Amateur Rugby League in Doncaster in the 1970s

A few press cuttings, team photographs and programmes that reflect some of the amateur Rugby League activity in Doncaster in the 1970s

1978

1977

Bentley Yarborough Recs 1976

Bentley Yarborough
 Doncaster Cup Final Team 1972

Doncaster Cup Final Programme 1972

The Bentley 7s

The 1954 World Cup Final Programme Cover

This programme is part of the Nigel Wood Collection. I would like to thank Nigel for allowing me to use this image

Ebbw Vale N.U.F.C.

I found this short article in a Kent Invicta programme from 1984. The Ebbw Vale unbeaten record was, of course, beaten in 1995 when Beverley defeated Highfield by 27 points to 4 in the third round of the Rugby League Challenge Cup.

There is a post on this blog about Bob Fox, one of the authors of the article.

The 'All Golds' in York

The groundbreaking All Golds tour in 1907/08 stopped off in York on Wednesday 29th January 1908.
I am grateful to Nigel Wood for allowing me to use an image of the 'Official Card' with the teams that took the field that day. The card is part of the Nigel Wood Collection, a remarkable programme archive, the majority of which is housed in the Rugby League Archives at the University of Huddersfield.

The tourists put out a strong team including H.Messenger and L.B. Todd whose names live on today.

York won the game by 5 points to 3

A Changing Game

In this article I am attempting to illustrate how Amateur Rugby League has, over the years, responded to changes in the way in which young people spend their leisure time. I am going to list the Open Age clubs, in Leeds, in the 1953/54 season and compare that list with those clubs taking part the 1974/75 season.

In the 1953/54 Rugby Football League Official Guide the following clubs were listed as members of the Leeds and District Amateur Rugby League.

1953/54
OPEN AGE CLUBS
ALL SOULS
BEESTON W.M.C.
BURTON SPORTS
BUSLINGTHORPE VALE
EAST HUNSLET L.C.
FOX ROVERS
GREENTHORPE
HAWKSWORTH O.B.
HUNSLET SUPPORTERS
KIRKSTALL R.L.C.
LEEDS ELECTRIC
MIDDLETON COLLIERY
MIDDLETON O.B.
MULBERRY TREE SUPPORTERS
R.O.F. BARNBOW
ROWLAND ROAD W.M.C.
THORPE MELBOURNE

It is interesting to speculate on why none of these clubs are still in existence today. One reason may be that some of them were works teams e.g. Burton Sports, Leeds Electric and Middleton Colliery and those places of work no longer exist in Leeds. Another reason might be that some of the other clubs were based at pubs or working men's clubs that either don't exist today or that young people no longer frequent e.g. Beeston W.M.C., Mulberry Tree Supporters and Rowland Road W.M.C.

1974/75
OPEN AGE CLUBS
BISON SPORTS
LEEDS UNIVERSITY
MIDDLETON ARMS
MILFORD
STANNINGLEY
THREE HORSE SHOES
THORPE

SUNDAY LEAGUE OPEN AGE CLUBS
ARCHBOLD SPORTS
AIRE & WHARFEDALE COLLEGE
BELLE ISLE
BLUE MOON
BURWELL REED & KINGHORN
BRAMLEY WASPS & TIGERS
BRASSMOULDERS
COURTIER
CRABTREE VICKERS
CORPUS CHRISTI
COOKRIDGE
DOCK GREEN
EAST END PARK
FLEECE ROVERS
KIRKSTALL REC. CLUB
HAREHILLS LABOUR CLUB
HUNSLET HOLDINGS
LEEDS CITY TRANSPORT
LEEDS POLYTECHNIC
NEWLANDS
OLD RED LION
PLANTATION
RICHMOND
ROYAL PARK
SHEEPSCAR W.M.C.
STAGING POST
SHERBURN
TETLEY SPORTS
WOODWAY HORNETS
WHINMOOR
WEST GRANGE SOCIAL CLUB
WOODHOUSE HILL
YEW TREE


When you compare the list of clubs from 1953/54 with those listed in the 1974/75 Official Guide only Thorpe is still in existence.

Amateur Rugby League has always had a strong presence in Leeds but the type of club playing the sport has changed. In the 1974/75 list there are two clubs that are still in existence today, Milford and Stanningley plus the Three Horse Shoes, a club that evolved into Oulton Raiders. Of the 33 Open Age clubs that are listed as members of the Sunday League only Sherburn and Woodhouse are still around today.

Since the 1950s  there have been many changes in the way in which young people spend their leisure time and in many Northern towns and cities the employment opportunities are very different from those available in the immediate post war period. This snapshot featuring clubs in Leeds does, in my opinion, support the theory that Amateur Rugby League has always changed and evolved over time possibly without the people involved even realising it was happening. The fact that in 1974/75 the vast majority of Amateur clubs in Leeds were playing on a Sunday morning is perhaps an indication that even in the 1970s the sport and clubs playing Amateur Rugby League reflected a change in the sporting priorities of young people.

Some of the Amateur clubs in existence today may possibly not be around in 20 years time, Perhaps if they no longer exist it will be because they were unable or unwilling to adapt to a changing world and provide playing opportunities that fit in with the priorities of young people in the 21st Century.

Is the Amateur game dying? In don't think so. My belief is that, as in the past, the sport is changing, evolving and adapting to the different interests, work opportunities and lifestyles of young people in 2017. I hope that the sport recognises the challenges it faces, very different to those even 40 years ago, and continues to adapt and change to meet those challenges.

New Book

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

A History of Rugby League in Huddersfield

    In 1676, Isaac Newton wrote: ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.’ It seems an appropriate metaphor for a book that relates the achievements of ‘Giants’ on which the Huddersfield Giants club and game of rugby league continue to be built.

    The first ‘Giants’ who founded the Huddersfield club in 1864 were quickly followed by the Huth brothers of the 1870s, who took the quality of local rugby to a new level. In 1878 Huddersfield began 114 years at their Fartown home, developed by ambitious committeemen into one of the great northern sporting arenas.

    In 1885, club President Charles Holliday inaugurated the Holliday Charity Cup for local clubs, which remains the longest-running amateur rugby competition in the world.

 Probably the greatest Giant of them all was the slick, innovative Harold Wagstaff who jolted the game from a static, set-piece, forward-fest into a more flowing, fluid, attractive spectacle. He captained the 1914 England team that won the Ashes and on his return led Huddersfield’s Team of all Talents to all four trophies in 1914-15. This team included Albert Rosenfeld, whose 80 tries in 1913-14 remains a distant benchmark for aspirational wingmen. It also included Douglas Clark, rugby international, world wrestling champion and war hero, whose extraordinary courage and spirit continues to inspire.

    Following in the wake of such Giants, Len Bowkett led Huddersfield to League and Challenge Cup glories that raised local spirits during the Great Depression.

    A host of heroes arrived after World War II, spearheaded by Australians Johnny Hunter, Lionel Cooper and Pat Devery. Scot Dave Valentine lifted the inaugural Rugby League World Cup in 1954, and master tactician Tommy Smales captained Huddersfield to the League Championship in 1962. Collectively, they inspired a generation of fans who stuck with the club when the collapse of local manufacturing industries was almost mirrored by the demise of the club.

    Foremost among these supporters were Keith Burhouse and his family, who led superhuman efforts that sustained the club until better times arrived in the form of the McAlpine Stadium and, shortly afterwards, Ken Davy.

    Chairman since 1996, Ken Davy is a modern-day Giant whose input has driven the club’s progress to the top of the game as the Leaders of Super League in 2013..

   The unique decisions of 29 August 1895 at the George Hotel are forever etched into the histories of the town and the sport – the only sport that knows exactly when and where it was born.

    In 1973 the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) was also founded in the town, led by officials from the Huddersfield and District League. BARLA has developed a progressive league structure for amateur clubs, encouraged women’s rugby league, and remains one of the game’s significant developments.

    Embellished by much original research, this book relates original stories and new perspectives on all of these developments. It is about the broad shoulders of Giants on which the modern club and game stand.

Priced at £10 the book will be available, at the beginning of June 2015, from the Huddersfield Giants Club Shop, Waterstones and WH Smiths in Huddersfield, the Tolson Museum and Huddersfield Tourist Information Centre.

