# 1920–21 Yorkshire Cup

The 1920–21 Yorkshire Cup was the thirteenth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition was held. This year saw a new name on the trophy, when previously twice beaten finalists (1906 and 1911), Hull Kingston Rovers, won the trophy on the third attempt by beating close neighbours and fierce rivals Hull F.C. by a score of 2–0 in the final. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 20,000 and receipts were £1,926. This was the first of only three meetings between the teams which would take place in the finals in the long history of the tournament

## 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 through around May. 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.

## Competition and results

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no new entrants and no "leavers", so the total of entries remained the same, at thirteen. This in turn resulted in three byes in the first round.

### Round 1

Round 1 involved five matches (with three byes) and 13 clubs.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 16 Oct 1920 | Batley | 10–3 | York | Mount Pleasant |
| 2 | Sat 16 Oct 1920 | Halifax | 15–3 | Bramley | Thrum Hall |
| 3 | Sat 16 Oct 1920 | Huddersfield | 5–5 | Dewsbury | Fartown |
| 4 | Sat 16 Oct 1920 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 12–3 | Bradford Northern | Craven Street (off Holderness Road) |
| 5 | Sat 16 Oct 1920 | Leeds | 14–2 | Wakefield Trinity | Headingley |
| 6 | | Hull | | bye | |
| 7 | | Hunslet | | bye | |
| 8 | | Keighley | | bye | |

### Round 1 – replays

Round 1's replays involved one match and two clubs.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| R | Tue 19 Oct 1920 | Dewsbury | 7–0 | Huddersfield | Crown Flatt | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals

Round 2's quarterfinals involved four matches and eight clubs.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 30 Oct 1920 | Dewsbury | 3–2 | Halifax | Crown Flatt |
| 2 | Sat 30 Oct 1920 | Hunslet | 10–9 | Batley | Parkside |
| 3 | Sat 30 Oct 1920 | Keighley | 5–18 | Hull | Lawkholme Lane |
| 4 | Sat 30 Oct 1920 | Leeds | 2–8 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Headingley |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Round 3's semifinals involved two matches and four clubs.
| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Ref |
| 1 | Sat 13 Nov 1920 | Hull | 31–5 | Hunslet | Boulevard | |
| 2 | Sat 13 Nov 1920 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8–5 | Dewsbury | Craven Street (off Holderness Road) | |

### Final

| Game no. | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Ref |
| | Saturday 27 November 1920 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 2–0 | Hull | Headingley | 20000 | £1,926 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Hull Kingston Rovers | No. | Hull |
| | Teams | |
| Laurie Osborne | 1 | Ned Rogers |
| Billy Bradshaw | 2 | Alfred Francis |
| J. Cook | 3 | Billy Stone |
| Gilbert Austin | 4 | Billy Batten |
| Louis Harris | 5 | Jack Holdsworth |
| W. Clark | 6 | Eddie Caswell |
| Tommy McGeiver | 7 | Tommy Milner |
| J. H. Wilkinson | 8 | H. Taylor |
| J. R. Wilkinson | 9 | H. Henson |
| Frank Bielby | 10 | Jack Beasty |
| R. Boagey | 11 | Bob Taylor |
| Frank Gibson | 12 | Danny Wyburn |
| Arthur Moore | 13 | Jim Kennedy |
| William 'Billy' Jacques | Coach | Sid Melville (trainer) |
| 2 | Score | 0 |
| 0 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Goals | |
| | G | |
| Bill Bradshaw | Drop goals | |
| 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 |
| Leeds | Leeds | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | Leeds | Leeds | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 12 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 3 | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 5 (0) | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 (7) | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 (7) | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 3 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Halifax | Halifax | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 15 | Halifax | Halifax | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 3 | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Hull | Hull | 0 |
| Keighley | Keighley | | | | | | | | | | | | Hull | Hull | 0 |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Keighley | Keighley | 5 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull | Hull | 18 | | | | | | | |
| Hull | Hull | | Hull | Hull | 18 | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | Hull | Hull | 31 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 5 | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | | | | | | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 5 | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 10 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Batley | Batley | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 10 | Batley | Batley | 9 | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |