Juniors
Siddal has a long tradition of having junior sides stretching all th way back to the early 20th century when there was a push to keep Northern Union a sport for young men.
When having an open age side and junior U17 and U19 teams became more generally accepted, Siddal were there.
When formalised Rugby League started again after World War II, Siddal had an Under 16 team from 1946. This then grew in the open age side. In 1951-52 season, Siddal had an U 18’s side with 30 players registered.
They continued to play at either U17 or U 18 age group (depending on which age limit the league had in a particular season) throughout the 1950’ s. In 1959 they had U17’s and U19’s alongside their open age team. Although the U17 team only lasted a couple of seasons, it was reintroduced in 1965-66 when it included a certain Eddie (Golding-) Smith.
Eddie remembers.
“Dennis Bradley got the team together. 9 of us went to Exley school and 11 of us lived in Siddal. We got a new strip from the RFL because we were a new team!”
“We played Boothtown in the final at Thrum Hall on New Year’s Day 1966 and beat them 9-7”
Eddie also explained that he went up to Swales Moor to play Boothtown U17, and although there was water and wood no one had any matches nor a lighter to light the fire to heat the water! Cold water, that day.
One unfortunate event was in 1967 when Siddal and Bradshaw met in the 1966-7 Under-19 championship final at Thrum Hall. Subsequently both teams were found guilty of fielding over-age players and the competition declared null and void.
Until the last part of the 20th century, boys Rugby League was carried out at school. It was only with the advent of BARLA in 1973 and changes in the education system that clubs began to run younger age groups. Siddal were at the forefront of this development.
They have been running junior side for many years and have produced a string of great open age players for the club and provided a host of players for the professional game, both in Halifax and further afield.
Records of the early days are rarities and even more modern records are inconsistent.
Back in 1976 Siddal U16’s finished a creditable 2nd in their U16 League whilst in 1978 Siddal U18’s were 9th in their competition. The following year they were playing U19’s Rugby League Bradford & Keighley Youth Rugby League competition. They had a successful season finishing as runners up. They won through to the final of the Halifax & District U19 Cup but lost out to Brighouse Rangers U19’s.
The same opponents were victorious in the Halifax & District U19 Cup Final the following year, a year which saw Siddal U 15’s also reaching their final.
The following season, 1981-2 , Siddal fielded a number of junior sides and it was the younger teams who brought trophies back to the club. All played in the Halifax & District Cup competitions at their age group. The U19’s lost in the final to Keighley Albion, the U15’s lost their final to Elland Wanderers and the U13’s came second to Brighouse Rangers. Success came from the U 11’s who defeated Brighouse Rangers and the U 9’s who were victorious over Eastmoor.
Two different Leagues were entered in 1982-83 which must have made life interesting for the fixture secretary! Playing in the West Riding Youth League were the U 19’s who finished 4th, the U15’s who were 8th and the U 11’s who were crowned Champions.
Competing in the Bradford & Keighley Youth Rugby League were the U 17’s who finished 10th winning 4 of their 20 games, the U13 and the U 11’s who finished 5th.
Siddal continued to play in the two different leagues until the mid-1980’s when the West Riding Youth League became the competition. Over the years Siddal had teams from U9 through U11. U13, U15, U17 and U19’s. They won the various cup competitions and some by good margins such as the U 11’s defeating Sowerby by 42-0 .
The Siddal U11’s always seemed to be in the final of the Halifax & District Cup at and had some great wins; 28-0 against Queensbury in 1987 and against Garforth 34-0 in 1986.
Throughout the 1980 and 1990 there was at least one Siddal junior team in a junior final and in some years several Siddal teams. The work done with these lads has proved a real strength for the club as there has been a constant stream of players coming through to the Open Age teams.
One highlight came in 2006 when the Siddal Under 18s won the National Youth League Cup final against West Hull by 12-10 at Headingley which was some compensation for the agonising late defeat they suffered to Widnes St Maries in the 2005 final.
SIDDAL JUNIORS HONOURS
Over the years, Siddal have produced several winning teams at various age groups over the recent years:
BARLA
Yorkshire Cup U16 2010-11
U12 2012-13
U17 2013
U16 2016
U14 2021-22
U13 2016
U16 2019-20
U12 2019-20
Yorkshire Supplementary
U16 22021-22
National Cup U14 2018
U16 2016
YORKSHIRE JUNIOR AND YOUTH
Challenge Cup
U16 2009-10
U13 2024
U14 2018
Supplementary Cup U16 2011
Division 1 U15 2021
Division 3 U12 2021
King Cross Park U11 Tournament 2015
Siddal continues to provide Rugby League for girls and boys from Tots upwards.