ISBN 978/0/9547146/8/0

Doncaster RLFC 1959-60 Season

I found this programme recently and the comments, fixtures and results and the players records give, in my opinion, a fascinating insight into Rugby League at the end of the 1950s.

Were the attendances estimates?

The teams printed in the programme for this final game of the 1959-60 season were:

A Barley Mow Experience

In the early 1960s there was no other Rugby League ground quite like the Barley Mow. Watching a Bramley home game at the ground was often an unforgettable experience for a number of reasons and some of those reasons had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.
I was an occasional visitor to the Barley Mow and after paying my entrance fee (probably sixpence for a schoolboy) I then faced a couple of challenges. The first was trying to find a spot on the terrace where I could actually see all the action on the field. The second was deciding where to stand if it started raining. There was very little cover for spectators on a ground that, despite its ramshackle appearance, certainly did have a unique atmosphere.
I was a Bradford Northern supporter in the 60s and so probably only managed to attend two or three games at the Barley Mow but one in particular, Bramley versus Halifax, played on 20th January 1962, is still memorable after over 52 years. I don't recall very much of the action on the field but I can certainly remember the players entering the ground from the changing rooms in the Barley Mow pub and the Bramley full back Jonny Wilson's contribution to the game.

Jonny Wilson won the match for Bramley with the three penalty goals that made up the 6-0 scoreline. Two of the goals were kicked from the half way line, a remarkable achievement on a muddy pitch with a heavy ball. Wilson also kicked a number of huge touch finders which kept Halifax penned in their own half for much of the eighty minutes. Jonny Wilson's main contribution to the game against Halifax was his kicking but as his goal kicks won the game, and probably a number of others, he was certainly a valuable member of the Bramley team.
There were 2,870 spectators at the Barley Mow on that cold winter afternoon, an attendance that many of today's Championship clubs would be very happy with although, the receipts of £267 would certainly not cover the match expenses of a Championship club in 2014.

The teams that played in the game were those printed in the programme apart from the Bramley loose forward who was Yeomans. The teams were:

The match report from the Yorkshire Post

Acknowlegements:

Martyn Cheney

Andrew Hardcastle

Leeds Local & Family History Library

International Rugby League in Scarborough

Over recent years International Rugby League has been played in a number of towns and cities that wouldn't be considered to be in the 'heartlands' of the game. The 2013 Rugby League World proved through the attendances a places like Bristol and Wrexham that there is an appetite for International Rugby League in many parts of the country.
Sadly, the opportunity for International Rugby League to be played again in Scarborough has probably gone following the demise of the soccer club and the demolition of the ground where the 1983 Student International was played. Although, ironically,  two of the stands from the Athletic Ground still have a connection with Rugby League as they were bought by Featherstone Rovers.

The British Students team contained a number of players who featured in the teams that played against the New Zealand Universities when they toured the UK in 1984.

British Students Squad

New Zealand Universities Tour Of Britain 1984

The New Zealand Universities team was the first representative student side to tour the UK. The tour began on 7th January 1984 with a game against Hull Colts. A further four games were played in England before the touring party flew to France for four games the final one being against the French Universities on 1st February in Limoux.
The climax of the English leg of the tour was a game against Great Britain Students at Headingley on 17th January.

The Great Britain squad contained a number of players who went on to have successful careers in the professional game. However, two of the squad are probably better known for what they have achieved away from Rugby League.  Martin Winter did play professional Rugby League for Doncaster but his main claim to fame is that he was the first elected Mayor of Doncaster. Dave Alred (his name is spelled incorrectly in the programme) also played professional Rugby League. He was signed by Sheffield Eagles in the summer of 1984 and played on the wing in the Eagles first game against Rochdale Hornets. Although being part of the first team to represent a new professional club is unique it is on the training pitch the Dave Alred is best known. Dave Alred is a very successful kicking coach and has worked with Rugby Union players like Jonny Wilkinson, Johnny Sexton and George Ford. His work on the training pitch has also extended to Golf where he has worked with golfers such as Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington.

Wartime Rugby

Below is an extract from an article published in Issue 46 of Rugby League Journal. The article is taken from the chapter on the relationship with Rugby League in my book about Yorkshire Rugby Union in World War Two called ‘Let Them Play By All Means’.

