The 1970–71 Challenge Cup was the 70th staging of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

's oldest knockout competition, the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

. The final was contested by

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

The final was played on Saturday 15 May 1971, where

beat

24-7 at Wembley in front of a crowd of 85,514. The winner of the Lance Todd Trophy was Leigh's captain-coach, Alex Murphy who was stretchered off after a clash with Leeds player,

Syd Hynes Sydney "Syd" Hynes (born ) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached rugby league in the 1970s and 1980s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for the sports club of the Leeds bran ...

. For his part in the "clash", Hynes was sent off, and became the first player to be sent-off in a Challenge Cup final after the headbutt on Leigh's

Murphy Murphy () ( ga, Ua Murchadha) is an Irish surname and the most common surname in the Republic of Ireland. Origins and variants The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), and "Mac ...

. This was Leigh's second Cup final win in two final appearances. It was their last appearance in a Challenge Cup final until

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

Challenge Cup official website

at Rugby League Project {{DEFAULTSORT:1970-71 Challenge Cup Challenge Cup