# 1986–87 Yorkshire Cup

The 1986–87 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-ninth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition was held. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, and no "leavers", but another new entrant in the form of Mansfield Marksman and so the total of entries increases by one up to eighteen. This in turn resulted in the necessity to increase the number of matches in the preliminary round to reduce the number of clubs entering the first round to sixteen.
In a repeat of the 1983–84 Yorkshire Cup's final pairing, Castleford turned the tables, reversing the result and beating Hull F.C. by the score of 31-24 to win the trophy. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 11,132 and receipts were £31,888. This was the fourth time in the incredible eleven-year period in which Castleford. previously only once winners in 1977, will make eight appearances in the Yorkshire Cup final, winning on four and ending as runner-up on four occasions.

## Background

The Rugby League 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 Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this 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)

## Competition and results
### Preliminary round

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| P1 | Sun 17 Aug 1986 | Halifax | 56-0 | Mansfield Marksman | Thrum Hall | 2962 | | 1 | |
| P2 | Wed 3 Sep 1986 | Sheffield Eagles | 22-20 | Doncaster | Owlerton Stadium | 654 | | 2 | |

### Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att |
| 1 | Fri 12 Sep 1986 | Leeds | 40-4 | Keighley | Headingley | 2862 |
| 2 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Batley | 12-14 | Wakefield Trinity | Mount Pleasant | 1502 |
| 3 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Castleford | 16-10 | Halifax | Wheldon Road | 7594 |
| 4 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Featherstone Rovers | 40-13 | York | Post Office Road | 1732 |
| 5 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Hull F.C. | 29-22 | Bramley | Boulevard | 3580 |
| 6 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 52-30 | Huddersfield Barracudas | Craven Park (1) | 3736 |
| 7 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Hunslet | 12-40 | Bradford Northern | Elland Road | 3101 |
| 8 | Sun 14 Sep 1986 | Sheffield Eagles | 9-10 | Dewsbury | Owlerton Stadium | 641 |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att |
| 1 | Wed 24 Sep 1986 | Bradford Northern | 42-10 | Dewsbury | Odsal | 2682 |
| 2 | Wed 24 Sep 1986 | Castleford | 38-16 | Leeds | Wheldon Road | 7198 |
| 3 | Wed 24 Sep 1986 | Hull F.C. | 21-12 | Wakefield Trinity | Boulevard | 3737 |
| 4 | Wed 24 Sep 1986 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 20-20 | Featherstone Rovers | Craven Park (1) | 3841 |

### Round 2 - replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| R | Fri 26 Sep 1986 | Featherstone Rovers | 23-12 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Post Office Road | 2385 | | | |

### Round 3 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Wed 1 Oct 1986 | Bradford Northern | 12-16 | Hull F.C. | Odsal | 4727 | | | |
| 2 | Wed 1 Oct 1986 | Featherstone Rovers | 2-30 | Castleford | Post Office Road | 5523 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 11 October 1986 | Castleford | 31-24 | Hull F.C. | Headingley | 11,132 | £31,888 | 3 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Castleford | No. | Hull F.C. |
| | teams | |
| Colin Scott | 1 | Gary Kemble |
| David Plange | 2 | Michael Brand |
| Tony Marchant | 3 | Garry Schofield |
| Chris Johns | 4 | Dane O'Hara |
| Gary Hyde | 5 | Paul Eastwood |
| John Joyner | 6 | Fred Ah Kuoi |
| Robert "Bob" Beardmore | 7 | Phil Windley |
| Kevin Ward | 8 | David Brown |
| Kevin Beardmore | 9 | Shaun Patrick |
| Barry Johnson | 10 | Andy Dannatt (Sent off) |
| Martin Ketteridge | 11 | Steve 'Knocker' Norton |
| Brett Atkins | 12 | Lee Crooks |
| Keith England | 13 | Jon Sharp |
| Gary Lord (for Gary Hyde) | 14 | Gary Divorty (for Steve Norton) |
| Alan Shillito (for Brett Atkins) | 15 | Neil Puckering (for Dave Brown) |
| Malcolm "Mal" Reilly | Coach | Len Casey |
| 31 | score | 24 |
| 12 | HT | 18 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Kevin Ward (1) | T | Mike Brand (2) |
| Kevin Beardmore (2) | T | Dane O'Hara (2) |
| Martin Ketteridge (1) | T | |
| Brett Atkins (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Martin Ketteridge (5) | G | Lee Crooks (4) |
| | Drop Goals | |
| Robert "Bob" Beardmore (1) | DG | |
| Referee | | John McDonald (Wigan) |
| White Rose Trophy for Man of the match | | Kevin Beardmore - Castleford - Hooker |
| sponsored by | | |
| Competition Sponsor | | John Smith's Brewery Tadcaster |
Scoring - Try = four points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

### 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 | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 52 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield Barracudas | Huddersfield Barracudas | 30 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield Barracudas | Huddersfield Barracudas | 30 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 20 (12) | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 20 (23) | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 40 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 20 (23) | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 13 | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 30 | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 16 | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 30 | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 10 | Castleford | Castleford | 38 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 16 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 40 | Leeds | Leeds | 16 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 4 | | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 31 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 24 |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 | | | | | | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 24 |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 40 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 40 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 42 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Sheffield Eagles | Sheffield Eagles | 9 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 10 | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 12 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 16 | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 29 | | | | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 16 | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 22 | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 21 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 12 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |