1899–1900 Challenge Cup

1900 Challenge Cup
Duration	6 Rounds
Number of teams	62
Highest attendance	17,864
Winners	Swinton
Runners-up	Salford
	← 1899; 1901 →;

The 1900 Challenge Cup was the 4th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup.^[1]

The final was contested by Swinton and Salford at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester^[2] on Saturday 28 April 1900. Swinton won 16–8 in front of a crowd of 17,864.^[3] The cup was presented by Mrs Smith, wife of the President of the Northern Union.^[4]

First round

The 30 ties of the first round were all played on Saturday 17 March 1900. 64 teams had been in the draw but Holbeck and Bramley received byes as their opponents, Whitehaven Town and Rothwell respectively withdrew from the competition before the games were played.^[5]

Home	Score	Away
Altrincham	24–0	Pontefract
Alverthorpe	2–8	Workington
Barrow	2–3	Bradford
Birkenhead	4–6	Werneth
Brighouse Rangers	16–5	Todmorden
Broughton Rangers	22–7	Lancaster
Castleford	0–0	Batley
Dewsbury	3–0	Wigan
Featherstone	2–19	Halifax
Goole	8–6	Heckmondwike
Hebden Bridge	0–15	Wakefield Trinity
Huddersfield	22–0	Idle
Hull FC	52–0	Wath Brow Hornets
Hull Kingston Rovers	3–0	Millom
Kendal Hornets	0–9	Maryport
Leeds Parish Church	5–0	Seaton Rangers
Liversedge	8–12	Leigh
Manningham	3–3	Oldham
Morecambe	19–0	Whitehaven Recreation
Normanton	5–0	Leeds
Ossett	5–0	Elland
Outwood Church	5–24	Widnes
Radcliffe	13–0	Whitworth
Runcorn	42–0	Birstall
St Helens	0–6	Warrington
Salford	9–0	York
Stockport	2–0	Hunslet
Swinton	53–0	Eastmoor
Tyldesley	12–0	Brookland
Windhill	0–11	Rochdale Hornets
Source:^[5]

The two drawn matches were replayed on Tuesday 20 March; Batley beat Castleford 5–0 and Oldham beat Manningham 18–3.^[6]

Second round

The second-round games were played on Saturday 24 March 1900.

Home	Score	Away
Altrincham	3–15	Leeds Parish Church
Bradford	12–0	Ossett
Bramley	8–5	Hull FC
Brighouse Rangers	0–4	Wakefield Trinity
Dewsbury	0–2	Widnes
Halifax	5–10	Oldham
Holbeck	8–17	Swinton
Huddersfield	13–0	Workington
Leigh	2–9	Salford
Morecambe	0–7	Broughton Rangers
Normanton	0–3	Batley
Radcliffe	2–0	Werneth
Rochdale Hornets	13–5	Hull Kingston Rovers
Runcorn	12–0	Maryport
Stockport	5–2	Tyldesley
Warrington	44–0	Goole
Source:^[7]

Third round

The third round matches were played on Saturday 31 March 1900.

Home	Score	Away
Bradford	0–0	Runcorn
Bramley	3–3	Widnes
Broughton Rangers	5–3	Wakefield Trinity
Leeds Parish Church	7–2	Batley
Rochdale Hornets	3–0	Warrington
Salford	6–5	Huddersfield
Stockport	24–3	Radcliffe
Swinton	14–2	Oldham
Source:^[8]

The Widnes v Bramley tie was replayed on Tuesday 3 April with Widnes winning 8–0.^[9] Runcorn and Bradford replayed their game the following evening and drew again, this time 3–3.^[10] With the quarter-finals to be played on the following Saturday, the two clubs had to play a second replay on the following, Thursday, evening. In this third meeting Runcorn came out on top 6–2 in a match played on neutral ground at Broughton Rovers.^[11]

Quarter-finals

Saturday 7 April 1900 saw the four quarter final games played.

Home	Score	Away
Leeds Parish Church	5–5	Runcorn
Salford	11–3	Rochdale Hornets
Stockport	0–3	Widnes
Swinton	9–0	Broughton Rangers
Source:^[12]

Leeds parish Church and Runcorn replayed the match on 11 April and Leeds Parish Church won 8–6.^[13]

Semifinals

The semi finals were played on 14 April 1900

Home	Score	Away	Venue
Salford	11–0	Widnes	Watersheddings, Oldham
Swinton	8–0	Leeds Parish Church	Fartown, Huddersfield
Source:^[14]

Final

28 April 1900

Swinton	16 – 8	Salford
Try: Davies, Lewis, Messer, R. Valentine Goal: J. Valentine (2)	Report	Try: Pearson, T. Williams Goal: Griffiths

