy, Bradford Northern winning the trophy by beating Dewsbury by the score of 15-5. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 13,316 and receipts were £939.

## Change in Club participation

Hull Kingston Rovers – The club dropped out of the wartime Lancashire league after the ‘first (1939–40) season. They did not return to league competition until 1945–46 peacetime season.
Wigan - This club entered the Yorkshire Cup competition.
Oldham - The club, as Wigan, also entered the Yorkshire Cup competition.
Batley, Bramley and Keighley all rejoined the competition after appearing to withdraw from last season's competition.
Dewsbury - had a relatively successful time during the war years. Managed by Eddie Waring, and with the side boosted by the inclusion of a number of big-name guest players, the club won the Wartime Emergency League in 1941–42 and again the following season 1942–43 (though that championship was declared null and void when it was discovered they had played an ineligible player). They were also runners-up in the Championship in 1943–44, Challenge Cup winners in 1943 and Yorkshire Cup final appearances in this season 1940–41 and winners in 1942–43.

## Background

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, but with the addition of the two Lancashire clubs, Wigan and Oldham, the total number of entrants increased by four to the total of sixteen.
This in turn resulted in no byes in the first round.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Bradford Northern | 28-10 | Bramley | Odsal | |
| 2 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Dewsbury | 17-5 | Hunslet | Crown Flatt | |
| 3 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Featherstone Rovers | 14-0 | Keighley | Post Office Road | |
| 4 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Halifax | 6-13 | Castleford | Thrum Hall | |
| 5 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Huddersfield | 35-3 | Batley | Fartown | |
| 6 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Hull | 15-22 | York | Boulevard | |
| 7 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Wakefield Trinity | 17-5 | Oldham | Belle Vue | 1 |
| 8 | Sat 15 Mar 1941 | Wigan | 3-9 | Leeds | Central Park | 2 |

### Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 22 Mar 1941 | Bradford Northern | 18-5 | Wakefield Trinity | Odsal |
| 2 | Sat 22 Mar 1941 | Dewsbury | 21-5 | York | Crown Flatt |
| 3 | Sat 22 Mar 1941 | Featherstone Rovers | 20-9 | Leeds | Post Office Road |
| 4 | Sat 22 Mar 1941 | Huddersfield | 8-3 | Castleford | Fartown |

### 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 29 Mar 1941 | Dewsbury | 20-2 | Featherstone Rovers | Crown Flatt | | | | |
| 2 | Sat 29 Mar 1941 | Huddersfield | 0-2 | Bradford Northern | Fartown | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 5 April 1941 | Bradford Northern | 15-5 | Dewsbury | Fartown | 13,316 | £939 | 3 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Bradford Northern | No. | Dewsbury |
| | teams | |
| George Carmichael | 1 | |
| Walter Best | 2 | |
| Tom Winnard | 3 | |
| Ernest Ward | 4 | |
| Emlyn Walters | 5 | |
| Gus Risman (wartime guest from Salford) | 6 | |
| Donald Ward | 7 | |
| Frank Whitcombe | 8 | |
| Cliff Carter (wartime guest from Leeds) | 9 | |
| Leonard Higson | 10 | |
| Trevor Foster | 11 | |
| xWilliam Smith | 12 | |
| John Moore | 13 | |
| Dai Rees | Coach | Eddie Waring |
| 15 | score | 5 |
| 6 | HT | 5 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| | T | |
| | T | |
| | T | |
| | Goals | |
| | G | |
| | 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 |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 35 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 3 | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 8 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Castleford | Castleford | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 6 | Castleford | Castleford | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 13 | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 0 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 2 | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 28 | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 2 | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 10 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 18 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 17 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 5 | | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 15 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 17 | | | | | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 5 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 21 | | | | | | | |
| | | | York | York | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | 15 | York | York | 5 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 22 | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 20 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 2 | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 14 | | | | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 2 | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 0 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 20 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 3 | Leeds | Leeds | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Oldham joined the Yorkshire Cup. This was the first Yorkshire Cup match to be played by Oldham
2 * Wigan joined the Yorkshire Cup. This was the first Yorkshire Cup match to be played by Wigan and the first at Central Park
3 * Fartown was the home ground of Huddersfield from 1878 to the end of the 1991-92 season to Huddersfield Town FC's Leeds Road stadium, and then to the McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Fartown remained as a sports/Rugby League ground but is now rather dilapidated, and is only used for staging amateur rugby league games.