Chapter 14. Halifax-Huddersfield Joint League

Whilst amateur rugby league appeared on the surface to be operating successfully in the 1950s, Halifax was never really a big enough town to sustain its own local league. Clubs from other towns had helped keep up numbers, while Halifax teams had also themselves joined other leagues to supplement fixtures. District leagues would often be amenable to clubs being members of more than one organisation so long as fixtures in their own were completed.

Underbank and Victoria Park were in the Halifax League in 1957-8, with Low Moor, Wyke and Queenbury in the Under 19s, while Dudley Hill and Silsden applied for friendly matches. Mayfield from Rochdale were involved the following year, though Spotland Rangers, who also applied, changed their minds. Hebden Bridge were given permission to also join either the Huddersfield or Oldham League, Brighouse to join Huddersfield, and Greetland and Ovenden to Oldham. However, as well as being unbeaten in the Halifax League, Ovenden were in the Huddersfield League in 1959-60, where they won the Holliday Cup by beating Ravensthorpe at Fartown. Similarly, as well as playing in Oldham, Greetland All-Rounders were successful in both the Huddersfield and Halifax Leagues, reaching both Championship Finals in 1959. Unfortunately in the Huddersfield tourney they fell foul of a bye-law there that prevented the use of players who had appeared for senior clubs; when they fielded Royce Hill and Doug Elliott, who had both played regular trials with Huddersfield “A”, in their semi-final victory, they were barred from the final. Both played in the Halifax final without issue.

By 1960-1 there were only four open-age teams operating in Halifax – Siddal, Ovenden, Greetland and Hebden Bridge. For more fixtures, Ovenden and Siddal also joined the Huddersfield League while Greetland and Hebden Bridge played in the Oldham League. Such additional matches were not always popular, players being reluctant to travel greater distances, and despite best intentions did also create problems with fixture clashes.

A more formal amalgamation with the Huddersfield League seemed a more practical and sensible way to go, a proposal at the 1959 Halifax League Annual General Meeting being to play Halifax League matches first, then arrange a joint fixture list with Huddersfield clubs. The Huddersfield League were not at first keen, but things were moving that way. In Rugby League amateur circles more generally, talk was increasing on the subject of amalgamations. An RFL circular on the matter brought a response from the Halifax League that they would be willing to join with Bradford.

By 1961 the tide had turned again, Huddersfield being now favourable yet Bradford not so. A meeting between the two management committees was arranged with a view to forming a joint league. Not all clubs were yet in line, so it was something of a hotch-potch to start with, but by 1962-3 the Joint League was fully in operation, Halifax League treasurer Wilf Slater becoming the new Joint League secretary. Both the Halifax League and the Huddersfield League continued to operate individually, meeting regularly with club delegates to arrange cup matches, organise their own end-of season championship play-offs, and deal with other local business. Meetings in this period were held in pubs such as The Plummet Line, The Weston Hotel in Pellon Lane and the West Hill Tavern, with longer spells at both the Rugby League Social Club in Hopwood Lane and the old Siddal clubhouse.

The new Joint League quickly turned into a success story. Clubs now had plenty of fixtures in a decent-sized, competitive league format. Ovenden, Siddal, Greetland, Hebden Bridge, Illingworth, South Ward (from South ward Working Men’s Club and playing at Roils Head), and a new St Mary’s were the Halifax teams in the open-age section. Rastrick were there too as Huddersfield members, no longer being involved with the Halifax League. Some of these fielded sides in the Under -19 and Under -17 groupings, where they were joined briefly by a team called Nondescripts (at Roils Head and Savile Park), and others connected with Sowerby Bridge YMCA, Queens Road Youth Club, Exley Youth Club, Mixenden Youth Club, St Malachy’s, Luddenden, Sowerby Youth Club and Halifax Supporters. There was also a Todmorden Boys, who played in front of the bandstand in Centre Vale Park. Mixenden lasted longer than most, until 1969.

Halifax Supporters, who had occasionally fielded teams in the past, played at Roils Head and sometimes in curtain-raisers at Thrum Hall but had to train on the Hebden Bridge ground some of the time. They were quite successful in this particular period, being Under-17 Cup winners in 1965.

Over the following years the league expanded to include teams from Rochdale and Oldham, who began as guests but later became full members. In 1963 Milnrow became involved, then in 1964 Saddleworth. Mayfield, Fitton Hill and Higginshaw were among those following. Webster’s (playing on a field near the brewery at Ovenden Wood, now Fountainhead Village) and Boothtown were Halifax teams joining in 1964, and later came teams from Blakeborough’s in Brighouse, Mixenden and Queensbury. Barkisland Youth Club also played. Webster’s were to withdraw in 1966 and Boothtown in 1968.

St Mary’s, having produced quality players like Terry Higgins, Brian Smith and Raymond Illingworth in their previous existence, were re-born in 1964 and were able to acquire a new ground at Wellesley Park. Formerly the home of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and known as The Barracks, the soldiers had moved out and the land, which included a good, flat field previously used by the Dukes rugby teams, had been acquired by Halifax Council in 1963. St Mary’s secured the rental to spark a new productive period in the club’s history, watched by decent crowds in a good setting. Future British heavyweight boxing champion Richard Dunn played for them in this period. There was though, still a perception that players had to be Catholics, so they later changed their name to Park Amateurs to tie in with the location of the ground.

Ovenden were one of the Joint League’s most successful, generally well up the table and open-age finalists in season 1968-9, playing St Joseph’s at Fartown. They encountered St Josephs again in the 1972 Championship Final, this time at Thrum Hall, in what was their fourth final in five seasons.

Hebden Bridge were still going strong, winning the Halifax Cup in 1964 and 1965 and generally being well-placed in the Joint League, but were to fold around 1967.

Separate from all this were another Halifax Supporters Under-19 team, formed in 1968 from members of a new Young Supporters Club, who like their predecessors occasionally played at Thrum Hall but were more often at Roils Head. Wanting to watch the senior Halifax club, who still played on Saturdays, this particular Supporters team joined the Bradford Under-19 Sunday League, which did not go down well with the Halifax League and caused some animosity. They continued for a couple of seasons, but once players passed the age limit the team was not regenerated from below and ceased to function. Most players moved on to Halifax League clubs, many to Greetland All Rounders. King-pins on the Halifax League junior scene though were Siddal, who when they reached the Under-17 Yorkshire Cup Final in 1966 were thought to be the first Halifax team to do so. There was also a team at Bradshaw, who played on the recreation ground beside the village bowling green for a time, using Bradshaw Tavern for changing. Siddal and Bradshaw had met in the 1966-7 Under-19 championship final at Thrum Hall, only for both teams to be found guilty of fielding over-age players and the competition declared null and void. When Bradshaw folded through a shortage of players in November 1968, many of the remainder joined Illingworth.

By the end of the decade a Joint League Inter-town competition had been instituted, involving Halifax, Huddersfield, Rochdale and Oldham, as the league continued to expand. Season 1971-2 witnessed twenty teams involved, the highest number since its birth. In January 1974 an invitation was then sent to Bradford clubs to join, in a bid to make it one of the biggest in the whole game. It had grown into a Pennine League – just months before there actually was an official Pennine League.