Winning All Four Cups referred to winning all four competitions available to a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

side in the top division between 1907 and 1970. The cups available to win were the First Division Championship,

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

, county league (Lancashire League or Yorkshire League) and 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

side: *

* 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 Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

, 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 Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

, 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

Final in front of 18,000 spectators at Fartown,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

. They took the Yorkshire Cup by virtue of a 17–0 victory over Halifax.

Huddersfield

The feat was next repeated by

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 Harold Wagstaff (9 May 1891 – 19 July 1939), also known by the nickname of "Waggy", was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. He played as a and was nicknamed the ''Prince of Centres''. A ca ...

, immortalised as the "''Prince of Centres''", and included several foreign internationals. They easily defeated

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, 35–2, in the Championship final, and managed an even greater margin of victory in the Challenge Cup, crushing St. Helens, 37–3, at

. 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 Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

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 World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

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 Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

5-3, and three weeks later the Holy Grail was achieved when they comfortably eased past

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

11-0 to take the Championship.

Modern All Four Cups

Following the demise of the county leagues and cups, Wigan held all five trophies in 1994-95, starting with World Club Challenge victory of Brisbane Broncos in front of 52,000 in Australia, Wigan won the Regal Trophy, the League Championship, the Challenge Cup and then completed the feat by winning the Premiership trophy. The modern equivalent of winning All Four Cups is winning the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

, League Leaders' Shield and the World Club Challenge. Under this definition, three teams have won All Four Cups in the Super League era. They are

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in 2003-04, St Helens in 2006-07 and

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

in 2024 - Wigan being the only team to complete the Grand Slam of all four in the same season.

References

External links

{{Super League Challenge Cup Rugby Football League Championship Super League Rugby league trophies and awards Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom