Clubs > Luddenden > The 1950’s

The 1950’s

The club had assembled a good squad of players and had a large active committee.

John’s brother, Frank Cox, who played for Dewsbury and Bradford Northern, and brother-in-law, Kenneth Slacker who had also played for Dewsbury joined the club in 1951 when the two local lads retired from professional Rugby League. Indeed, the club adopted the Dewsbury kit colours of black amber and gold!

Kenneth’s son, Chris Sacker, has vivid memories of the being taken to the home games by his father and Uncle Frank. Frank had played for Calder Valley in the 1930’s and his mantra was always to tackle.

“.. owt abun a daisy”.

Chris’s father, Kenneth, had played for both Kitchen and Wades and Halifax Supporters, winning the Halifax Cup with the Supporters, before his war service and signing professional forms in 1947. On finishing his contract at Dewsbury, Ken came back to his amateur roots to join Luddenden.

Chris explained.
“..my Dad and Uncle Frank would swing me between them as walked up from the Travellers’ Rest to Midgley Rec. I remember the stone steps up to the back of the Travellers where there was a large room with coat hooks and a separate room with a large concrete bath. As a toddler, I remember the smells of wintergreen,, liniment and testosterone before the games and of sweat, mud and steam after the games.”

Luddenden as a team now continued to do well, playing on Midgley Rec and changing in the former Travellers Rest pub, located at the end of Duke Street at Dean House Corner, and with notable players including the Callighan brothers, Trevor and Eric, Frank Cox and Kenneth Sacker in the team.

Luddenden, with Ken Sacker and Frank Cox in the team, went on to win the Halifax Cup in the 1951-52 season beating Ovenden 19-0 in front of 3000 spectators at Thrum Hall.

In a good game, the Luddenden defence kept Ovenden scoreless whilst Sacker and Emsley were two of the try scorers and Derek Alderson kicked five goals.

However, the club obviously struggled for players in the following seasons as they withdrew from the Halifax League during the 1953-54 season missing the following season only to return in 1955-56 season.

Once again this was a successful season and they went to feature in the 1955-56 Halifax Championship Final with Greetland.

The following season, Luddenden also performed well in the Halifax League which then consisted of 10 teams.

The revival lasted until the end of the 1957-58 season which was to be their last as they did not enter an open age team after this.

The club did, however, continue to run an U19’s team for a further five seasons from 1960 to 1965.

With this, the club disappeared.