1965 and the first post war visit to Wembley for the Hunslet club. On paper it was a mis-match, 2nd place Wigan taking on 14th placed Hunslet. Oldham, Batley and Leeds had been seen-off at Parkside and in the semi-final against Wakefield Trinity despite being underdogs they won 8-0. The bookies had Wigan at 4-11 and Hunslet 9-4. Hunslet’s pack were considered slightly superior to Wigan’s but in the backs it was all Wigan. Geoff Shelton and John Griffiths were picked out as Hunslet’s strongest combination and it was noted that Wigan’s half-backs were still in school when Brian Gabbitas and Alan Marchant had made their first team debuts. Like the team in the 1934 final, it was 12 Yorkshiremen and a Welshman who would play.
Wigan won the toss and Alan Marchant kicked off, putting the ball straight into touch giving Wigan a first minute penalty from half-way which Gilfedder landed. A penalty a few minutes later for obstruction saw the scores level as Billy Langton landed a 35 yard kick. The first try came to Wigan when Holden burst through and beat Alan Preece to score. No goal. With a penalty for loose arm close to the Wigan posts, Billy Langton closed the gap to one point. A Gilfedder penalty restored the 3 point lead. After a Geoff Gunney break which could have yielded a try had a pass been made to Bill Ramsey. Parr made a relieving kick to give Wigan good field position from which Lake scored a try and Gifledder converted. Hunslet passing moves involving Fred Ward, Barry Lee, Geoff Gunney and Brian Gabbitas led to a try for Geoff Shelton which Billy Langton converted.
In the second half, Gilfedder made a break from half-way and was backing up when McTigue and Evans combined and he outpaced Alan Preece and Billy Langton for the try. Ashton converted from the touchline. Lake got his second try for Wigan and they werev comfortably eleven points in front. Brian Gabbitas and Dennis Hartley combined to give room for John Griffiths to beat Ashby’s tackle which he did and Billy Langton converted and also kicked a penalty which put Hunslet needing a converted try to win but the clock ran down and Wigan had the Cup for the seventh time.
The attendance was 92,000 and Brian Gabbitas and Ray Ashby shared the Lance Todd Trophy.
Other matters today…
In 1883 at a meeting of the Hunslet Cricket Club Committee, it was decided to have a Special General Meeting to consider the formation of a Rugby Football club which would be held at the Cemetery Tavern on 21st May.
At the end of the war-time 1942 /43 season Hunslet’s Eric Batten was the league’s top try scorer with 23 despite not scoring one for his club. Hunslet withdrew from the league due to being allocated a number of games in Lancashire, citing travel costs as prohibitive.Leeds were given first call on Hunslet’s players and Eric was one of those called upon, scoring eighteen tries in 24 games. His others came for Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity (2) and York.
In 1954 Hunslet were on an end of season tour of France. Toulouse were the first opponents today, beating their English visitors 34-27.
The game has recently seen the demise of the Cornwall club and today in 2022 was their first meeting with Hunslet. Played at SLS it was a comfortable home win 52-16.
But in 2011’s Challenge Cup it was the other way round as Salford City Reds paid their first Summertime visit and went home with a 68-2 win.
