Leeds 18-2 Warrington — 1935/36 Challenge Cup Final

Wembley Stadium, London · Attendance: 51,250

Data last verified: 11 August 2026.

1935/36 Challenge Cup Final: Leeds 18-2 Warrington, at Wembley Stadium, London.

Sourcing caveat: Full player identities for some try scorers (first names for Isaac and Parker) and Leeds's complete lineup positions beyond forwards/backs groupings could not be confirmed beyond the Leeds Rhinos heritage site's summary. Warrington's lineup could not be found from any source checked, beyond one player added on the fourth-attempt pass: Bill Shankland, an Australian who captained Warrington and, per his own Wikipedia biography, "led Warrington in 2 Wembley cup finals, becoming the first Australian to do so" during his 1931-1937 Warrington career. The source doesn't name the specific years, but Warrington's only two Wembley Challenge Cup finals in that window were this 1935/36 final and 1932/33 (added to that entry too); this identification is reinforced by the fact that the existing team2_goals entry above ("Shankland, 1 penalty goal") already names the same surname as this final's Warrington goal-kicker, matching a single Bill Shankland playing and captaining, though the source gives his career-general position only (wing/wing-three-quarter), not one confirmed specifically for this match.

Scorers

Leeds	Tries: Isaac; Fred Harris; Eric Harris; Parker Goals: Evan Williams (3 goals)
Warrington	Goals: Shankland (1 penalty goal)

Teams

Leeds			Warrington
	Brough (c)	Full back	Bill Shankland (c)

Match officials

Referee	A. S. Dobson (Featherstone)

Match report

Leeds beat Warrington 18-2 at Wembley to win their fourth Challenge Cup from four final appearances, a perfect record in finals reached that stood out even in an era of frequent multiple finalists. Leeds ran in four tries of "each a different type" — from Isaac, Fred Harris, Eric Harris and Parker — with Evan Williams converting three of them, while Warrington's only response was a Shankland penalty goal. The Harris brothers' back play was singled out in contemporary accounts as the highlight of Leeds' performance. The attendance of 51,250 was a new record for a Challenge Cup final at the time, reflecting the fixture's continued growth in popularity through the 1930s. The Rugby League Challenge Cup is rugby league's oldest and most prestigious knockout competition, first contested in 1896/97 under what was then the Northern Union. Its history has been interrupted only by the two World Wars, with four editions lost between 1915/16 and 1918/19 and one more in 1939/40; the finals played either side of those gaps, and during the Second World War itself, were sometimes contested as regional or two-legged fixtures under wartime emergency arrangements rather than the usual single showpiece match. For much of the competition's early history the final rotated around northern club and representative grounds such as Headingley, Fartown, Central Park and the Athletic Ground, Rochdale, before Wembley Stadium became the final's permanent home from 1928/29 onward (with a short break during Wembley's 2000-2007 reconstruction, when finals were staged at Murrayfield, Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium instead). Since 1946/47, the competition's individual award, the Lance Todd Trophy, has been presented to the final's outstanding player, voted for by a panel of media representatives at the final whistle — on several notable occasions the trophy has gone to a player on the losing side, an unusual honour that reflects the award's focus on individual performance rather than simply reflecting the final scoreline. This was the 36th Challenge Cup final played, and, under the name “Leeds,” the 4th Challenge Cup title for the club. The result is recorded in this site's full results table alongside every other Challenge Cup final played since the competition's 1896/97 inception, cross-referenced against the venue and attendance figures gathered for that table.

Round by round

Jump to round:

Round 1

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Acton and Willesden 0–0 Liverpool Stanley	Mitcham Stadium	—	1936-02-08
Barrow 8–17 Warrington	Craven Park (Barrow)	—	1936-02-08
Batley 8–25 Bradford Northern	Mount Pleasant	—	1936-02-08
Bramley 0–13 Hunslet	Barley Mow	—	1936-02-08
Castleford 16–3 Rochdale Hornets	Wheldon Road	—	1936-02-08
Featherstone Rovers 8–13 York	Post Office Road	—	1936-02-08
Halifax 10–5 Keighley	Thrum Hall	—	1936-02-08
Higginshaw 2–38 Oldham	Watersheddings	—	1936-02-08
Huddersfield 12–11 Broughton Rangers	Fartown	—	1936-02-08
Hull Kingston Rovers 5–18 Streatham and Mitcham	Craven Park (Hull)	—	1936-02-08
Hull FC 16–6 St Helens	The Boulevard	—	1936-02-08
Leeds 18–7 Dewsbury	Headingley	—	1936-02-08
Leigh 49–4 Seaton Rangers	Mather Lane	—	1936-02-08
Salford 20–3 St Helens Recs	The Willows	—	1936-02-08
Swinton 2–9 Wakefield Trinity	Station Road	—	1936-02-08
Wigan 26–9 Widnes	Central Park	—	1936-02-08

Round 1 Replay

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Liverpool Stanley 29–3 Acton and Willesden	Stanley	—	1936-02-17

Round 2

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Bradford Northern 0–3 Wakefield Trinity	Odsal	—	1936-02-22
Castleford 8–0 Leigh	Wheldon Road	—	1936-02-22
Halifax 2–2 Warrington	Thrum Hall	—	1936-02-22
Huddersfield 8–2 York	Fartown	—	1936-02-22
Hull FC 9–0 Liverpool Stanley	The Boulevard	—	1936-02-22
Hunslet 2–2 Salford	Parkside	—	1936-02-22
Oldham 4–15 Wigan	Watersheddings	—	1936-02-22
Streatham and Mitcham 3–13 Leeds	Mitcham Stadium	—	1936-02-22

Round 2 Replays

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Salford 20–2 Hunslet	The Willows	—	1936-02-26
Warrington 18–15 Halifax	Wilderspool	—	1936-02-27

Round 3

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Huddersfield 12–0 Wakefield Trinity	Fartown	—	1936-03-07
Hull FC 4–5 Leeds	The Boulevard	—	1936-03-07
Salford 5–4 Castleford	The Willows	—	1936-03-07
Warrington 5–2 Wigan	Wilderspool	—	1936-03-07

Semi-finals

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Leeds 10–5 Huddersfield	Belle Vue, Wakefield	37906	1936-03-21
Warrington 7–2 Salford	Central Park, Wigan	41538	1936-03-21

Final

Result	Venue	Attendance	Date
Leeds 18–2 Warrington	Wembley Stadium, London	51250	1936-04-18

Early rounds feature amateur and community clubs alongside professional ones; team names are linked only where this site has a team page for that exact club, matching the same safety-first approach used for the Final's own results table.

Sources

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