Festive Challenge

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The Festive Challenge
File:Leeds Rhinos1.jpg
The 2008 Festive Challenge
SportRugby league
Number of teams2
CountryEngland (RFL)
HoldersFile:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos (13th title)
Most titlesFile:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos (13 titles)

The Festive Challenge is an annual friendly rugby match played between Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity that is played on Boxing Day.[1][2]

History

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Background

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Matches played on Boxing Day were a regular part of rugby league season in Great Britain before the establishment of the Super League in 1996 and the switch to a summer season. Following the winter of 1962–1963, which caused the postponement of many sports fixtures, undersoil heating was installed at Headingley. This ensured that the surface would be playable for the 1963 Boxing Day match between Leeds and Wakefield, and led to the league schedule including a Leeds home fixture on Boxing Day every year apart from 1994 when they were away to Hull F.C. During this period Leeds faced numerous opponents, but the most frequent was Wakefield, who they faced a further ten times after 1963.[3] In 1995, Leeds defeated Castleford at Headingley in their final competitive Boxing Day match before the move to the summer era.[4]

Establishment

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In 1996, Gary Hetherington, the recently appointed chief executive at Leeds, wanted to continue the tradition of a Boxing Day game so a friendly against Halifax was played as the first "festive challenge". In the following years Leeds played Halifax three more times and faced Bradford Bulls in 1999.[3][4][5] Between 2001 and 2003 Leeds played Castleford Tigers and defeated them in all three matches.[6][7][8]

Leeds and Wakefield

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File:Tetley's Festive Challenge (26th December 2014) 001.JPG
File:Tetley's Festive Challenge (26th December 2014) 002.JPG
File:Tetley's Festive Challenge (26th December 2014) 003.JPG
File:Tetley's Festive Challenge (26th December 2014) 004.JPG
Festive Challenge 2014

The first festive challenge between Leeds and Wakefield was played in 2004.[9]

The 2010 event was postponed to New Year's Day due to poor weather.[10]

In 2017, the fixture was moved to Belle Vue, the first time it was played away from Headingley, due to the redevelopment of Headingley Stadium.[11]

Results

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Year Winner Score Runners up Venue
2004 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 32–12[9] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Headingley Stadium
2005 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 42–18[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2006 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 22–14[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2007 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 26–18[12] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
2008 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 22–16[12] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
2009 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 32–12[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2010[a] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 40–22[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2011 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 26–10[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2012 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 40–26[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2013 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 18–18[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2014 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 50–28[12] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2015 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 14–6[12] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
2016 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 30–6[12] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
2017 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 17–10[13] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Belle Vue
2018 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 10–4[14] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Headingley Stadium
2019 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 30–4[15] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[4]
2021 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 34–6[16] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Headingley Stadium
2022 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 32–20[17] File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
2023 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 41–22[18] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity
2024 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 18–16[19] File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity

Winners

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Team Wins Years
1 File:Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 13 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024
2 File:Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 6 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022

Sponsors

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Period Sponsor Name
2009 Cravendale Cravendale Festive Challenge
2011–2013 Heatshot Heatshot Festive Challenge
2014 Tetley's Tetley's Festive Challenge
2015– Wetherby Whaler Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Postponed to New Year's Day 2011

References

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  19. ^ https://www.therhinos.co.uk/article/21211/leeds-rhinos-18-wakefield-trinity-16
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