In 1940, Castleford were the visitors to Parkside. Hunslet won the game comfortably 18-2 but it was events in the last quarter that were the talking point. Eric Batten had just scored a try and as Bill Thompson lined up the conversion the crowd noticed that Cyril Morrell and Cas centre Arthur Atkinson  were on the ground having a disagreement. Unfortunately a small section of the crowd jumped the fence to join in. The pitch was eventually cleared and the two players were promptly dismissed by referee Laurie Thorpe.  Thompson then continued with his conversion attempt which was successful. At next Wednesday’s Emergency Committee meeting the referee’s report was available in which it stated he could not identify who started the fight and did not mention the crowd problems. The committee deferred the discussion but Hunslet were later ordered to post warning notices about crowd behaviour.

In 1955 New Zealand were on tour in England and today was a game at Hull Kingston Rovers against Yorkshire. Hunslet Hooker Sam Smith was selected. Sam’s five colleagues in the pack had played in Yorkshire Cup ties the previous day so were understandably not at their best. New Zealand were quick off the mark going 13-0 up in the first 16 minutes. New Zealand were then handicapped by an injury to Bond  who was a passenger for the rest of the match and Sam bossed the scrums, winning 28 of the 36 against Blanchard. Even so Yorkshire struggled to get back into the match and the blame was placed on the backs by the papers. The Kiwi’s ran out 33-17 winners.  

It was a long time ago but in 1889 James Goldthorpe became the first Hunslet player to score three tries in a match and in 1975 Sam Windmill was the first to get two one point drop goals.

James Goldthorpe

In 1918 the First World War was coming to end and as competitive rugby had been banned so as not to on infringe recruitment the Northern Union agreed to rugby commencing.  However Hull KR said they had no team or money and Huddersfield were not going to play  This just left six teams of which Hunslet were one. It was agreed that the secretaries could arrange fixtures up to the new year when official matched would commence. By this time of the war matches were being played 12 a-side due to recruitment and men in reserved occupation. Today’s first match was at Halifax and won 11-0.

The 1946 second leg of the Yorkshire Cup tie against Batley was played at Parkside today. Bringing a 9-8 advantage back from Mount Pleasant meant the tie was far from over. Des Clarkson kicked an early penalty and was Hunslet’s only scorer as he followed that up with four more to give the home side a 10-4 win.

In 1954 Hunslet travelled to Odsal hoping for a place in the Yorkshire Cup semi-final against the Cup holders.  With a strong wind and heavy rain at their backs Hunslet scored an early try but the match was levelled by a piece of good luck to Bradford. Trevor Foster made a half-break but got his pass in to Harry Griffett about six yards out but he knocked on. Hunslet stopped, but as the ball had hit a Hunslet defender referee Syd Abram waved play on and supporting Wynne Jones picked up and scored. By this time Bradford had lost Hamilton to a leg injury and Sam Smith had won the scrums 13-6. This did not deter the Bradford five as they won 11 of the 16 remaining scrums and a penalty by Joe Philips settled matters in Bradford’s favour.

In the 2014 play-offs Gateshead Thunder came to Leeds and were sent packing as Hunslet won 50-6.