Between 1907 and 1970 there were four trophies available to any
British rugby league side: •
Challenge Cup •
RFL First Division •
County league (Lancashire League or Yorkshire League) •
County cup (Lancashire Cup or Yorkshire Cup) Following the abolition of the county league in 1970, "all four cups" could no longer be won. The county cups were abolished in 1993.
Hunslet 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 famous, going by the name of "
The Terrible Six". Hunslet did not 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.
Huddersfield "
Team of all Talents" posing with all four cups in 1915 The feat was next repeated by
Huddersfield in the 1914–15 season by the Fartowners famous "
Team of all 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 by
Harold Wagstaff, immortalised as the "
Prince of Centres", and included several foreign internationals. 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 insignificance 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
First World War intervened, and the team broke up. The Huddersfield club was unable to field a team, reforming only after the war ended.
Swinton 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 Northern Rugby Football League season saw the Lions sweep aside all before them, under the captaincy of centre
Hector Halsall. They topped both the League and the Lancashire 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. ==See also==