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.