Hunslet R.L.F.C.
- For the original club founded in 1883 and dissolved in 1973, see Hunslet F.C. (rugby league).
Club information | |
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Full name | Hunslet Rugby League Football Club |
Nickname(s) |
Parksiders Hawks |
Website | www.hunsletrlfc.com |
Colours | |
Founded | 1883 |
Current details | |
Ground(s) |
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Coach(s) | James Coyle |
Competition | League 1 |
Hunslet R.L.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which plays in Championship One. Founded in 1973 as New Hunslet, a replacement for the original Hunslet F.C., they became Hunslet in 1979 and played as Hunslet Hawks between 1995 and 2016.
History
1973-1996: New club
In July 1973, the original Hunslet club was wound up because no suitable new location could be found that was financially viable. The £300,000 proceeds of the sale of Parkside were distributed to shareholders.
Due to the efforts of their former Great Britain forward Geoff Gunney (MBE), local businessmen and supporters the club managed to reform as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season and moved to the Leeds Greyhound Stadium and erected iron American football posts. The resurrected club had a new badge depicting a rising phoenix to symbolise their rebirth. In 1974, New Hunslet adopted green and white as team colours because the traditional myrtle, white and flame colours were still registered to the former Parkside-based club, and they would not release them. The stay at the greyhound stadium was cut short when the owners closed the ground and arranged to demolish everything on the site.
In 1978, coach Bill Ramsey put a lot of pressure on the RFL and finally got permission to use the traditional colours. The club reverted to Hunslet for the 1979–80 season. With the closure of the Greyhound stadium, the next ground to host Hunslet was Mount Pleasant, Batley, for two seasons, before Hunslet moved to Leeds United's Elland Road football stadium then owned by Leeds City Council. After leaving Elland Road, Hunslet had a brief spell at Bramley.
On 19 November 1995, the club, now known as Hunslet Hawks, moved to the South Leeds Stadium, only about half a mile from Parkside. On that day, Leigh were the guests at Hunslet's first home game for twenty-two years. They then narrowly missed out on promotion from Division Two in 1996.[1] Coach Steve Ferres left to join Huddersfield and David Plange took over as player-coach.
1996-2009: Summer era
In 1997 the Hawks played in the first (and last) Challenge Cup Plate Final losing 60-14 to Hull Kingston Rovers. It was the Hawks first appearance at Wembley Stadium since 1965. Also in 1997, the Hawks were promoted to the First Division as champions.[1]
In 1999 as a possible merger between Hunslet and Bramley was debated.[2] In 1999 Hunslet won the Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final against Dewsbury, 12–11, at Headingley.[1] After that game the Hawks were denied entry to Super League by the Rugby Football League who cited a document called Framing the Future as justification. This caused a number of players to leave the club and for the average attendance to fall by more than 1,200 to 800. A link-up with Leeds Rhinos saw Plange go to Headingley as Academy coach.
Paul March was the player/coach at Hunslet, joining midway through the 2009 season following the resignation of Graeme Hallas. March guided Hunslet to a 6th-place finish and a play-off spot in Championship 1. Hunslet travelled to Blackpool in the first week of the play-offs winning, 18–21, to set up an elimination semi-final against Oldham in which Hunslet were comfortably beaten, 54–30.
2010-present: Promotions and silverware
In 2010 Paul March led Hunslet to their first silverware for over 11 years by securing the Co-operative Championship 1 title, and subsequent survival in 2011.
In 2012, Barry Eaton took over as coach. In 2014 Hunslet won the Grand Final after extra time against Oldham, thus gaining promotion to the Championship. Barry Eaton left in late January 2016 to join Leeds Rhinos and was replaced by his assistant coach and former Hunslet Hawks player Matt Bramald. Bramald left the club at the end of the 2016 season having completed his contract. He was replaced by former Hunslet player James Coyle.
Hunslet Hawks returned to their original name of Hunslet RLFC for the 2017 season following an overwhelming fan vote in favour of their original name. Fans were then asked to choose between the clubs' original 'Rampant Lion' crest and the 'Phoenix Rising' crest adopted by the club in 1973 when the club was reformed. Fans voted 54% to 46% in favour of the lion.
Stadiums
1973-1980: Leeds Greyhound Stadium
The new Hunslet clubs first ground was the Elland Road Greyhound Stadium in Beeston after they were told they could not play at Parkside. American football posts were erected to be used as goal posts.
1980-1982: Mount Pleasant
In 1982, the greyhound stadium closed and Hunslet were left homeless. There only option was to move out of Leeds and ground share with Batley for two seasons while they searched for a permanent home in Leeds.
1983-1995: Elland Road
In 1983, after leaving Batley, Hunslet negotiated a deal with Leeds City Council to play at Leeds United's Elland Road, which the council owned at the time. This was their permanent home ground until they had the opportunity to return to play in Hunslet for the first time since the original Hunslet club had been dissolved.
1995-present: South Leeds Stadium
Hunslet moved into the South Leeds Stadium after it was built in 1995. The stadium is used to host athletics and also has a swimming pool and other facilities the club can use. The stadium has one main stand that accommodates the grounds 5,000 capacity.
Past coaches
- Paul Daley 1980-85
- Peter Jarvis 1986-87
- David Ward 1986-87
- Nigel Stephenson 1988
- Jack Austin 1988
- John Wolford 1988
- Paul Daley 1990-91
- Paul Daley 1993
- Stephen Ferres 1994-96
- David Plange 1996–?
