Doncaster were admitted to the league in 1951 and today was the first meeting of the clubs. Hunslet had allowed Tuss Griffiths, Fred Davies, Dick Jones and Paddy Doyle to move to the new club and all four were on show tonight. The Dons had beaten Wakefield Trinity in their opening fixture but had lost two away games since. Hunslet were their second guests on a very wet night, which restricted the crowd to around 1,000 and open play was difficult The home side adapted better to the conditions and won 9-7. Tuss Griffiths kicked two goals and ex Leeds centre Williams dropped the winning goal towards the end of the game.
As the Second World War approached the Rugby League continued with it’s league programme. Hunslet were at Wigan in their second game and Jack Walkington’s try and goal were the only return in a 5-18 loss.
Following the 86/87 promotion, Hunslet opened their First Division campaign today at Warrington. It was a heavy 4-54 defeat. There had been very little recruitment and further defeats and a 32-32 draw with Swinton showed that a lot would depend on three Australian imports when they arrived. Forward Mark Hohn came across nursing an injury and would play when it cleared up but unfortunately on his debut the injury flared up again and he had to return home. Stand-off Trevor Benson made his debut at Widnes. I remember him very nearly scoring after beating numerous defenders on a run through the Widnes “25” with his first touch of the ball. He certainly looked the part until his 4th game, at home against Salford, where he broke his arm and he too had return home. That just left forward David “Cement” Gillespie and he at least stayed fit. He proved to be an excellent acquisition playing 19 games and scoring four tries. Hunslet were relegated after finishing bottom, equal on points with fellow promoted side Swinton. Hohn and Gillespie later played State Of Origin and were Australian internationals and we can only speculate on what might have happened with all three fit.
David “Cement” Gillespie – his nickname reflected the hardness of his tackling.
The 1992/93 season opened at Whitehaven with Hunslet languishing in the Third Division. A 2-42 defeat suggested another difficult season but they rallied as the season progressed to win 14 of their 24 fixtures.
Cup-ties played today were in 1977 at Salford in the Preliminary Round of the BBC Two Floodlit Trophy and they were heavily beaten 39-5. In 1958 a Yorkshire Cup visit to Belle Vue saw Hunslet gain a 10-10 draw. Unfortunately they couldn’t finish the job in the replay, going down 11-15. 1952 was a first-leg Yorkshire Cup-tie at Fartown and saw a 14-19 defeat and things got worse in the second leg at Parkside as Huddersfield won 18-2.
There were many debuts today as the new seasons were starting including :-
1930 winger William Adams – 83 games and 30 tries in 4 seasons.
William Adams
1961 and another winger Barry Lee – 248 games, 68 tries and a Wembley appearance in 14 seasons. Also Mally Garforth – only 16 first team games but well known around the club and moved to Rochdale in 1964 and Graham “Grabsy” Wilson who played 88 games before moving to Bradford Northern in 1970. He later returned to play for New Hunslet.
Barry Lee
1971 – winger Keith Riggs who played 49 games in six seasons before moving to Wakefield Trinity. In the same game was centre Trevor “Tommy” Taylor – 53 games in 5 seasons.
Keith Riggs
1981 and three players – Eric Fitzsimons, goal kicking winger – 92 games, 332 goals and 26 drop goals – Francis Jarvis – 22 games in the season he was with Hunslet and Neil Rudd who played 73 games and scored 19 tries.
Neil Rudd
1992 it was the turn of Richard Francis, another winger who made 51 appearances and 18 tries.
Richard Francis
