Signing on today in 1969 was former Great Britain tourist Geoff Crewdson from Keighley in exchange for Alan Bancroft. Geoff made 76 appearances, scoring 24 tries for the old club. He then transferred his allegiances to New Hunslet and made a further 52 appearances with 12 tries. He coached the “A” team in the mid-70s. He is a member of Keighley’s Hall of Fame. Geoff was the only player I’ve seen who is referred to by his nickname “Skin” in the club’s programmes.

Geoff Crewdson

Alan Bancroft appears to have had an interesting journey after moving to Keighley in the Geoff Crewdson transfer. He had signed at Hunslet in 1963 and had made 27 appearances for the Parksiders. The RL Player Retained list shows Keighley signing him on 5th August 1969 and placing him on the transfer list on the 18th August after playing one game. He next turns up in January 1970 at Blackpool Borough, playing  through to December when he was placed on the transfer list and was struck off Blackpool’s books in February 1973. However Alan was back at Keighley in September 1972 until February 1973 (this was probably a loan move).  He signed for New Hunslet in October 1973 to make two appearances. Allegedly a fan of musical theatre, he composed a couple of plays.

Hunslet played their 2nd game in the League One Shield in 2017 today. A trip to Oxford brought a 32-18 win.

Tour matches played today  were firstly in 1910. Having completed the New Zealand leg of the tour, the team sailed back to Sydney and had a game against New South Wales. They had played against each other twice earlier in the tour, winning one each and this decider went comfortably in the Tourist’s favour. Bill Jukes and Fred Smith played in the 50-12 win. The Tourists then sailed for home on the Orient liner Ottanto.

In 1932 Les White was in the team taking on Auckland in a 19-14 victory.

Still in the Land Of The Long White Cloud, 1966 saw the first Test against the New Zealanders. Bill Ramsey was in the pack. Two converted first half tries gave GB a lead 10-3 at half-time. Two further converted tries plus a “magnificent”  drop goal by Ken Gowers sealed the win. New Zealand had missed seven goal attempts so could have made it closer than the 25-8 final score. Former Hunslet player Harry Poole was the captain and was noted a having a fine game.