- Roy Sampson 2006
- Mark Cass 2007
- Graeme Hallas 2008–09
- Paul March 2010-11
- Barry Eaton 2012-15
- Matt Bramald 2016
- James Coyle 2016-
2016 squad
* Announced on 18 February 2016:
No | Player | Position | Former club |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jimmy Watson | Full Back | Leeds |
2 | Mo Agoro | Wing | Oldham |
3 | Jake Normington | Centre | East Leeds |
4 | Ayden Faal | Centre | Batley |
5 | James Duckworth | Wing | Leeds |
6 | Simon Brown (VC) | Stand Off | Doncaster |
7 | Danny Ansell | Half Back | Wakefield Trinity |
8 | Michael Haley | Prop | Featherstone Rovers |
9 | Jack Lee (C) | Hooker | York |
10 | Lewis Reed | Prop | Keighley |
11 | Brooke Broughton | Second Row | York |
12 | Ben Crane | Utility Forward | Hull Dockers |
13 | Liam Mackay | Loose Forward | Featherstone Rovers |
14 | George Flanagan | Hooker | Featherstone Rovers |
15 | Mufaro Mvududu | Centre, Second Row | London Skolars |
16 | Matthew Tebb | Hooker | Dewsbury |
17 | Marcus Elliott | Utility Back | Dewsbury |
18 | Aston Wilson | Centre | Unattached |
19 | Matt Carbutt | Prop, Back Row | Doncaster |
20 | Danny Thomas | Half Back | Oxford |
21 | Nathan Darby | Prop | Featherstone Rovers |
22 | Craig Robinson | Prop | Doncaster |
23 | Chris Buttery | Utility Forward | Unattached |
24 | Jack Pickles | Prop, Back Row | York |
25 | Jay Leary | Prop, Back Row | York |
26 | Austin Bell | Prop, Back Row | York |
27 | Lee Waterman | Utility Back | Doncaster |
28 | Ritchie Barnett | Wing | Keighley |
29 | Daniel Williams | Second Row | Stainland Stags |
30 | Jamie Milburn | Prop | Oxford |
31 | Lee Mapals | Wing | Gloucestershire All Golds |
32 | Zach Johnson | Prop | Dewsbury - On Loan |
HC | Head Coach | ||
AC | Mark Cass | Assistant Coach |
2017 transfers
Gains
Player | Club | Contract length | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Coventry | Featherstone Rovers | 1 Year | September 2016 | [3] |
Jack Walton | Doncaster RLFC | 1 Year | October 2016 | [4] |
Gavin Duffy | Unattached | 1 Year | October 2016 | [5] |
Nyle Flynn | Leeds Rhinos | 1 Year | October 2016 | [6] |
Joe Sanderson | Leeds Rhinos | 1 Year | November 2016 | [7] |
Joel Gibson | Thornhill Trojans | 1 Year | November 2016 | [8] |
Cameron Leeming | Wyos Roos | 1 Year | November 2016 | [9] |
Brett Whitehead | Fylde RU | 1 Year | November 2016 | [10] |
Jack Norfolk | Leeds Rhinos | 1 Year | November 2016 | [11] |
Losses
Player | Club | Contract length | Date |
---|---|---|---|
Matthew Tebb | Shaw Cross Sharks | 1 Year | June 2016 |
Ben Crane | Released | 1 Year | August 2016 |
Craig Robinson | Retirement | N/A | September 2016 |
Lee Mapals [12] | Suspended | 4 Years | September 2016 |
Marcus Elliott | Hemel Stags | 1 Year | September 2016 |
Jamie Milburn | Hemel Stags | 1 Year | September 2016 |
Richie Barnett | Doncaster RLFC | 1 Year | October 2016 |
Mo Agoro | Gloucestershire All Golds | 1 Year | October 2016 |
James Duckworth | Featherstone Rovers | 1 Year | October 2016 |
Simon Brown | Released | October 2016 | |
Ben Crane | Released | October 2016 | |
Stewart Sanderson | Released | October 2016 | |
Ayden Faal | Released | October 2016 |
Players earning international caps while at Hunslet Hawks
- Frank Davies won a cap for Wales while at Hunslet in 1978 against England
- Robert 'Iain' Higgins won caps for Scotland while at London Broncos, and Hunslet 1997…2001 1-cap + 1-cap (sub)
- Charlie Wabo won caps for Papua New Guinea while at Hunslet
- Michael Mark won caps for Papua New Guinea while at Hunslet
- Neil Lowe won caps for Scotland while at Hunslet
- Lee Hanlan won caps for Ireland while at Hunslet
Other notable players
These players have either; won Challenge Cup, Rugby Football League Championship, Yorkshire Cup, Yorkshire League, have received a Testimonial match, were international representatives before, or after, their time at Hunslet, or are notable outside of rugby league.
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Sources
References
- 1 2 3 "History". Hunslet RFLC. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ↑ "Sport: Rugby League: News Historic name disappears from league". BBC News. 6 October 1999. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet add Coventry". Love Rugby League. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet sign Walton from Doncaster". Love Rugby League. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet sign Duffy". Love Rugby League. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet sign Nyle Flynn". Love Rugby League. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet swoop to sign Sanderson". Love Rugby League. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet swoop to sign Gibson from Thronhill". Dewsbury Reporter. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet sign Leeming as Carbut commits". Love Rugby League. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ↑ "Whitehead signs for Hunslet". Love Rugby League. 8 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet land Norfolk". Love Rugby League. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ↑ "Hunslet winger Mapals handed four-year ban for doping offence". Yorkshire Evening Post. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
External links
- Hunslet official site
- Hunslet Hawks forum on rlfans.com
- Hunslet Hawks Fans Forums – RugbyLeague.org
- Pictorial history of rugby league in Hunslet