During World War Two rugby league players in the Services were allowed to take part in Services rugby union games against other Services teams and also against clubs but, were not ‘officially’ allowed to take part in club versus club fixtures.

‘Did rugby league players take part in club versus club games? I think almost certainly in Yorkshire they did. Pocklington was a rugby union club that welcomed the involvement of players from both codes; I hardly think they were alone. Many wartime fixtures were not reported and team lists were not submitted to a Governing Body. So, it is very likely that if a man appeared at a rugby union ground with a pair of boots and a request to play, he would be welcomed, with no questions asked, especially in the dark days of the war when the rugby union clubs that were still playing often struggled to find fifteen players.

Certainly in York and probably in other rugby league towns the reverse was happening and rugby union players were playing for professional rugby league clubs. York Rugby League Club was quite open about including rugby union players in its team. On 13^th March 1943, W.E. Jones, a Welsh international who had played his club rugby for Swansea and Neath, was included in the York team that played at Leeds in the Challenge Cup. York lost the game but Jones made a good impression. The rugby league club was keen to include him the following week but he was required to be in Wales for a club fixture. Around this time, York were including a number of other rugby union players in their teams, reporting that fact in the local newspaper. Evidently neither they nor the players received any warnings or sanctions. There were many international rugby union players stationed in the North of England during the war and it is very unlikely that W.E. Jones was the only one who played for a professional rugby league club.’

South Yorkshire Development

The Junior Eagles club began operating shortly after Sheffield Eagles joined the Rugby Football League in 1984. The Junior Eagles developed into Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks which over the years has introduced many young people to Rugby League.
The Development work in the City has, unfortunately, not unearthed any International stars but a number of young men, who got their first taste of Rugby League through the Sheffield Eagles Development work or by their involvement with Hillsborough Hawks, have gone on to play professional Rugby League.

This article about the first Sheffield born player to sign for the Eagles appeared in the Rugby League Development News in August 1991.

St John Fisher v Hunslet Parkside

In the early 1980s St John Fisher and Hunslet Parkside dominated the junior rugby league scene in Yorkshire. There was fierce rivalry between the clubs and fixtures between the two were very well supported. As you will see from the team lists below many of the players who took part in the final went on to have outstanding careers in the professional game.

Hunslet Parkside won the game 14 - 0 with tries by John Sharp, Richard Francis, Mark Fox and David Creasser. Creasser added one goal.

 The winning team

Amateur Sevens

 A few years after their formation Bentley Amateur Rugby League Club began organising a very successful 7s tournament which was played annually on Tatters Field, the home of Doncaster Rugby League Club. The first tournament was held in 1968 when Birds Eye, from Hull, beat Ovenden, from Halifax, by 18 points to 3 to become the first holders of the South Yorkshire Cup.
The tournament always managed to attract some of the top amateur clubs and Bentley continued to organise the 7s right through to the end of the 1970s.

Beecroft &Whiteman, from Hull, won the 9th Annual Tournament beating their 'B' team by 21 points to 11.

Another Doncaster Memory from the 1970s

Ted Strawbridge, the Doncaster U18s coach, did a remarkable job in getting his team to the final of the Inter League Competition. Very few of the players had played Rugby League before being selected for Doncaster but Ted brought the best out in them and a number went on to have a career in the professional game.

The Castleford team, in contrast, contained a number of players who had achieved representative honours as juniors and went on to play at the highest level.
Castleford won the game 9-6 but the Doncaster team were competitive throughout probably helped by the Tatters Field mud!

I would like to thank Padraic McNeill for reminding me of the score and the mud.

Local Cup Competitions - The Doncaster Cup

Local cup competitions were always an important part of the amateur rugby league season. For many years the local cup in Doncaster was dominated by the Bentley club. Between their formation in 1963 and 1976 Bentley won the Doncaster Cup on no less than eleven occasions. The final of the competition was always played on Tatters Field, the home of Doncaster Rugby League Club. The final always attracted a good attendance and the money raised was used to support the work of the Doncaster Amateur League.
Below is the Bentley team that played in the 1976 Final against Selby Abbey Vaults.

