Northern Union

With the split in 1895, the Northern Union had referees who had, like the clubs. moved to the new code. Referees like H. Renton, a leading referee which went on to referee several county championship games in the late 1890’s  and two internationals in the 20^th century.

Another was also a Renton, Frank Renton, and he was a Hunslet lad. He retired from refereeing in April 1927 having started his involvement in rugby during the 1880s. When Hunslet joined the Northern Union, Frank continued to referee, being in charge of their first Northern Union game. In his career he took charge of 30 seasons at professional rugby, plus charity matches, school matches, county and international games. Noone seems sure how old he was when he retired, but at the time he insisted, ‘I might tell you that I’m still sound in wind, limb, and eyesight, and that I can still handle a game.’