HOLLIDAY CHALLENGE CUP
Sincere thanks to David Gronow for permission to publish the following article and photographs.
In what has firmly become the flagship competition of the Huddersfield and District Amateur Rugby League, in September 1885, Mr Charles Holliday, president of the Huddersfield Cricket and Athletic Club and the son of Mr Read Holliday, the founder of the Read Holliday firm in 1821, presented to Huddersfield Cricket and Athletic Club a silver trophy, valued at £40, to be played for by the junior clubs of Huddersfield and district with the object of raising the character of the various clubs, also of rendering help to the charities of the town by devoting the proceeds of the matches to charitable causes.
A committee was formed to promote 'The Huddersfield and District Football Challenge Cup', with the following clubs represented at the meeting:
Moldgreen, Paddock, Crosland Moor, St Paul's, Skelmanthorpe, Lindley, Shepley, St Thomas's, Waverley, Huddersfield Crescent, Lockwood, Kirkburton, Kirkburton Rovers, Shelley, Nortonthorpe, Scissett, Hillhouse Free Wesleyans, Meltham Mills, Honley, Slaithwaite, Netherton, Longwood, Flockton, Rastrick and Primrose Hill.
The first round, which was fought out on Saturday 19 September 1885, was looked forward to with great interest.
The scoring was by points: a try counting 6, a goal made from a try 6 points extra, a goal from a drop 9, a goal made from a free kick 9, and minor points 1 each.
The committee decided that the games be played on the following grounds:
Crosland Moor v Netherton, at Lindley
Paddock v Skelmanthorpe, at Fartown
Shepley v Rastrick, at Kirkburton
Huddersfield C&AC 'A' v Lindley, at Paddock
St Thomas' v Huddersfield Crescent, at Fartown
St Paul's v Slaithwaite, at Crosland Moor
Primrose Hill v Moldgreen, at Netherton
Kirkburton v Hillhouse Free Wesleyans, at Shepley
It will be seen on reference to match results, except in the match between Paddock and Skelmanthorpe, which was a draw, the scoring was very one-sided.
The first round results were:
|
Goals |
Tries |
Minor Points |
|
Goals |
Tries |
Minor Points |
Crosland M |
0 |
2 |
8 |
Netherton |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Paddock |
1 |
0 |
7 |
Skelmanthorpe |
0 |
2 |
5 |
Shepley |
3 |
4 |
6 |
Rastrick |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Huddersfield 'A |
1 |
2 |
5 |
Lindley |
0 |
0 |
3 |
St Thomas |
3 |
1 |
1 |
Crescent |
0 |
0 |
2 |
St Paul's |
1 |
2 |
6 |
Slaithwaite |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Primrose Hill |
0 |
2 |
5 |
Moldgreen |
0 |
0 |
8 |
Kirkburton |
2 |
5 |
8 |
Hillhouse F Wes |
0 |
0 |
0 |
The St Thomas men dropped one goal from the field and made one from a free kick: and Huddersfield C & AC 'A' also dropped one.
The various grounds on which the inaugural eight matches were played were for the most part in good condition: the day was fairly favourable, but the high wind which blew interfered to some extent in some of the games.
Attendances were very good in some instances with the receipts as follows:
Fartown (two matches) £18.13s.5d, Paddock £4.3s.10d, Kirkburton £3.0s.9d, Netherton £1.18s.0d, Crosland Moor £1.9s.9d, Shepley £1.6s.1d.
The Football Committee met at the George Hotel in the evening and arranged for the next round to be played the following Saturday 28 September:
Kirkburton v St Thomas'(at Skelmanthorpe)
St Paul's v Paddock or Skelmanthorpe(at Lindley or Shepley)
Shepley v Primrose Hill(at Fartown)
Crosland Moor v Huddersfield C&AC (at Primrose Hill)
The replay between Paddock and Skelmanthorpe was played at Fartown in the afternoon of Tuesday 22 September.
Reference to above: Huddersfield Examiner, Monday 21 September 1885).
Semi-Final Round
The two semi-final ties were played on the St John's Ground, Fartown, on Saturday 3 October 1885...before a large company, who manifested a great interest in both ties (Huddersfield Examiner, Monday 5 October)……….the first between Kirkburton and Skelmanthorpe - Kirkburton winning a hard-fought game by 30 points to 14.
