A match at Parkside today in 1947 brought the touring New Zealand team to South Leeds. The Kiwis were on a five match winning run including Wales, Challenge Cup holders Bradford Northern and Championship winners Wigan so a hard afternoon was on the cards. The strains of “We’ve Swept The Seas Before” around the stadium towards the end tells the story that Hunslet had played well above their recent form. It was a muddy pitch which greeted the players and half-backs Vic Hey and Alf Burnell with their centres Sid Rookes and Shanks Watson were the equal of their illustrious opponents and Bill Metcalfe and Des Clarkson were the best forwards on the field. Two Metcalfe tries and one each to the centres with three Clarkson goals took Hunslet to famous 18-10 win. It could have been a more nervous closing as New Zealand had dropped the ball on the line earlier in the half.
A day for Hunslet’s players to fly the flag for the club on the representative stage….
The most recent international player today was in 2016 when Danny Ansell flew to Monza to play for Wales against Italy in a World Cup Group match and it was a good day for him and his team mates as they won 20-14.
Danny Ansell in his Wales jersey
Another outing with Scotland for Neil Lowe today as they lost 10-46 to France at Perpignan in 2011.
Looking back over the years, in 1958 Hunslet provided Geoff Gunney and Brian Shaw for Yorkshire against Lancashire at Leigh. Yorkshire needed to win to take the Championship but it looked unlikely as the match unfolded as Lancashire’s backs outplayed their opponents and built up a 12-7 interval lead. Five minutes after the break a long pass by Gunney allowed Wigan’s Mick Sullivan to go in at the corner and, despite another Red Rose try, a late penalty goal by York’s Vic Yorke gave the Tykes the title. The Liverpool Daily Post asked whether referee Howgate was dazzled by the floodlights as Lancashire were penalised 11 times in the second half to Yorkshire’s 3 and they had 4 tries disallowed. The did concede, however that the win was deserved due to the second-half performance of Geoff, Brian and their four pack mates.
The 1956 Australian tourists played a rugby League XIII with Arthur Clues and Brian Shaw in their ranks, again at Leigh. Brian scored a try but the Tourist came through to win 19-15.
Jack Walkington got two Yorkshire caps today, both against Lancashire. The first was at Warrington in 1927 where, together with team-mates George Broughton and Hector Crowther, the Tykes lost heavily 19-35 as the Red Rose won the title. Hector scored a try but George had to retire at half-time with a bad elbow injury. On the hour with Yorkshire 8 points behind, their scrum-half Fletcher left for hospital with a broken ankle. His second was in 1932 at Wakefield on a cold, wet day and Yorkshire took to the conditions far better than their opponents in a 30-3 win.
And way back in 1898 Albert Goldthorpe and James Ramage lined up for Yorkshire against Cheshire at Manningham. Although Yorkshire won 14-2 Albert had an off day with his goal kicking missing four conversions and two drop goal attempts. He did however slot over a penalty.
Tom Groves and J E Stoddart were early picks by the selectors for a Yorkshire trial in 1888 at Holbeck. Their Whites team beat the stripes by 2 goals to 1 but neither progressed to the County side.
