Club Hall Of Famer John Wolford made his debut today at Halifax in 1981. He had played previously for Bramley, Bradford Northern and signed for Hunslet from Dewsbury. He debuted for Bramley as a 16 year old against Hunslet, played for Great Britain Under-24s, won a Yorkshire cap and he was part of the team which famously won the BBC Floodlit Trophy at Widnes. After 14 seasons he moved to Bradford Northern where he won medals in the RL premiership and Yorkshire Cup finals.  A further move to Dewsbury for a couple of seasons and then the move to Hunslet. His debut was as a substitute and he would be the loose forward and club captain for four seasons before hanging up his boots. Known for the sheer quality of his distribution he guided Hunslet to promotion in 1983/84. He made 113 appearances and scored 19 tries and 3 drop goals.

John Wolford

In 1965 Hunslet had played their way to the Yorkshire Cup semi-final and faced hot favourites Castleford at Parkside. With the Wembley final four months earlier, under Fred Ward Hunslet also had a cup-fighting pedigree. With hooker Bernard Prior giving Hunslet a 2-1 pull in the scrums, Castleford’s had few chances to score and it was 7-0 to the home side at the break following a Barry Lee try and two Langton goals.  The visitors went in front early in the second half when Roger Millward scored two tries and a conversion. Ten minutes later Bill Ramsey broke through and got close to the line. As he was tackled he slipped a pass to Kenny Eyre who got the try.   Despite a Millward penalty, Dennis Hartley made a break and sent winger Barry Lee over for his second and secured Hunslet a place in the final 17-10.

Barry Lee

In 1950 in a game played on slimy mud at Whitehaven after 24 hours of heavy rain, Yorkshire took on Cumberland. Bill Metcalfe and Alf Burnell were in the Yorkshire team and Alf was the captain.  Yorkshire scored first but it was 5-5 by the break and one more converted try for Cumberland won the match. Burnell was described a outplayed by his opposite number and Cumberland varied their back play with short kicks in the mud whereas Yorkshire persisted with ineffective passing.

In 1978 Peter Muscroft won his third Yorkshire cap as they took on Lancashire at Widnes. It wasn’t a good day for the Tykes as they went down 7-23.

Peter Muscroft