season, Rotherham won the North East 1 title and so began its rise up the rugby pyramid. This was immediately followed up by five further promotions in six seasons to propel the club to the fourth tier of English rugby by 1995–96. This period in the club's development was later to be considered the start of the "golden decade", and secured legendary status for several players including John Dudley, Richard Selkirk, Craig West and Kevin Plant. During this period Rotherham attracted some criticism for their early adoption of paying players during a period later referred to as "Shamateurism" as most progressive clubs in essence paid their players while keeping up the pretence of being Amateur clubs. In this era, the Yorkshire Cup, still a prestigious competition in which all the top Yorkshire sides competed, became a symbolic quest for the Rotherham players and management. The competition had been dominated for the previous 25 years by Wakefield, Harrogate and the four big Leeds clubs, Headingley, Roundhay, Morley and Otley, none of whom would give Rotherham a fixture prior to the introduction of league rugby. Rotherham reached the final for the first time in their history in 1993, going down 22–5 to Otley, however 2 years later there was no doubting that Rotherham had arrived as they defeated Harrogate 39-3 at Kirkstall to win the Cup for the first and to date only time. The 1994 County Championship final at Twickenham also provided further evidence of Rotherham's ascent to senior club status in Yorkshire, as Kevin Plant and Craig West were members of the Yorkshire side (along with soon to be Rotherham scrum-half Guy Easterby — then with Harrogate) who won the championship in exhilarating fashion with a 26–3 triumph over Durham. Summarising the success in 1995, the independent put Rotherham's success into context saying: 1996–1999 Rotherham eventually reached the Courage National Division 1 in 1996–97, finishing seventh in their first season. 1997 also witnessed one of Rotherhams stellar days at Clifton Lane in the 6th round of the Pilkington Cup. Rotherham Lost 23–42. Rotherham Advertiser 31 January 1997 said of the game: The 1997–98 season saw Rotherham improve on their first Division One season to fourth, while the next year 1998–99 saw Rotherham finish equal on points with first place Bristol, the West Country side prevailing on points difference, setting Roth up for a promotion playoff. Ultimately they were denied cruelly