# 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup

The 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup was the sixty-fifth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.
Leeds winning the trophy by beating Dewsbury by the score of 36–9 in what would be Dewsbury's last appearance in a Yorkshire Cup final
The match was played at Odsal in the City of Bradford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 7,806 and receipts were £2,659
This was Leeds third victory (and the first of two consecutive victories) in what would be eight times in the space of thirteen seasons

## Background

The staging of the previous season's Yorkshire Cup during July and August was deemed a financial failure, and the competition reverted to its usual place in the calendar between August and October.
For the first time in its history, the competition was sponsored after agreeing a deal with Esso.

## Competition and results
### First Round

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Fri 25 Aug 1972 | Huddersfield | 26-5 | Doncaster | Fartown |
| 2 | Fri 25 Aug 1972 | Hull F.C. | 8-19 | Leeds | Boulevard |
| 3 | Sat 26 Aug 1972 | Bramley | 16-9 | York | McLaren Field |
| 4 | Sun 27 Aug 1972 | Wakefield Trinity | 38-17 | Keighley | Belle Vue |
| 5 | Sun 27 Aug 1972 | Dewsbury | 19-5 | Castleford | Crown Flatt |
| 6 | Sun 27 Aug 1972 | Featherstone Rovers | 38-8 | Batley | Post Office Road |
| 7 | Sun 27 Aug 1972 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 36-27 | Bradford Northern | Craven Park (1) |
| 8 | Sun 27 Aug 1972 | Hunslet | 8-76 | Halifax | Parkside |

### Second Round

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Wed 5 Sep 1972 | Leeds | 36-5 | Featherstone Rovers | Headingley |
| 2 | Wed 6 Sep 1972 | Bramley | 8-20 | Dewsbury | McLaren Field |
| 3 | Wed 6 Sep 1972 | Huddersfield | 12-8 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Fartown |
| 4 | Thu 7 Sep 1972 | Wakefield Trinity | 9-11 | Halifax | Belle Vue |

### Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Wed 20 Sep 1972 | Dewsbury | 19-10 | Halifax | Crown Flatt | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 20 Sep 1972 | Leeds | 26-13 | Huddersfield | Headingley | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 7 October 1972 | Leeds | 36-9 | Dewsbury | Odsal | 7,806 | £2,659 | 1 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Leeds | No. | Dewsbury |
| | Teams | |
| John Holmes | 1 | Adrian Rushton |
| Alan Smith | 2 | Greg Ashcroft |
| Syd Hynes | 3 | Alan Childe |
| Les Dyl | 4 | Terry Day |
| John Atkinson | 5 | Jeff Yoward |
| Alan Hardisty (c) | 6 | Allan Agar |
| Keith Hepworth | 7 | Alan Bates |
| Terry Clawson | 8 | Graham Bell |
| David Ward | 9 | Mike Stephenson |
| Bill Ramsey | 10 | Trevor Lowe |
| Phil Cookson | 11 | Jeff Grayshon |
| Graham Eccles | 12 | John Bates |
| Ray Batten | 13 | Steve Hankins |
| John Langley (for Hepworth) | 14 | Steve Lee (for Bates) |
| Tony Fisher (for Clawson) | 15 | Harry Beverley (for Bell) |
| Derek Turner | Coach | Tommy Smales |
| 36 | score | 9 |
| 15 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| John Holmes (3) | T | Greg Ashcroft (1) |
| Les Dyl (2) | T | |
| John Atkinson | T | |
| Alan Hardisty (1) | T | |
| Graham Eccles (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Syd Hynes (1) | G | Alan Bates (3) |
| Terry Clawson (5) | G | |
| Referee | | Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes) |
| White Rose Trophy for Man of the match | | John Holmes - Leeds - Fullback |
| 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 |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 19 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 19 | Leeds | Leeds | 36 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 38 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 8 | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 26 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 13 | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 26 | | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 13 | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 5 | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 12 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 36 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 27 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 27 | | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 36 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 9 |
| Bramley | Bramley | 16 | | | | | | | | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 9 |
| York | York | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 9 | Bramley | Bramley | 8 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 20 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 19 | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 20 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 5 | | | | Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 19 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 10 | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 38 | | | | | | | Halifax | Halifax | 10 | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 7 | Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 9 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Halifax | Halifax | 11 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 8 | Halifax | Halifax | 11 | | | | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 76 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Odsal is the home ground of Bradford Northern from 1890 to 2010 and the current capacity is in the region of 26,000, The ground is famous for hosting the largest attendance at an English sports ground when 102,569 (it was reported that over 120,000 actually attended as several areas of boundary fencing collapse under the sheer weight of numbers) attended the replay of the Challenge Cup final on 5 May 1954 to see Halifax v Warrington.