1954 Challenge Cup

The 1954 Challenge Cup was the 53rd staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup.[1] It featured clubs from the 1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season and is particularly notable for its Final, which had to be replayed at Odsal after a drawn match at Wembley, with the replay attracting possibly the largest ever crowd in world rugby league history.

1954 Challenge Cup
Duration5 rounds
Winners Warrington
Runners-up Halifax
Lance Todd Trophy Gerry Helme

First Round

Date Team One Score One Team Two Score Two
6 February 1954Halifax19Dewsbury0
6 February 1954Hull24Widnes0
6 February 1954Keighley12Barrow11
6 February 1954Latchford Albion20Wigan40
6 February 1954Leeds13Batley20
6 February 1954Liverpool5Oldham15
6 February 1954Wakefield Trinity24Whitehaven13
6 February 1954York18Hull Kingston Rovers0
13 February 1954Barrow6Keighley10
13 February 1954Batley6Leeds23
13 February 1954Castleford8Doncaster5
13 February 1954Oldham18Liverpool11
13 February 1954Rochdale Hornets9Bradford Northern9
13 February 1954Leigh13Swinton4
13 February 1954St Helens26Featherstone Rovers7
13 February 1954Warrington17Bramley0
13 February 1954Wheldale6Workington Town32
13 February 1954Whitehaven15Wakefield Trinity3
13 February 1954Widnes2Hull FC5
13 February 1954Wigan41Latchford Albion2
15 February 1954Belle Vue Rangers15Huddersfield20
16 February 1954Dewsbury9Halifax5
17 February 1954Bradford Northern11Rochdale Hornets2
17 February 1954Bramley5Warrington30
17 February 1954Featherstone Rovers16St Helens27
17 February 1954Huddersfield31Belle Vue Rangers6
17 February 1954Hunslet20Salford5
17 February 1954Swinton2Leigh17
17 February 1954Workington Town50Wheldale2
18 February 1954Doncaster7Castleford2
18 February 1954Hull Kingston Rovers0York0
22 February 1954Salford3Hunslet18

Second Round

Date Team One Score One Team Two Score Two
6 March 1954Halifax24Keighley5
6 March 1954Huddersfield12St Helens5
6 March 1954Hull5Workington Town5
6 March 1954Hunslet10Whitehaven2
6 March 1954Leeds12Leigh3
6 March 1954Oldham4Warrington7
6 March 1954Wigan15Bradford Northern10
6 March 1954York11Doncaster2
11 March 1954Workington Town17Hull FC14

Quarter Finals

Date Team One Score One Team Two Score Two
20 March 1954Hunslet16Huddersfield7
20 March 1954Leeds31Workington Town11
20 March 1954Warrington26York5
20 March 1954Wigan0Halifax2

Semi Finals

Date Team One Score One Team Two Score Two
3 April 1954Halifax18Hunslet3
3 April 1954Warrington8Leeds4

Final

Halifax and Warrington, the teams who had finished first and second respectively on the Championship ladder (separated by only one competition point), reached the Challenge Cup Final Saturday 24 April 1954. The game was played at Wembley and 81,841 spectators saw what turned out to be a comparatively lacklustre match.

24 April 1954
Warrington 4 – 4 Halifax
Goals Bath (2/6) [2] Goals Griffiths (2/4)
Wembley, London
Attendance: 81,841
Referee: Ron Gelder (Wakefield)

After a couple of penalties, Halifax held a 4-0 lead at half time. In the second half Warrington drew level, also kicking two penalties. There was no further scoring and the match finished in a draw, at 4 - 4. This match remains the only occasion on which Wembley hasn't seen a single try scored on Cup Final day. The replay was initially scheduled for 5pm on Wednesday 5 May 1954 at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

Final replay

Around 70,000 spectators were expected at Odsal for the replay, which was rescheduled for a 7pm kick-off in order to allow for rush hour traffic in Bradford. The twenty trains and fifty buses, specially arranged for the match, as well as the 100 gatesmen and 150 policemen on duty at the ground, were believed to be adequate to deal with the expected crowd.

However, the competitive closeness with which the two teams were matched, together with the enticing prospect of the Challenge Cup decider coming north for the first time in a decade, seems to have generated far greater public interest than was supposed.

People had started queuing outside the stadium a good hour before the shuttle buses started running from 4:25pm. The gates opened at 5.00pm, and by that time some people had already been queuing for an hour and a half. With over an hour remaining before kick off there were already an estimated 60,000 in the ground. The traffic on the roads in the surrounding area was at a standstill as more and more spectators converged on the stadium. Some squatted around the pitch, while others climbed onto rooftops for a better view. Fences around the ground had collapsed, as more people struggled to cram into the bowl of Odsal before the match started.

The official attendance figure for the crowd was announced as 102,575 [3] however it is widely believed that a more realistic figure for the number of spectators present is closer to 120,000.[4]

5 May 1954
7 pm
Warrington 8 – 4 Halifax
Try Challinor, Helme
Goals Bath (2)
[5] Goals Griffiths (2)
Odsal Stadium, Bradford
Attendance: 102,569
Referee: Ron Gelder
Man of the Match: Gerry Helme
Warrington Posit. Halifax
Eric Frodsham (c)1. FBTyssul Griffiths
Brian Bevan2. WGArthur Daniels
Jim Challinor3. CETommy Lynch
Ron Ryder4. CEBilly Mather
Stan McCormick5. WGDai Royston Bevan
Ray Price6. SOKen Dean
Gerry Helme7. SHStan Kielty
Danny Naughton8. PRJohn Thorley
Frank Wright9. HKAlvin Ackerley (c)
Gerry Lowe10. PRJack Wilkinson
Harry Bath11. SRAlbert Fearnley
Austin Heathwood12. SRDerrick Schofield
Bob Ryan13. LFDes Clarkson

The match itself was another tense, low-scoring struggle, but an improvement on the first game. Jim Challinor opened the scoring with a try for Warrington after nine minutes. Half an hour later, Tyssul Griffiths kicked a penalty for the Halifax side, who had also had two tries disallowed. This meant a half time score of 3 - 2 in favour of Warrington.

The third quarter of the match saw additional goals kicked by both Griffiths and Harry Bath, bringing the score to 5 - 4, still just one point in favour of Warrington. Then Gerry Helme scored a try, which Bath couldn't convert, putting Warrington four points clear of Halifax, but still within a converted try. Controversy reared just before full-time, when Halifax had a third try disallowed by referee Ron Gelder. Warrington had claimed their 4th Challenge Cup, with Helme winning the Lance Todd Trophy for his match-winning performance, the first player to do so twice.

References

  1. "Challenge Cup 1953/54". Rugby League Project.
  2. "OUR RUGBY FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT. "A Drawn Rugby Cup Final." Times [London, England] 26 Apr. 1954". The Times Digital Archive.
  3. "The History Of Rugby League". Rugby League Information. napit.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  4. Hadfield, Dave (2004-05-06). "Mud, blood and memories of the day when 102,575 made history at Odsal". The Independent. UK: Independent News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
  5. "OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. "Rugby League Cup For Warrington." Times [London, England] 6 May 1954". The Times Digital Archive.
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