Teams:
Kirkburton:
T.Charlesworth, back: H.Pickering, T.Carter and H.Goddard, threequarter backs: F.Webster and E.Hirst, half -back: G.Geissler (capt), H.Lodge junr., H.Lodge sen., E.Denton, W.Jagger, H.Tubbs, T.Marsden, B.A.Brook and J.Lee, forwards.
Skelmanthorpe:
C.Field, back: J.Dyson, R.Canby and G.Hellawell (capt), threequarter backs: A.Shaw and G.Wadsworth, half-back: A.Ellis, W.Ellis, W.Firth, G.Kilner, H.Kilner, F.Taylor, W.Schofield, P.Jackson and J.Radley, forwards.
The other semi-final was between Shepley and Huddersfield 'A'.
The Shepley side were relentless in this match, ending a one-sided affair with the score-line:
Shepley 40 points, Huddersfield 'A' 3.
Teams:
Shepley:
J.W.Kaye, back: E.P.Morton, T.Hinchliffe and T.Goldthorpe, threequarter backs: H.Wood and A.Morton, half-back: W.H.Senior (capt), M.R Tierney, W.Addy, A.Lockwood, H.Littlewood, Fred Mosely, Walter Hardy, Brook Moss and H.Matthews, forwards.
Huddersfield 'A':
Walter Haigh, back: Tom Brown, C.Barlow and G.B.Walker, three-quarter backs: E.Sutcliffe and A.E.Clayton, half-back: Norman Brooke (capt), G.Butterworth, A.Battye, J.Bland, Johnston, H.Stead, Ben Hopkinson, E.Addenbrooke and Whitwam, forwards.
Final Tie
The following match report has been condensed from the Huddersfield Examiner, Monday 12 October 1885.
Kirkburton v Shepley
A large assembly of spectators gathered at St John's Ground, Fartown, on Saturday 10 October to witness the final game in the Charities Cup-ties (Huddersfield Examiner, Monday 12 October 1885).
In a well-contested first half both sides were evenly matched, with most of the action played in neutral territory.
The Shepley backs made most of the running, counteracted by some good forward play by the Kirkburton forwards.
Carter stood out for Kirkburton making good ground each time he received the ball, with Morton, Goldthorpe and Kaye - with some fine kicking - to the fore for Shepley, the half-time score being two minors to nil.
Shepley began the second half well by returning the kick off and working the ball into the Kirkburton 25 where play was very fierce, until a dribble by Kirkburton's Geissler relieved the situation.
Kirkburton's Pickering and Goddard were both collared with the ball, Kirkburton making slow progress dribbling the ball up field, but an exchange of kicks went against them with play back in their territory.
Off-side tackling by Shepley gave Kirkburton a free kick at the centre, but nothing came of it.
Shepley retrieved the ball and a good run by Hinchliffe took play to a few yards from the Kirkburton line, and from the resulting play Morton rounded Pickering, the Kirkburton threequarter, to go in behind the posts, Kaye kicking a goal from Goldthorpe's place.
Play was backwards and forwards between the two 25's, with play in the Shepley half when time was called, Shepley emerging winners in the first-ever Holliday Challenge Cup Final.
W.H.Senior, the Shepley captain, received the cup from Mr.H.Beardsell, who expressed his regret that absence from home should have prevented the generous and popular president of HC & AC, Mr.C.Holliday, from making the presentation.
It was announced that gross receipts at all the matches had been £152.8s.11d, and that as expenses were about £50, there would be approximately £100 to hand over to Huddersfield charities.
Note:
No teams were printed in the Huddersfield Examiner report of the game.
News of the formation of a Northern Rugby Union at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, on 29 August 1895 had wide implications for sport in and around the Huddersfield area.
Not only did the announcement herald the arrival of the first ever season of semi-professional rugby football, which formed the foundation of the modern-day sport of rugby league, plus the inclusion of Huddersfield, it also looked likely to affect the Holliday Cup.
Huddersfield's district representative of the Yorkshire Union was the newly-elected Mr J Berry who commented:
'It is probably the last time that the Holliday Cup will be offered for competition, as the committee who manage it are of the opinion that the object for which it had been instituted has been attained.'
Since Mr Charles Holliday had first presented the trophy in 1885, a total sum of £757 had been raised for Charity.
