# 1925–26 Yorkshire Cup

The 1925–26 Yorkshire Cup was the eighteenth competition in this series. This year again saw a new name added to the list of cup winners. This time it was Dewsbury winning the trophy by beating Huddersfield in the final 2–0. The match was played at Belle Vue, in the City of Wakefield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 12,616 and receipts were £718. This was the last time for another fourteen years that a new name would be added.

## Background

The Rugby Football League's 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

This season there was only one junior/amateur club taking part, Castleford, at the time still a junior club, but which would be joining the league in the next closed season. This resulted in a reduction in entrants of just one, giving a total of fifteen entrants. This in turn resulted in one bye in the first round.

### Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one bye) and 15 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Batley | 4-6 | Wakefield Trinity | Mount Pleasant |
| 2 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Bradford Northern | 9-9 | Castleford | Birch Lane |
| 3 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Dewsbury | 22-7 | Bramley | Crown Flatt |
| 4 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Halifax | 0-2 | Leeds | Thrum Hall |
| 5 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Hull | 16-3 | Hunslet | Boulevard |
| 6 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10-14 | York | Craven Park (1) |
| 7 | Sat 10 Oct 1925 | Keighley | 4-18 | Featherstone Rovers | Lawkholme Lane |
| 8 | | Huddersfield | | bye | |

### Round 1 - replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| R | Wed 14 Oct 1925 | Castleford | 5-11 | Bradford Northern | Sandy Desert | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Tue 20 Oct 1925 | Dewsbury | 13-3 | Hull | Crown Flatt |
| 2 | Wed 21 Oct 1925 | Bradford Northern | 15-5 | York | Birch Lane |
| 3 | Wed 21 Oct 1925 | Huddersfield | 16-11 | Leeds | Fartown |
| 4 | Wed 21 Oct 1925 | Wakefield Trinity | 2-23 | Featherstone Rovers | Belle Vue |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| 1 | Wed 4 Nov 1925 | Huddersfield | 15-9 | Featherstone Rovers | Fartown | |
| 2 | Wed 11 Nov 1925 | Dewsbury | 13-5 | Bradford Northern | Crown Flatt | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Ref |
| | Saturday 28 November 1925 | Dewsbury | 2-0 | Huddersfield | Belle Vue | 12,616 | £718 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Dewsbury | No. | Huddersfield |
| | Teams | |
| John William Stocks | 1 | Syd Walmsley |
| Harold Raywood | 2 | Arthur Walker |
| Rhys Rees | 3 | Joe Oliver |
| Joe Lyman | 4 | Joseph McTighe |
| James Lyman | 5 | Fred Whiteley |
| Edward McLoughlin | 6 | Eddie Williams |
| Cliff Midgley | 7 | James May |
| Percy Brown | 8 | Arthur Sherwood |
| William Rhodes | 9 | Arthur Newton |
| Joseph Hobson | 10 | Thomas Fenwick |
| John Ryan | 11 | Douglas Clark |
| John Moore | 12 | Richard Cracknell |
| Edward Donnelly | 13 | Tommy Schofield |
| ?? | Coach | ?? |
| 2 | score | 0 |
| 2 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Goals | |
| | 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 |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 7 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 13 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull | Hull | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | 16 | Hull | Hull | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 3 | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 13 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 5 | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 9 (11) | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 5 | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 9 (5) | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 9 (5) | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 15 | | | | | | | |
| | | | York | York | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10 | York | York | 5 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 14 | | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 0 |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | | | | | | | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 0 |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 16 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 11 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 0 | Leeds | Leeds | 11 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 2 | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 15 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 9 | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 4 | | | | | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 9 | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 6 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 23 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 4 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 23 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |