imported>Mn1548: Not referred to as "All four cup". Either the "Grand Slam" or the "Quadruple".

2025-07-19T09:20:13Z

Not referred to as "All four cup". Either the "Grand Slam" or the "Quadruple".

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[[File:Albert goldthorpe all four cups.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Hunslet F.C. (1883)|Hunslet]] captain, Albert Goldthorpe, posing with "All Four Cups" in 1908]]
Winning '''All Four Cups''' referred to winning all four competitions available to a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[rugby league]] side in the top division between 1907 and 1970. The cups available to win were the [[Rugby Football League Championship First Division|First Division Championship]], [[Challenge Cup]], [[Rugby league county leagues|county league]] (Lancashire League or Yorkshire League) and [[Rugby league county cups|county cup]] (Lancashire Cup or Yorkshire Cup). The feat was achieved on three occasions.

==All Four Cups winners==
Between 1907 and 1970 there were four trophies available to any [[United Kingdom|British]] [[rugby league]] side:

* [[Challenge Cup]]
* [[Rugby Football League Championship First Division|RFL First Division]]
* [[Rugby league county leagues|County league]] (Lancashire League or Yorkshire League)
* [[Rugby league county cups|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 F.C. (1883)|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 R.L.F.C.|Oldham]], whom they defeated, 10–12, in a championship replay after the first match was drawn 7 apiece.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Story so far|url=http://www.thereddevils.net/the-club/the-story-so-far/|work=thereddevils.net|publisher=[[Salford Red Devils]]|access-date=30 December 2013}}</ref> They ran out 14–0 winners in the [[Challenge Cup]] Final in front of 18,000 spectators at [[Fartown Ground, Huddersfield|Fartown]], [[Huddersfield]]. They took the Yorkshire Cup by virtue of a 17–0 victory over [[Halifax R.L.F.C.|Halifax]].

===Huddersfield===
[[File:Huddersfield rugby team with cups.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Huddersfield Giants|Huddersfield]] "''Team of all Talents''" posing with all four cups in 1915]]
The feat was next repeated by [[Huddersfield Giants|Huddersfield]] in the 1914–15 season by the Fartowners famous "''Team of all Talents''".<ref>{{cite web|title=All Four Cups|url=http://www.huddersfieldrlheritage.co.uk/Archive/Written/Club/All_Four_Cups.html|publisher=Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage|access-date=30 December 2013}}</ref> 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]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The History Of Rugby League|url=http://www.napit.co.uk/viewus/infobank/rugby/superleague/history.php|publisher=napit.co.uk|access-date=2 January 2014}}</ref> immortalised as the "''Prince of Centres''", and included several foreign internationals. They easily defeated [[Leeds Rhinos|Leeds]], 35–2, in the Championship final, and managed an even greater margin of victory in the Challenge Cup, crushing [[St Helens R.F.C.|St. Helens]], 37–3, at [[Oldham R.L.F.C.|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 [[Australia national rugby league team|Kangaroos]], had scored 80 tries the previous season. This record has never yet been beaten.

The [[World War I|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 Lions|Swinton]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Andrew|title=100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/100-years-of-rugby-league-from-the-great-divide-to-the-super-era-1597130.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/100-years-of-rugby-league-from-the-great-divide-to-the-super-era-1597130.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=30 December 2013|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=20 August 1995}}{{cbignore}}</ref> 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 Wolves|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==
{{Portal|Sports}}
*[[Double (rugby league)]]
*[[Treble (rugby league)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

{{Challenge Cup}}
{{Super League}}

[[Category:Challenge Cup]]
[[Category:Rugby Football League Championship]]
[[Category:Super League]]
[[Category:Rugby league trophies and awards]]
[[Category:Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom]]

All Four Cups - Revision history

imported>Mn1548: Not referred to as "All four cup". Either the "Grand Slam" or the "Quadruple".