A most important and inspired signing was made by the club today in 1953. Harry William “Billy” Langton signed for the club from Hunslet Supporters for £250.

Billy spent a couple of seasons in the “A” team learning his trade, making his first team debut in the 1955 Lazenby Cup at Headingley, his official debut being on 29 August at home to Featherstone Rovers. His first season saw him easing into the full back position with Arthur Talbot, Jack Evans and Eric Backhouse vying with him for the position. He kicked his first goals on 10th December 1955 (against Huddersfield at Parkside) and 1956/57 saw Billy make the position his own.

An extremely consistent goal kicker, in 1958/59 he became the first Hunslet player to play and score in every game (played 44, 181 goals and 6 tries and a club record 380 points). He played in the 1956, 1962 and 1966 Yorkshire Cup finals, the 1959 Championship final and, of course, Wembley 1965. His only representative appearance was in 1966 when he played for a Rugby League XIII against a Paris XIII. He finished with 395 games, 1045 goals, 38 tries and 2,204 points.

Another debutant today, in 1949, was Welsh centre William Leslie Thomas “Les” Williams. Signed from Cardiff RU, Les was with Hunslet 8 seasons , playing 229 games, scoring 110 tries and 1 goal. He made 16 appearances for Wales and once for The Rest Of The League. He was selected for the 1950 tour but couldn’t travel. A school teacher, he moved to Cornwall after his Hunslet career.

In 1906 the winners of the County Cups, Wigan and Hunslet decided it would be a good idea to play a Challenge Match between the two. It was played at Central Park. One paper described the game as being played “at the fag end of the holiday season when working men had probably dispossessed themselves of their holiday cash. Neither side could field their cup winning team, Wigan being without Leytham, their crack try scorer, and Hunslet were without Walter Goldthorpe, Charlie Ward. Billy Eagers, although being lame, had to play as no substitute could be found. He played most of the match as a passenger at full-back. Around 5,000 attended to see Wigan run out 10-0 winners.

The selectors were still favouring Hunslet players in 1930. In the game against Cumberland at Fartown George Todd (1 try) and Hector Crowther were  playing for the White Rose with Johnny Coulson in the centre for Cumberland. Yorkshire won 9-3.