Bentley won the game by  27 points to 7. Bentley's scorers were Tries: Ben Allison 2, Stuart Sheard 2, Stan Jinks, Kenny Barber and Kevin Gregory. Goals: Bunty Stokes 2, Kenny Barber 1

Newcastle Rugby League Football Club

Newcastle Rugby League Football Club joined the Rugby Football League for the 1936/37 season. The Pathe News cameras were out when Newcastle opened their home programme with a great fanfare. The match was attended by many dignitaries including the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, This first match, played against Huddersfield on 7th Sept 1936, resulted in a 12-33 loss. A piece of film, only about a minute and a half duration, exists and the clip is described as, “The Lord Mayor of Newcastle walking along with other officials to open first rugby league game. He runs a flag up a pole, it says 'Newcastle Rugby League F. C.' The Newcastle team run out onto the pitch, there are various shots of the crowd as Huddersfield run out and various shots of the match."

In their first season, 1936/37 Newcastle finished a lowly 29th out of 30 clubs, with only Featherstone Rovers below them.

In their second and last season,1937-38 they again finished second bottom 28th and last out of 29 clubs, this time with Bramley below them.

Newcastle Rugby League Football Club Club left the league at the end of the 1937/38 season.

Stadium

Newcastle RLFC played at a stadium also used as a greyhound stadium. This was possibly Brough Park Stadium which at the time was already home to both greyhound racing and Newcastle Diamonds speedway team.

According to "the Grounds of Rugby League"(Trevor Delaney,1991) Newcastle RLFC played at Brough Park in the 1936/37 season. For 1937/38 the team moved to the new White City Stadium in Gateshead.

 Club League Record 

Season	Position	P	W	D	L	For	Against	Diff	Pts	No of teams in league
1936-37	29th	38	5	1	32	300	890	-590	11	30
1937-38	28th	36	2	4	30	206	750	-544	8	29

Acknowledgements:
Wikipedia
The Grounds of Rugby League by Trevor Delaney

Sheffield Eagles - the first game

This is an extract from a longer article that appeared in Issue 30 of Rugby League Journal - Spring 2010 and on this website in July 2011

'Game day was very hectic. Very few people involved with the Eagles knew what to expect, and the Owlerton Stadium staff were more used to dealing with greyhound, speedway and stock car meetings, events that are very different to an 80 minute game of rugby league. Unfortunately, despite our hard work, the reality was that less than a thousand people paid to watch that first game. Giving an attendance figure to the media present caused me a dilemma. If I gave the actual attendance, the credibility of Sheffield Eagles would be damaged. Alternatively, if I gave a grossly inflated attendance figure, nobody present would believe it. In the end I decided to announce the attendance as 1,214, a figure that most people present seemed to find acceptable. Despite being told to do so, the security staff had not kept complimentary tickets and just waved people through the gate. I therefore had no real idea how many of the thousands of free tickets we distributed were actually used. The paying attendance certainly did not cover costs, but fortunately nobody questioned the attendance. In fact the Rugby Leaguer correspondent, who obviously did not hear the crowd figure announced, gave the attendance in their edition on 6th September 1984 as an impressive 2,000.

I remember very little about what happened on the field in that first game as, apart from ten minutes after half time, I was too busy in the office to watch any of the action. One of my main jobs was fielding complaints about the DJ who had been hired to comment on the game. Unfortunately, he had little idea about rugby league, talked while the game was taking place, and also made comments more in keeping with American football than rugby league. The people who complained about the DJ left the ground muttering that if that man was at future games they wouldn't be. The DJ did not appear again but I am not sure that the people who complained returned either.'

Sheffield Eagles v Rochdale Hornets 2nd September 1984

What would they be worth today?

Is this the best ever Yorkshire Junior team?

Yorkshire beat Cumbria by 65 points to 7 and Lancashire by 28 points to 20 to win the 1981-82 Under 17 County Championship.

How many members of the Yorkshire team went on to play for Great Britain?

Five members of the Yorkshire Under 17 team went on to play for Great Britain. They are Garry Schofield 46 caps, Roy Powell 19 caps, Deryk Fox 14 caps David Creasser 4 caps and Gary Divorty 2 caps. Vince Gribben, from the Cumbria team, made one appearance for Great Britain.