Back in the day straw was spread over the pitch in frosty weather to hopefully prevent the frost getting into the soil and leaving the pitch playable. The 1912 programme today advertised that the winter’s straw “not used very often” was for sale and open to offers.

Cup ties provided plenty of matches today and two of them saw Hunslet play their opponents for the first time. In 2016 Oxford came north for the third round Challenge Cup tie but were soundly defeated 68-6. Back to the Union days and Hunslet travelled to Halifax for the 3rd round of the 1889 Yorkshire cup. Hunslet had beaten Bramley and Mirfield previously but this was the end of the road for them as Halifax won 2 goals to nil.

Another Yorkshire Cup tie was played in 1895 as Skipton provided the 1st round opposition and were easily beaten 26-0.

Challenge Cup matches played today were in 1907 with a 1st round trip to Wigan. Hunslet had done extra training and had a couple of days in Southport but to no avail as all they managed were 3 Albert G. goals against 6 Wigan tries in a 6-20 loss. 1910 and the Saturday before had seen a 2-2 draw at Parkside. In the replay today, Wakefield Trinity would have been strong favourites as they sat in 4th place in the league against Hunslet’s 12th. They were also the cup holders.12,000 were in attendance for this Wednesday afternoon game. It was to be a case of Wakefield rueing the lack of a reliable kicker on the day. They took the lead with their only success in the first half and as they missed 4 more chances so it stayed into the last quarter. Freddie Farrar scored a try and Fred Smith dropped a goal to get a win 5-2. Next up on Saturday, a trip to Warrington.

In 1946 Hunslet had fought through to the quarter final after a 1st round replay against Dewsbury and a 2nd round win against Broughton Rangers. This took them to Salford and two gifted tries saw Salford leading 8-5 and Hunslet one man down after an injury to Morrell (no subs in those days) as the match was drawing to a close. It is reported that Hunslet looked a weary lot with five minutes to go when Jack Walkington at full-back got hold of the ball deep in his own half surrounded by defenders. To kick, as was normal practise, would give Salford possession and they would likely grind out the win, so Jack threw a pass to Shanks Watson who made 30 yards before being tackled. Jack was up for the play the ball and somehow found the speed (he was in his 21st season as player!) to get half way through the retreating defense before passing on to winger Freddie Williamson, who, having drawn the defense, passed inside to Les White who handed on to Billy Thornton who ran the last 10 yards to the posts. Cliff Whitehead converted. And in the last move of the game, Sid Rookes intercepted a Gus Risman pass to score and cap a remarkable win. On to the semi-final….

One other tie was at Halifax in the 1963 second round, a 16-3 win.

In 2003 Hunslet travelled to the capital to play London Skolars for the first time away. An easy 42-16 win in the National League Cup followed a similar easy win six weeks earlier when London visited Leeds for the first time.