1985–86 Yorkshire Cup

The 1985–86 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-eighth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no "leavers", but one new entrant in the form of newcomers to the league, Sheffield Eagles and so the total of entries increases by one up to seventeen. This in turn resulted in the necessity to introduce a preliminary round to reduce the number of clubs entering the first round to sixteen.

1985–86 Yorkshire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams17
WinnersHull Kingston Rovers
Runners-upCastleford

Last year's runner-up, Hull Kingston Rovers returned to the finals stage to win the trophy this year by beating Castleford by the score of 22–18. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 12,686 and receipts were £36,327. It was the third time in the incredible eleven-year period in which Castleford. previously only once winners in 1977, will make eight appearances in the Yorkshire Cup final, winning on four and ending as runner-up on four occasions.

Background

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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

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[1]

Preliminary round

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Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
P1 Wed 4 Sep 1985 Castleford 38-6 Sheffield Eagles Wheldon Road 1748 1

Round 1

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Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Batley 10-14 Dewsbury Mount Pleasant 2148
2 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Bradford Northern 40-15 Wakefield Trinity Odsal 3180
3 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Bramley 22-10 Doncaster McLaren Field 582
4 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Castleford 60-2 Hunslet Wheldon Road 2708
5 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Halifax 52-14 Huddersfield Barracudas Thrum Hall 2516
6 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 12-10 Hull F.C. Craven Park (1) 10115 [2]
7 Sun 15 Sep 1985 Leeds 60-12 Keighley Headingley 4775
8 Sun 15 Sep 1985 York 18-26 Featherstone Rovers Clarence Street 2283

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

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Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Wed 25 Sep 1985 Dewsbury 2-48 Leeds Crown Flatt 3700
2 Wed 25 Sep 1985 Featherstone Rovers 11-22 Bradford Northern Post Office Road 2185
3 Wed 25 Sep 1985 Halifax 4-24 Castleford Thrum Hall 4012
4 Wed 25 Sep 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 30-6 Bramley Craven Park (1) 3959

Round 3 – Semi-finals

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Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Wed 2 Oct 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 11-5 Bradford Northern Craven Park (1) 6008
2 Wed 2 Oct 1985 Leeds 10-14 Castleford Headingley 10281

Final

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Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Sunday 27 October 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 22-18 Castleford Headingley 12,686 £36,327 2 [3][4][5]

Teams and scorers

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[4][1]

Hull Kingston Rovers No. Castleford
teams
George Fairbairn 1 Gary Lord
Garry Clark 2 David Plange
John Dorahy 3 Tony Marchant
Gary Prohm 4 Gary Hyde
David Laws 5 Tony Spears
Gordon Smith 6 Steve Diamond
Paul Harkin 7 Robert "Bob" Beardmore
Peter Johnston 8 Kevin Ward
David Watkinson 9 Kevin Beardmore
Asuquo "Zook" Ema 10 Barry Johnson
Chris Burton 11 Keith England
Phil Hogan 12 Martin Ketteridge
Gavin Miller 13 John Joyner
John Lydiat (for George Fairbairn) 14 David Roockley
Andy Kelly (for Phil Hogan) 15 Ian Fletcher
Roger Millward Coach Malcolm "Mal" Reilly
22 score 18
10 HT 6
Scorers
Tries
Garry Clark (1) T Tony Marchant (2)
Gavin Miller (2) T Robert "Bob" Beardmore (1)
Goals
John Dorahy (5) G Steve Diamond (1)
G Robert "Bob" Beardmore (2)
Referee Ronald "Ronnie" Campbell (Widnes)
White Rose Trophy for Man of the match Gavin Miller - Hull KR - Loose forward
sponsored by
Competition Sponsor John Smith's Brewery Tadcaster

Scoring - Try = four points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

The road to success

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First round Second round Semi-finals Final
            
Hull Kingston Rovers 12
Hull F.C. 10
Hull Kingston Rovers 30
Bramley 6
Bramley 22
Doncaster 10
Hull Kingston Rovers 11
Bradford Northern 5
York 18
Featherstone Rovers 26
Featherstone Rovers 11
Bradford Northern 22
Bradford Northern 40
Wakefield Trinity 15
Hull Kingston Rovers 22
Castleford 18
Batley 10
Dewsbury 14
Dewsbury 2
Leeds 48
Leeds 60
Keighley 12
Leeds 10
Castleford 14
Halifax 52
Huddersfield Barracudas 14
Halifax 4
Castleford 24
Castleford 60
Hunslet 2

Notes

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1 * This is the first Yorkshire Cup match played by Sheffield Eagles, newly elected to the league

2 * 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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  3. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  4. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  5. ^ Yorkshire County Rugby League Programme dept. Match Programme Yorkshire Cup 1985. YCRL Committee.
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