Earlier Teams

There were several teams along the Calder Valley in the early days of the Northern Union playing under names such as Luddenden, Luddendenfoot, Hebden Bridge in addition to the teams playing at the end of the valley in Todmorden.

The first Calder Valley team was a new team formed in 1921 out of the ashes of the older Hebden Bridge club which had ceased operations at the outbreak of war in 1914, It was put together by former players and followers of that club. However, they played in Mytholmroyd, first at Stocks Hall then at White House Holme with dressing accommodation at The Elephant and Castle Inn, Hawksclough. They used mostly players from the village soccer team to start with, but after the soccer team died out they became a force in local rugby with a strong fixture list. They joined not only the Halifax & District League but also the Rochdale League as matches in Halifax League were not sufficient to provide a full fixture programme.

The team was successful, winning the 1923-4 Halifax Championship Final at Thrum Hall: a victory over Elland by 2 points to nil. The Calder Valley club built dressing rooms at the ground at a cost of £116 (£6,000 today) in the summer of 1924, formed a second team and organised their own Workshops competition. They went on to reach several more Halifax League Championship play-off finals, often losing out to fellow big-guns Rastrick, but won again in 1928-9, then in 1930 won the Halifax Cup, after finishing top of the league table. It was a shock to outsiders when they folded in 1931, an absence of home fixtures for weeks at a time being cited as the reason for a shortage of funds.

That was to be end of a team called Calder Valley for the next 50+ years.