All Four Cups Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Between 1905 and 1960 there were four trophies available to any British rugby league side:
- Challenge Cup
- Rugby League Championship
- County league (Lancashire League or Yorkshire League)
- County cup (Lancashire Cup or Yorkshire Cup)
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2 Huddersfield 3 Swinton 4 Modern Developments 5 See also |
The first club to win All Four Cups was Hunslet, which they did in the 1907-08 season. They were captained by Albert Goldthorpe, who operated in the back line. Hunslet’s forward pack of that season was equally (in)famous, going by the name of "The Terrible Six".
Hunslet did not the top the championship table at the end of the season, coming behind Oldham, whom they defeated 10-12 in a championship replay after the first match was drawn 7 apiece. They ran out 14-0 winners in the Challenge Cup Final in front of 18,000 spectators at Fartown, Huddersfield. They took the Yorkshire Cup by virtue of a 17-0 victory over Halifax.
The feat was next repeated by Huddersfield inin the 1914-15 season by the Fartowners famous "Team of all the Talents". This was the culmination of a staggering period of dominance in the game, as they had already picked up two championships, the challenge cup, three Yorkshire Cups and three Yorkshire league titles in the preceding five seasons.
They were captained Harold Wagstaff, immortalised as the "Prince of Centres", and included many foreign international. In many ways Huddersfield went one better than Hunslett six years previously in that they also topped the championship table (for which no trophy was awarded). They easily defeated Leeds 35-2 in the Championship final, and managed an even greater margin of victory in the Challenge Cup, crushing St Helens 37-3 at Oldham.
The season saw Huddersfield's wing-three-quarter Albert Rosenfeld score an impressive 56 tries. However this figure paled into insignificant when it is remembered that Rosenfeld, a Jewish Australian who had come over to Britain with the 1908 Kangaroos, had scored 80 tries the previous season. This record has never yet been beaten
The team of all the Talents could well have gone on to even greater exploits, however sadly the First World War intervened, and the team broke up. The Huddersfield club was unable to field a team, reforming only after the war ended
The final team to win All Four Cups was Swinton, who thus became the only side ever to achieve a Lancashire version of the feat. The 1927-28 saw the lions sweep all before them, under the captaincy of centre Hector Halsall. They topped both the league and the Yorkshire League, having already defeated Wigan in the Lancashire Cup. In a tense Challenge Cup final they squeezed past Warrington 5-3, and three weeks later the Holy Grail was achieved when they comfortably eased past Featherstone Rovers 11-0 to take the Championship.
The county leagues were abolished in 1960, and the county cups followed in 1993. New competitions have replaced them, and at times there have been up to six cups. No team since Swinton has ever won all the silverware on offer. There are currently four trophies available to the top club:
This is an Article on All Four Cups. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About All Four Cups Hunslet
Huddersfield
Swinton
Modern Developments
See also