When Hunslet entered the field at Fartown in 1908 they were aiming to secure their 3rd trophy of the season and to win the Challenge Cup for the first time in their history. Snow showers in the morning gave way to decent weather for the first half of the match against Hull but the ground was described as heavy.
18,000 had assembled for the tie and saw Hunslet open the scoring on twenty minutes with a Billy Eagers drop goal. Shortly after Albert Goldthorpe fed Fred Smith from a scrum and he darted clean through the Hull line to score a converted try – 7-0 at half-time. As the teams reappeared in heavy snow for the second half Hunslet controlled the match and a Freddie Farrar try, a penalty and a conversion from Albert eased Hunslet to a 14-0 win – three trophies now in the cabinet and the Championship final to come next Saturday.
Back in 1949, winger Tommy Potter was on debut at Bramley in the first of his 80 Hunslet appearances. He had signed from Hunslet Supporters and before moving to Dewsbury in 1957 he scored 49 tries.
Peter Fox, brother of Don and Neil, is well known as a coach with Great Britain, England and Yorkshire and six clubs. He had a playing career spanning 14 seasons and nearly 300 games for six clubs. Three of those games were for Hunslet at the end of 1963/64. He was signed on trial from Hull Kingston Rovers but was not retained.
It was the end of a number of seasons today – the first Northern Union season ended with a home match against Manningham in 1896 and a 7th place in the 42 match league was a reasonable return. Setting the benchmark for future records were Billy Hannah with 15 tries and Albert Goldthorpe with 27 goals and 79 points.1904/05 was unexceptional with a mid-table finish as was 1935/36, 1948/49, 1951/52 and 1965/66
The 1958/59 season was a great success for Hunslet as they played their last league game at Batley winning 35-9. There had been no joy in the cups but by finishing 3rd they had earned the dubious reward of visiting Wigan in the semi-final of the Championship play-offs.
In 1942, after a first round bye, Hunslet got their Challenge Cup campaign underway with a home 2nd round first leg tie with St. Helens. A comfortable 16-3 win gave them hope of progressing at Knowsley Road in a week’s time.
Back in the Union days a charity game was played annually between the South Of Leeds and the North Of Leeds. These games were seemingly taken seriously by the participants and today’s papers reported on yesterday’s 1885 match, the first instance of Hunslet players being involved. Charlie Lapping, Tom Groves and Albert North turned out for the South at Leeds Parish Church, the North winning by 1goal to nil.
