# 1979–80 Yorkshire Cup

The 1979–80 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.
Leeds winning the trophy by beating Halifax by the score of 15-6
The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 9,137 and receipts were £9,999
This was Leeds' seventh victory (and the first of two consecutive victories for the third time within the sequence) in what would be eight times in the space of thirteen seasons.
This would be Halifax's last appearance in a Yorkshire Cup final, giving them a total record of five wins and four defeats.

## Background

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no new entrants and no "leavers" and so the total of entries remained the same at 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 | Fri 17 Aug 1979 | Bramley | 5-12 | Halifax | McLaren Field | |
| 2 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Leeds | 26-14 | Castleford | Headingley | |
| 3 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Dewsbury | 16-15 | York | Crown Flatt | |
| 4 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Huddersfield | 7-22 | Bradford Northern | Fartown | |
| 5 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Hull F.C. | 13-19 | Featherstone Rovers | Boulevard | |
| 6 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Hunslet | 33-12 | Keighley | Mount Pleasant | 1 |
| 7 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Wakefield Trinity | 28-16 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Belle Vue | |
| 8 | Sun 19 Aug 1979 | Batley | 26-14 | Doncaster | venue unknown | |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sun 26 Aug 1979 | Batley | 6-29 | Leeds | Mount Pleasant |
| 2 | Sun 26 Aug 1979 | Bradford Northern | 5-30 | Wakefield Trinity | Odsal |
| 3 | Sun 26 Aug 1979 | Featherstone Rovers | 16-17 | Dewsbury | Post Office Road |
| 4 | Sun 26 Aug 1979 | Halifax | 23-12 | Hunslet | Thrum Hall |

### 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 19 Sep 1979 | Wakefield Trinity | 7-12 | Leeds | Belle Vue | | | | |
| 2 | Thu 20 Sep 1979 | Halifax | 5-3 | Dewsbury | Thrum Hall | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 27 October 1979 | Leeds | 15-6 | Halifax | Headingley | 9,137 | £9,999 | 2 3 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Leeds | № | Halifax |
| | teams | |
| Neil Hague | 1 | Jimmy Birts |
| Alan Smith | 2 | Derek Howard |
| David Smith | 3 | Graham Garrod |
| Les Dyl | 4 | David Cholmondeley |
| John Atkinson | 5 | Keith Waites |
| John Holmes | 6 | Bob Blacker |
| Kevin Dick | 7 | Terry Langton |
| Roy Dickinson | 8 | Peter Jarvis |
| David Ward | 9 | Dean Raistrick |
| Steve Pitchford | 10 | Alan Wood |
| Graham Eccles | 11 | Mick Scott |
| David Heron | 12 | Greg Sharp |
| Phil Cookson | 13 | David "Buzzy" Busfield |
| John Sanderson | 14 | Mick Snee (for Derek Howard) |
| Bryan Adams (for David Heron) | 15 | David Callon (for Peter Jarvis) |
| Syd Hynes | Coach | Maurice Bamford |
| 15 | score | 6 |
| 10 | HT | 6 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Alan Smith (2) | T | |
| David Smith (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Kevin Dick (3) | G | Jimmy Birts (3) |
| Referee | | Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes) |
| White Rose Trophy for Man of the match | | Alan Smith - Leeds - Wing |
| sponsored by | | |
| Competition Sponsor | | Esso |
Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

### The road to success

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 22 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 5 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 30 | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 28 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 30 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 16 | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 7 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 12 | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 26 | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 12 | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 14 | Batley | Batley | 6 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 29 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 26 | Leeds | Leeds | 29 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 14 | | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 15 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 6 |
| Bramley | Bramley | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 6 |
| Halifax | Halifax | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 12 | Halifax | Halifax | 23 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 33 | Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 12 | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 5 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 3 | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 13 | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 3 | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 19 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 19 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 16 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 17 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 16 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 17 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * This was the first Yorkshire Cup match played by the renamed Hunslet at their "new" temporary home at Batley's Mount Pleasant after the owners of Elland Road Greyhound Stadium suddenly closed the previous ground
2 * The attendance is given as 9,134 by RUGBYLEAGUEproject but the Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook of 1991-92 and 1990-91 gives the attendance as three more at 9,137
3 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947.