In 1939 in Hunslet’s last game before the league was suspended for the war, Hunslet had a game at Castleford. The appointed referee, Stan Adams, failed to arrive so the game was taken by one of the touch-judges, William Lynch, a former Leeds player. As the players entered the field a torrential downpour occurred and turned large parts of the pitch into a lake. In the first fifteen minutes, Mr Lynch had dismissed Cas’s McMannus and Eddie Bennett of Hunslet. On 30 minutes he called together the captains and it was decided to carry on despite the flood but seven minutes later he brought an end to the farcical proceedings. Arthur Atkinson had scored the only points with a try for Castleford.
Today in 1973 it was New Hunslet’s first cup-tie, at Odsal in the Yorkshire Cup against Bradford Northern. Geoff Nicholls was at full-back even though the Yorkshire County Secretary had advised he was ineligible to play due to have been on Wakefield Trinity’s playing register when Leeds transferred him to Hunslet. The club made their apologies and were let off with a severe reprimand. They lost the match 7-29.
Debutants were coming thick and fast as new seasons commenced. Among today’s new faces were – 1893 forwards Richard Rubery and Owen Walsh. Richard played 147 games in both Rugby Union and Northern Union eras and in 1900 moved to Normanton. He had played in the 1899 Challenge Cup final. Owen signed from Leeds Catholic Institute FC and also played in the 1899 final as well as the previous season’s Championship Play-off. He also played in both eras and represented Yorkshire in both. He played 205 games before hanging up his boots in 1900.
In 1905 three-quarter Billy Eagers signed on from Bradford. A Cumbrian, he played for his County and England whilst at Hunslet. He played in the 1905 Yorkshire Cup final, the three finals in 1907/08 and the following season’s Yorkshire Cup final. He returned to Bradford (by then known as ‘Northern’) and had a second spell with Hunslet. He later travelled to South Africa and played rugby there. In WW1 he received a medical discharge in 1918. He played 146 games for Hunslet , scoring 38 tries and 22 goals.
We’ve seen Bill Jukes‘ international achievements previously. Today was his debut at home to Bramley in 1905, the first of his 306 appearances (with 94 tries) in a career lasting until 1919. A “Terrible Six” member, he played in five finals for the club and captained the County for two seasons.
After registering yesterday Eric Batten made his first appearance at Parkside against Hull Kingston Rovers today.
In 1984 forwards Graham Idle and Kelvin Skerrett were on debut. Graham was a well-travelled player and came to Hunslet from Bradford Northern. Well known for his tackling he played 45 times for Hunslet. Kelvin was just starting out on career which would take him to Bradford Northern, Wigan and Halifax and representative appearances for Great Britain, Wales and Yorkshire and touring down under in 1990 and 1992. He played 48 games for Hunslet.
In 1950 Hunslet drew Yorkshire Amateurs in the first round of the Yorkshire Cup. The first leg today was played at Headingley and the Amateurs put up a game show before going down 2-35. Ginger Burnell and Freddie Williamson scored hat-tricks. A couple of years later and a trip to Fartown saw the Parksiders go down 14-19 in the first leg in the Yorkshire Cup. It was the second leg at Parkside tonight but Huddersfield were superior to Hunslet in all departments winning 18-2.
1961 took Hunslet to Lawkholme Lane and they were never in any real trouble after an Alvin Newall reverse pass put Geoff Shelton in with Billy Langton goaling in the third minute. The match finished 23-14 to Hunslet.
1966’s first round brought Doncaster to Parkside. Fred Ward had retired after the Wembley final but re-appeared tonight. He gave a masterful exhibition of ball distribution leading to three tries by winger John Griffiths. He scored one himself and ‘Moose’ Preece the fifth as Hunslet won 21-10.
The next season saw a visit by Featherstone Rovers. In a close game it took a break by Geoff Gunney and inter passing with Bill Ramsey for the latter to score. Bob Pickles made the game safe with his conversion – 14-8 and a quarter final against Leeds to come.
