In-form Hunslet looking to rename stadium after legend Gunney

Hunslet’s home ground could be renamed in honour of club legend Geoff Gunney MBE.

Gunney, who died this month, played 579 times for Hunslet from 1951-73 and was instrumental in founding New Hunslet after the original club folded.

Hunslet play at South Leeds Stadium, part of the John Charles Centre for Sport, but the club have confirmed they are “looking into the possibility of re-naming the stadium in Geoff’s memory”.

Sunday’s visit of Oldham in Betfred League One will be a celebration day in memory of Gunney, including a minute’s applause before kick-off. Former players are being offered admission for £5 and the match programme will be dedicated to Gunney.

Hunslet are fourth, one place and two points behind Oldham, following the 40-16 win over Coventry Bears two days ago.

Coach Gary Thornton admitted it was a poor game and his men will have to be better this weekend. Hunslet head coach, Gary Thornton.

He said: “Overall we completed at 57 per cent, which is not good enough. We were never in danger of losing the game, but we could have been a bit more ruthless.

“Fair play to Coventry, it was the best I’ve seen them play. They had two Hull KR players on dual-registration and they boosted their performance, but we bombed so many chances.

“We broke them down plenty of times and didn’t finish them off. We’ll need a massive improvement going forward against the better teams.”

But Thornton added: “It’s hard to be too critical after we’ve won five on the bounce and moved up to fourth after 13 games. “We’d have taken that at the start of the season.”

Forward Aiden Hema is a doubt for Sunday because of a knee injury, but Zach Braham could return after missing the Coventry game due to a sore hamstring.