# 1945–46 Yorkshire Cup

The 1945–46 Yorkshire Cup was the thirty-eighth occasion on which the competition was held.
In this, the first peacetime Cup final for five years, there was a new name on the trophy. Bradford Northern, who previously won the trophy in 1940–41, 1941–42 and 1943–44, could now lay claim to a genuine trophy; the wartime competitions were not counted officially in the records. Bradford Northern won by beating Wakefield Trinity by a score of 5–2.
The match was played at Thrum Hall, Halifax, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 24,252 and receipts were £1,934.

## Background

The Second World War was now over, and things were beginning to return to normal, although there was still a long way to go. Hull Kingston Rovers and Bramley re-joined the competition and the four Lancashire clubs returned to their own competition. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, which resulted in the number of entrants falling by two, leaving the total number of entries at 15.
This in turn resulted in one bye in the first round.
The competition reverted to its original formula of a knock-out tournament, with the exception of the first round, which was still played on a two-legged home and away basis.

## Competition and results
### Round 1 – first leg

Round 1's first leg involved seven matches (with one bye) and 15 clubs.
All first round ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | Batley | 5–21 | Hunslet | Mount Pleasant |
| 2 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | Bramley | 14–22 | Keighley | Barley Mow |
| 3 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | Halifax | 18–5 | Hull | Thrum Hall |
| 4 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 5–4 | Dewsbury | Craven Park (1) |
| 5 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | Leeds | 11–4 | Castleford | Headingley |
| 6 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | Wakefield Trinity | 20–5 | Huddersfield | Belle Vue |
| 7 | Sat 6 Oct 1945 | York | ? | Featherstone Rovers | Clarence Street |
| 8 | | Bradford Northern | | bye | |

### Round 1 – second leg

Round 1's second leg involved seven matches (with one bye) and 15 clubs.
All first round ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg |
| 1 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Hunslet | 19–0 | Batley | Parkside | 40–5 |
| 2 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Keighley | 17–15 | Bramley | Lawkholme Lane | 39–29 |
| 3 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Hull | 30–5 | Halifax | Boulevard | 35–23 |
| 4 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Dewsbury | 20–4 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Crown Flatt | 24–9 |
| 5 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Castleford | 11–10 | Leeds | Wheldon Road | 15–21 |
| 6 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Huddersfield | 7–32 | Wakefield Trinity | Fartown | 12–52 |
| 7 | Sat 13 Oct 1945 | Featherstone Rovers | 24–5 | York | Post Office Road | ? |
| 8 | | Bradford Northern | | bye | | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals

Round 2's quarterfinals involved four matches and eight clubs.
All second round ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Notes |
| 1 | Tue 16 Oct 1945 | Dewsbury | 10–3 | Keighley | Crown Flatt | |
| 2 | Wed 17 Oct 1945 | Wakefield Trinity | 34–7 | Hull | Belle Vue | 1 |
| 3 | Wed 17 Oct 1945 | Bradford Northern | 8–0 | Hunslet | Odsal | |
| 4 | Wed 17 Oct 1945 | Leeds | 11–4 | Featherstone Rovers | Headingley | |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Round 3's semifinals involved two matches and four clubs.
Both semi-final ties were played on a two-legged home and away basis.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Tue 23 Oct 1945 | Dewsbury | 2–7 | Bradford Northern | Crown Flatt | | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 24 Oct 1945 | Wakefield Trinity | 14–7 | Leeds | Belle Vue | | | | | |

### Final

| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 3 November 1945 | Bradford Northern | 5–2 | Wakefield Trinity | Thrum Hall | | 24252 | £1,934 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Bradford Northern | No. | Wakefield Trinity |
| | Teams | |
| George Carmichael | 1 | William "Billy" Teall |
| Eric Batten | 2 | Ronnie Copley |
| Jack Kitching | 3 | William "Billy" Stott |
| Ernest Ward | 4 | Johnny Jones |
| Walter Best | 5 | Dennis Baddeley |
| George Bennett | 6 | Ronald "Ron" Rylance |
| Donald Ward | 7 | Herbert "Harry" Goodfellow |
| Frank Whitcombe | 8 | Harry Wilkinson |
| Vic Darlison | 9 | Leonard "Len" Marson |
| Leonard Higson | 10 | James "Jim" Higgins |
| Laurie Roberts | 11 | Harry Murphy |
| Alf Marklew | 12 | Frank Moore |
| William Hutchinson | 13 | Leonard "Len" Bratley |
| Dai Rees | Coach | James "Jim" Croston |
| 5 | Score | 2 |
| 0 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Frank Whitcombe | T | |
| | Goals | |
| George Carmichael | G | William "Billy" Stott |
| Referee | | unknown |
Scoring – Try = three (3) points – Goal = two (2) points – Drop goal = two (2) points

### The road to success

All the ties in the first round were played on a two leg (home and away) basis.
For the first round ties, the first club named in each of the ties played the first leg at home.
For the first round ties, the scores shown are the aggregate score over the two legs.
| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 24 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 24 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 10 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Keighley | Keighley | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 29 | Keighley | Keighley | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 39 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 39 | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 7 | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 7 | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 8 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 5 | Hunslet | Hunslet | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 40 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 40 | | | | | | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 5 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 52 | | | | | | | | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 12 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 34 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull | Hull | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 23 | Hull | Hull | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | 35 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | 35 | | | | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 14 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 7 | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 21 | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 7 | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 15 | Leeds | Leeds | 11 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 4 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | L | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 4 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | W | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

The date is given by RUGBYLEAGUEproject as Tuesday 16 October, but by the official Hull F.C. archives as Wednesday 17 October.
Thrum Hall was the home ground of Halifax with a final capacity of 9,832 (The attendance record of 29,153 was set on 21 March 1959 for a third round Challenge Cup tie v Wigan). The club finally moved out in 1998 to take part ownership and ground-share with Halifax Town FC at The Shay Stadium.

### General information

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 (until the onset of "summer rugby" in 1996) ran from around August through to around May, 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 occurred during, and immediately after, the two World Wars.