Halifax Rugby Club

Halifax Rugby League Club was founded in 1873.

Their first ground was at Trinity Cricket Ground, in an area towards King Cross on which Norfolk Place now stands. The first match was against Wakefield on 26th December 1874.

They moved to Thrum Hall in 1886 and this was their home for the next 112 years.

In 1878, the team became the first ever winners of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup. They subsequently won it a further 4 times: 1886, 1888, 1893, 1894.

In 1886, the club moved to Thrum Hall.

The club played Rugby Union until 1895, when it was one of the 22 original members (along with Brighouse Rangers locally) of the break-away Northern Union, which became the Rugby League in 1922.

On 18th December 1925, there was an appeal for finances after it was reported that the Club was overdrawn by £1,970.

The club has enjoyed several successful eras as one of the best in the game, notably in the 1900s, 1930s, 1950s & 1980s.

In 1939, the club beat Salford 20-3 to win the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley to a crowd of 55,453 spectators.

The 1954 Cup final reply against Warrington – which they unfortunately lost – attracted over 102,000 spectators to Odsal Stadium in Bradford, at the time the highest attendance for any UK sporting event.

In 1987, the team won the Challenge Cup after beating St Helens 19-18.

In 1995, there was a plan to merge the club with Bradford Northern, but this was abandoned when both teams joined the new Super League.

In 1996, the team became Halifax Blue Sox R. L. F. C.

In 1998, the team left Thrum Hall to share The Shay Stadium with Halifax Town A. F. C.

Those who have played with the Club have included:

Alvin Ackerley Albert Akroyd Albert Atkinson Ike Bartle Arthur Bassett John Beames Nathan Bentham Edmund Buckley Oliver Burgham Michael Condon Arthur Harper Daniels William, T. Davies Kenneth Dean Arthur Evans Frederick Firth Sidney Foster Anthony Halmshaw James Hilton Hudson Irving Walter Jesse Jackson David Jones Stanley Kielty George Henry Wray Kitson George Langhorn William B. Little Robert Lloyd

Melvyn Meek Alfred Milnes John Morley Walter Morton Andrew Murdison Garfield Owen William Stuart Prosser David Rees Charles Renilson Jack Riley Joe Riley Kenneth Roberts Asa Robinson Derrick Schofield John Shaw Herbert Smith Cyril Stacey David Thomas George Thomas Thomson John Thorley Frank Todd Ernest Ward Leslie White Harry Wilkinson John Wilkinson Frank Williams William J. Williams David Willicombe Jack Wilson Albert Wood

See Halifax Rugby League Club and Halifax Rugby Union Club

This & associated entries use material contributed by Duncan Mitchell

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