10th November….
A day for some of the club’s many representatives to add games to their tally…
In 1937 the South Leeds public didn’t show much support for the County game when the Yorkshire v Cumberland game took place at Parkside. It was a Wednesday afternoon game, but for many Wednesday was a half-holiday so what the other attractions in Leeds in November were we can only wonder. The gate was £60, believed to be the lowest for a County game in Yorkshire. The numbers were swollen somewhat in the second half when schoolboys were let out of school early to catch the later stages. Hunslet’s wing pairing of Cyril Morrell and Ernest Winter were on show. The game was as disappointing as the attendance according to the Yorkshire Post. Cumberland had a depleted back line which made their attacking options limited even with a large advantage in possession from the scrums but Yorkshire’s problems were described as “deplorable handling despite the wet ball”. Cumberland opened the scoring when international forward Martin Hodgson (who would play as a guest in the war for Hunslet) kicked a penalty. The opening try did go to Yorkshire when from a break a pass was made to Morrell but the ball missed him and was booted forward for Horrod of Halifax to touch down, Teal of Wakefield converting. Hodgson kicked a second half goal which the ‘crowd’ thought had missed but the touch judge later explained it was blown in by a gust of wind as it approached the post. A Cumberland try gave them the lead and as they looked like winning, Teal kicked a further goal to rescue the draw. Winter was injured towards the end and had to leave the field.
At Swinton in 1945 Sid Rookes was in the centre against Lancashire. In an even, open and clean game Sid made his mark with twice “flashing” through gaps, first to set up a try for Kitching and the second, after running half the length of the field being stopped just a yard short. Although leading 10-9 at half-time, Lancashire’s superior forwards led their side to a 17-16 win.
The 1951 Great Britain New Zealand Second Test was held at Headingley. Alf Burnell and Cec Thompson made the short journey across the city to assist GB. It was the early days of televised rugby and the cameras were there today. The was mixed feeling about television, some enthusiastic to spread the game, others pessimistic over the affect on attendances elsewhere. Hunslet were definitely in the second camp today as they hosted Wigan and felt their gate was affected to the tune of £200. The quality of the match delighted the BBC as New Zealand were superior to Britain in all but possession from the scrums but were only one point ahead late in the game when Ledgard (Leigh) kicked the winning penalty goal.
Following the fine performance at Wembley in 1965 Hunslet forwards Bill Ramsey and Ken Eyre were in the selector’s favour for the match against New Zealand at Wigan. In what was described as a mediocre match the teams ended up level at nine apiece.
11th November….
The big game today was in 1911 when Hunslet met Huddersfield in the Yorkshire Cup semi-final at Parkside. The attendance was 19,700 paying £491. Referee B Ennion was a no-show so touch judge D Longbottom ran the game. Albert Goldthorpe ran the line in the first half and Huddersfield’s J Clifford the second. Harry Wilson gave away a penalty on 35 minutes which future Parksider Edger Wrigley converted to open the scoring. Early in the second half Billy Batten and Herbert Place fell to a dummy by Grey which extended the Fartowner’s lead. Billy redeemed himself shortly after when he went over from a pass by Fred Smith but was the villain again when he missed the score levelling conversion. As the fog came down the match was played out without further score, Huddersfield progressing to the final 5-3.
In 1944 after gaining a 12-0 first leg lead at Featherstone Hunslet progressed to the Yorkshire Cup semi final with a 15-0 victory. Rovers tried hard to get a score in the first 20 minutes but it would not come and tries by Ken Traill, Colin Stansfield and Frank Watson took Hunslet through.
Back in the Union days forward Owen Walsh was in the Yorkshire side against Durham at Headingley. He was described as “prominent” in the Yorkshire pack as they easily won 18-0.
In 1950 the star of the French International side was full-back Robert Puig-Aubert and he was in their side against Great Britain at Headingley today. Alf Burnell was in the Great Britain side. GB’s performance was described as “flat” and a try and three Puig-Aubert goals had taken France to a 9-7 lead. A feature of Puig-Aubert’s play was that he would pick up a rolling ball one handed and, following a speculative kick-through, he tried this behind his own line rather than kicking dead and promptly dropped the ball with Broome following up to score the winning try. Thinking his late drop goal had won the game to his error giving away the game Puig-Aubert reportedly left the field in tear.
The matches today in the 1954 World Cup would determine the winner of this first World Cup tournament. Great Britain faced New Zealand in Bordeaux and France up against Australia. Sam Smith was at hooker as he had been in the previous two games and the Kiwis were comfortably seen off 26-6. Unfortunately France also won their game to deny GB and a play-off was arranged for the flowing week in Paris.
The 1959 Roses clash at Leigh had Harry Poole in the second row for the White Rose. In a night match the Leigh floodlights were operating at half efficiency. The kick off was delayed eight minutes as the electricians worked but they reported water in the system which could not be rectified. A quarter of the pitch was in darkness and to compound the problem a mist fell as the game progressed. Although the reporters struggled to see the play they did observe enough to tell us that Yorkshire won 38-28 having scored an interception try after the first pass of the game. The match featured former Parksider Alan Snowden and future players Jeff Stevenson and Fred Ward.
