Unsung hero is an understatement for today’s debutant Mick Coyle. His first taste of rugby league was with Hunslet Parkside ARLFC and later Middleton Marauders where he also played for the District side who were coached by Phil Gibson. Phil also assisted with the juniors at the club and recommended Mick who was signed by Paul Daley in 1990. After two seasons at Hunslet he and David Brook had an off-season with Toronto Workers in Australia (coached by Mal Graham). A bad back injury put Mick out for most of 1993/94 and a knee injury did the same in 1997 but apart from that he was to be Mr Consistency. In 1998 he was voted Yorkshire Federation Most Loyal And Fairest Player. He played in the 1999 Grand Final and 1997 Challenge Cup Player final at Wembley. His Hunslet record is 360 matches, 68 tries and 3 drop goals.

Mick Coyle

In 1990 Tim Lumb set a new record for points in a match against Runcorn Highfield at home in a 52-12 win . His 3 tries and 8 goals gave him 28 points, beating both Billy Langton’s overall record of 27 and Bob Pickles and Bob Gaitley’s 23 for the re-formed club.

Tim Lumb

As the Second World War broke out guest players were allowed with agreement of their home club. It only took Hunslet two games to benefit from this as they played Albany Longley on the wing. It seems Hunslet may have stretched the rules somewhat as guests were supposed to be players stationed away from home and could not get home to play. Longley was a Featherstone player and the game was at Castleford! He did score a try in the 8-15 loss.

In 1984 a visit to Odsal to play Bradford Northern gave Hunslet an unwanted record – the highest score against and margin of defeat. Northern ran in 72 points and Hunslet replied with 12.

Some rep games today.

In 1905 it was Cumberland v Lancashire at Wigan with Billy Eagers at full-back in the Cumberland side. A change in residency rules which allowed Counties to use players born within their boundaries widened Cumberland’s selection choices and they benefitted from this today as they held Lancashire to a 3-3 draw. Eagers is mentioned in the match report as, when seemingly having the line at his mercy, he chose to pass to a team-mate who fumbled the ball.

The 1933 Australian tourists were playing in the First Test against Great Britain who had hooker Les White in their ranks at Belle Vue, Manchester. On a wet afternoon defences were well on top with the match being decided by two Jim Sullivan (Wigan) penalties.

The 1944 War-time representative game was played between a Rugby League XIII and Northern Command at Huddersfield. Colin Stansfield was in the RL side in a free scoring game. Colin scored two tries as the RL side won 27-23.

In an early TV game under floodlights, the 1953 European Championship match between Wales and Other Nationalities at Odal was shown. There were plenty of good passing moves and tries for the viewers but unfortunately for Wales these were all provided by Other Nationalities. Jack Eans (1 goal) and Les Williams were in a Welsh side beaten 5-30.

In the third month of World War One Hunslet player George Wishart was serving with 56th Battery Field Artillery and unfortunately lost his life today. It is believed he was only the second Northern Union player to be killed.

George Wishart