Fallowfield, Manchester
Attendance: 17,864
Referee: F. Renton (Hunslet)^[4]


1	Alf Chorley
2	Jack Lewis
3	Bobby Messer
4	Bob Valentine
5	Vernon Hampson
6	Dai Davies
7	Joey Morgan
8	Evan Vigors
9	George Harris
10	Jack Preston
11	Dick Jones
12	Jim Valentine
13	Charlie Pollitt
14	Jack Evans
15	Ben Murphy


1	Dan Smith
2	Arthur Pearson
3	Tom Williams
4	E. T. Harter
5	Herbert Hadwen
6	Ben Griffiths
7	Ivor Grey
8	Hugh Shore
9	Robert Shaw
10	Pat Tunney
11	Miles Gledhill
12	William Brown
13	George Fisher
14	Jack Williams
15	Jack Rhapps

Notes

^ John Huxley; David Howes (1980). Encyclopedia of Rugby League Football. London: Robert Hale. pp. 41–43. ISBN 0-7091-8133-7.
^ Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
^ ^a ^b Hoole, Les (2015). The Rugby League Challenge Cup An Illustrated History 1897-1998. DB Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-78091-462-6.
^ ^a ^b "Summary of Results. Northern Union Cup". Yorkshire Evening Post. No. 2,980. 17 March 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Northern Union Cup. First Round—Replayed Ties". The Yorkshire Herald. No. 15,221. 21 March 1900. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Summary of Results. Northern Union Cup". Yorkshire Evening Post. No. 2,986. 24 March 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Summary of Results. Northern Union Cup". Yorkshire Evening Post. No. 2,992. 31 March 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Sport and Play. Football". Lancashire Evening Post. No. 4,194. 4 April 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Rugby. Northern Union Cup". Leicester Daily Post. No. 6,867. 5 April 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Football. Northern Rugby Union Cup—Third Round". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. No. 13,544. 6 April 1900. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Rugby. Northern Union Cup—Fourth Round". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. No. 13,546. 9 April 1900. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Football". The Citizen. Vol. 25, no. 88. 12 April 1900. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "News Summary". Leeds Mercury. No. 19,355. 16 April 1900. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.

References

Platt, Darrell (1991). A History of Salford Rugby League Club. Salford Rugby League Club.

External links

Challenge Cup official website Archived 2014-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
Challenge Cup 1899/1900 results at Rugby League Project
The Heritage Numbers - Part 2 at Swinton Lions official website

[Challenge_Cup-1] John Huxley; David Howes (1980). Encyclopedia of Rugby League Football. London: Robert Hale. pp. 41–43. ISBN 0-7091-8133-7.

[Records-2] Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.

[3] "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2017.

[hoole-4] Hoole, Les (2015). The Rugby League Challenge Cup An Illustrated History 1897-1998. DB Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-78091-462-6.

[YEP170300-5] "Summary of Results. Northern Union Cup". Yorkshire Evening Post. No. 2,980. 17 March 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[6] "Northern Union Cup. First Round—Replayed Ties". The Yorkshire Herald. No. 15,221. 21 March 1900. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] "Summary of Results. Northern Union Cup". Yorkshire Evening Post. No. 2,986. 24 March 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[8] "Summary of Results. Northern Union Cup". Yorkshire Evening Post. No. 2,992. 31 March 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[9] "Sport and Play. Football". Lancashire Evening Post. No. 4,194. 4 April 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[10] "Rugby. Northern Union Cup". Leicester Daily Post. No. 6,867. 5 April 1900. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[11] "Football. Northern Rugby Union Cup—Third Round". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. No. 13,544. 6 April 1900. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[12] "Rugby. Northern Union Cup—Fourth Round". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. No. 13,546. 9 April 1900. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[13] "Football". The Citizen. Vol. 25, no. 88. 12 April 1900. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[14] "News Summary". Leeds Mercury. No. 19,355. 16 April 1900. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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v t e Challenge Cup
Years	1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025-26
Finals (List)	1968-69 1969–70 · 1970–71 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Related articles	Wembley Stadium 1923 2007 Lance Todd Trophy Abide with Me Rugby Football League Challenge Cup records Double Treble All Four Cups

v t e Swinton squad – 1899–1900 Challenge Cup Final winners
1 Alf Chorley 2 John /Jack Lewis 3 Robert /Robin "Bobby" Messer 4 Bob Valentine 5 Vernon Hampson 6 Dai Davies 7 Joseph "Joey" Morgan 8 Evan Vigors 9 George Harris 10 Jack Preston 11 Richard "Dick" Jones 12 Jim Valentine 13 Charles "Charlie" Pollitt 14 Jack Evans 15 Benjamin "Ben" Murphy Coach: … unknown
№14 and №15 were forwards, as the role of interchange/substitute was not introduced until 1964