Mr Berry's opinion proved to be totally wrong.
The long and distinguished history of the Holliday Cup reached a new landmark in April 1994 when the old trophy was replaced after 109 years.
The original cup had been competed for annually, except for the years during the First World War of 1914-18 and some of the 1939-45 Second World War years, and continuing use and cleaning was gradually wearing away the engraving.
This being so, the Huddersfield and District League Committee suggested that a replacement trophy should be procured.
Holliday Dyes and Chemicals Ltd, the successors to L B Holliday &Co Ltd, agreed to replace the cup with another one.
The original trophy was presented for the last time to winners Underbank Rangers for the last time after beating Deighton Woolpack in the final at Leeds Road, the home of Huddersfield Town AFC, on Easter Tuesday 13 April 1993.
Among the Union clubs of Huddersfield which competed for the 1895-96 'breakaway' season were:
Golcar, Netheroyd Hill, Skelmanthorpe, Nortonthorpe, Lockwood, Primrose Hill, Meltham, Turnbridge and Slaithwaite.
There were many other teams playing at this time who were not eligible, such as Longwood, Lindley Albion, Great Northern Street, Leymoor Albion, Hillhouse Free Wanderers, Church Lads Brigade, Oakes Juniors, Damside Albion, Grimscar, Cambridge Road, Shepley St Pauls, Emley, Scarwood and Smithriding.
Primrose Hill was the venue for the 1895 Holliday Cup final on Saturday 12 October - the first since the historic 'breakaway.'
Meltham beat local rivals Lockwood by a try (3) to nil to lift the cup for the first time in their history - the try coming from Taylor into an extra period of ten minutes play each way.
At the game was Mr Charles Brook, mill owner and Meltham's main employer, who was also president of the Meltham club - this was the first rugby football match he had seen, but 'he hoped it would not be the last'.'
The Meltham team were warmly greeted on their return home and before reaching the village were met by the fire brigade and brass band and led back to the centre 'where festivities were sustained with much enthusiasm.'
The black and white hoops of Lindley Swifts became renowned in amateur rugby circles winning the Holliday Cup in 1926-27 and again in 1931-32, also reaching the first round of the Challenge Cup losing 32pts-2 to St Helens in 1928-29, and took on, and almost beat, Rochdale Hornets two years later.
The Rastrick club were prominent during the early years of the Second World War winning the cup from seasons 1937-38 to 1940-41, when the competition was suspended for the duration.
Netherton were the club to beat in the early fifties, as well as securing league titles they won the Holliday Challenge Cup five years out of six between seasons 1949-50 to 1954-55, the exception being Lockwood who won the cup in 1953-54.
Based in Holmfirth, official records show that Underbank Rangers was established in 1884, and celebrated their 125 years in existence in 2009.
During the early 1900's Underbank unearthed a rare local talent in rugby league legend Harold Wagstaff, affectionately known as the 'Prince of Centres'.
Rangers had their first Holliday Cup success in 1908-09 and again the following season 1909-10 - in total they have won the cup on thirteen occasions.
In 1992-93, Underbank won the Holliday Cup and gained promotion to the Pennine League Premier Division, emulating the cup and league double won under player/coach Neil Fox in 1981-82.
Neil later received an MBE for his services to rugby league and joined Harold Wagstaff in the Rugby League Hall of Fame.
'Fartown' was the traditional home where the Holliday Cup was played, however, the demise of the old ground in 1992 saw the Huddersfield and District ARL move to the Leeds Road ground of Huddersfield Town AFC in 1993 where the 1994 and 1995 finals were also held, before ironically moving to Waterloo, the home of Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club.
When Huddersfield RUFC relocated their headquarters to Lockwood Park so did the Holliday Cup final, now traditionally played there each year on Easter Monday morning.
Current teams in the Huddersfield and District ARL which compete for the Holliday Cup are:
Emley Moor, Lindley Swifts, Meltham All Blacks, Moldgreen, Newsome Panthers, Slaithwaite Saracens,
St Josephs and Underbank Rangers.
Most Wins:
St Joseph's 14
Underbank Rangers 13
Most Consecutive wins:
Rastrick 1937-38 to 1940-41 (4)
Netherton 1949-50 to 1952-53 (4)
