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.

Where are they now?

The two photographs below appear in 'The Other Rugby' - The story of Rugby League in Rotherham. I am sure  quite a few of the players in these  two photographs are not aware of the book. If you recognise any faces or names please let them know about 'The Other Rugby'.

The first ever league game 18th September 1977

Back row L-R Ted Pickering, Kevin Parlett, Mike McLoughlin, Dave Wilmot, Dave Henshaw, Dave Lidster, Sam Mara, Kevin Ceaser, John Essex.

Front row L-R Paul Mortimer, Fred Toyne, Jim Abrahams, Stuart Sheard, Alf Davis, Ray Bramham.

Doncaster Continuation Cup Final team 1981

A Review of 'The Other Rugby'

This review by Harry Edgar appeared in the latest issue of Rugby League Journal

'The Other Rugby'

£7.99

The book tells the story of how rugby league arrived in Rotherham, struggled, prospered, declined and finally disappeared

Updates

6th January 2016

My new book is now been designed. It should be in print by the 5th April 2016, thirty nine years to the day since the Rotherham club was formed.

8th February 2016

The second proofs have been signed off. The book will be in print in early April.

In future updates there will be further information on how to buy a copy of 'The Other Rugby'

29th March 2016

'The Other Rugby' is now available from ypdbooks.com 

follow the link below:

http://www.ypdbooks.com/sport/1428-the-other-rugby-the-story-of-rugby-league-in-rotherham-YPD01627.html

NEW BOOK

AVAILABLE IN APRIL 2016

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: