Huddersfield Giants
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| Huddersfield Giants | |
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| Full name | Huddersfield Giants Rugby League Football Club |
| Emblem | Giant |
| Colours | Claret and Gold |
| Founded | 1864 |
| Sport | Rugby league |
| League | Super League (Europe) |
| Ground | Galpharm Stadium |
| Official website | www.giantsrl.com |
Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club based at the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield, in the Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire. They play in the Super League in a distinctive strip of a claret shirt with thin gold hoops, claret shorts and claret and gold hooped socks and are known colloquially as "Fartown". They are sponsored by the University of Huddersfield.
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[edit] History
[edit] The founding
The earliest record of a football match being played in the Huddersfield area is in 1848, when a team of men from Hepworth took on a team of men from Holmfirth near Whinney Bank in Holmfirth. Hepworth won a close fought game which "exhibited the usual amount of confusions, bloody noses, etc" and took the prize of £5 which had been jointly donated by each side.
There may have been many other games organised along similar lines but there appears to have been no formal structure to sport in the Huddersfield area until the opening of the Apollo Gymnasium by an Irishman named Professor John Le Blanc on August 3 1850. At this time Le Blanc's gymnasium was the only venue in the town where young men could take part in physical activities. Le Blanc offered the opportunity to participate in fencing, swimming, bowling, cricket and many other sports. Foot races were regularly organised and illegal prize fights were reputedly held on the nearby moors.
In 1864 the towns's theatre was commandeered by the local Volunteer Rifle Corps for use as a drill hall. In turn, the Apollo Gymnasium was turned into the Gymnasium Theatre. This left the keen athletes of Le Blanc's club with nowhere to go and they responded by forming a more organised athletics association. In an advertisement headed "Huddersfield Athletic Club" they invited "gentlemen desirous of becoming members" to a public meeting at 8 o'clock on the evening of November 16, 1864 at the Queen Hotel. The meeting went ahead, a hundred names were registered and a committee was formed. Within a month a new gymnasium was in service in a basement on Back John William Street.
[edit] The first match and initial growth
On January 27, 1866 twenty members of the Huddersfield Athletic Club (HAC) agreed to play a football match against twenty of the Huddersfield Rifle Corps at Rifle Field in Trinity Street. Although the result was a scoreless draw, a large crowd was attracted. In light of this success the HAC agreed to start a formal football section which was to commence play at the beginning of December 1866. Initially the HAC made no contribution to the support of the football club and each paying member was forced to pay a subscription of 2s 6d. As the football club grew, however, it became a useful recruiting tool for the HAC. In 1869 six matches were played and by 1870 three of the club's players had been selected to represent Yorkshire. By 1872 there were so many players that a second team was formed.
[edit] Fartown
The growth in popularity of the club and the need for better facilities led to the HAC approaching St John's Cricket Club with a proposal to merge the two clubs. The cricket club had been formed in 1866 at Hillhouse and had moved to a new ground, prevously owned by the proprietor of the George Hotel at Fartown in 1867. By 1875, when amalgamation talks began, over £800 had been spent on developing the new ground.
At a meeting on November 27, 1875, at the Thornhill Arms Inn the two clubs agreed to merge to from the Huddersfield Cricket & Athletics Club. The motion was passed by 55 votes to 37.
Initially the Fartown ground was used for athletics festivals whilst the football section stayed at Rifle Field, but alterations made in the summer of 1878 meant that football could begin at the start of the 1878/79 season with the visit of Manchester Rangers on November 2.
The new ground would become the club's home for 114 years and would provide the club's famous "Fartown" nickname.
[edit] Northern Union and golden years
In 1895 the club were founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union, (later the Rugby Football League).
The club has seen many ups and downs in its long history, but for the first 60 years of rugby league it was one of the powerhouses of the game, with only Wigan as rivals in terms of trophies won.
The club's golden period came around the time of the First World War. The club was able to assemble a team of players from across the British Empire who swept all before them. Known as "The Team of All Talents", they were led by Harold Wagstaff and are still regarded as one of the finest rugby teams to have ever played. In the five years leading up to the First World War they won 13 trophies.
In the season 1914-15 they became only the second team to win "all four cups" when they lifted the Championship, the Challenge Cup, the Yorkshire Cup, and the Yorkshire League.
Two members of the team, centre Harold Wagstaff and wing Albert Rosenfeld were honoured by inclusion in the original Rugby League Hall of Fame. They were later joined by the Cumbrian second row Dougie Clark. Of just seventeen players to be elected to the Hall of Fame, no fewer than three were teammates in that famous Huddersfield side. In total, Huddersfield boast five representatives in the Hall of Fame, more than any other club.
In 2005, Rosenfeld was accepted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame with his official induction to take place at the 2009 Maccabiah games. He is the only rugby league player to be honoured in this way.
The particular fame of "The Team of All Talents" sprung from their extraordinary three quarter play. In 1911-12 Rosenfeld became the first player to score more than 50 tries in a season - a feat previously thought to be impossible. That season he scored 78. His wing partner, Stanley Moorhouse scored 52. In 1912-13, Rosenfeld scored 56, and then in 1913-14 he broke his own record with 80 tries, a record which stands to this day.
On 28 February 1914, the club defeated Swinton Park by a record 119-2 (Rosenfeld contributing 7 tries) in a Challenge Cup tie at Fartown. The record would stand until 26 November 1994 when the Huddersfield club broke their own World Record by defeating Blackpool Gladiators 142-4 in a Challenge Cup tie at the McAlpine Stadium - centre Greg Austin scoring 9 tries on his way to 52 tries that season, a World Record for a centre.
Huddersfield's dominance prior to the First World War was such that they went unbeaten in 38 consecutive matches before the suspension of the league in 1914. After the war, the first 5 games were won for a 43 match unbeaten run over 6 years which still stands as a record today. The unbeaten run consisted of 28 League matches, 8 Yorkshire Cup-ties, 5 Northern Union Challenge Cup-ties and 2 League championship play-offs. In addition, Huddersfield were drawing 8-8 in a Yorkshire Cup-tie that was abandoned because of fog and replayed.
There can be no doubt that the war cut short a golden age for the club, and whilst trophies would continued to be collected until the mid sixties Huddersfield would never again return to the heights of that magical period.
[edit] Decline
By the seventies, the club had become a shadow of its former self, the old Fartown ground had fallen into disrepair and the club frequently finished in the lower reaches of the league. In 1984, in an attempt to revive the club, the moniker 'Barracudas' was added to their name. The 'Barracudas' was dropped for the 1988/9 season.
[edit] Revival
The revival of the club began when Alex Murphy took over as coach in 1991. Within a year, promotion to the Second Division had been achieved, and there was pride once again in the famous Claret and Gold shirt.
In 1992, the club moved to Huddersfield Town A.F.C.'s home ground at Leeds Road, before taking a share in the Galpharm Stadium in 1994.
In 1996 Huddersfield added Giants to their name.
Since then the club has returned to the top division of British rugby league. In 1998, the club was promoted to Super League, and in late 1999 merged with Sheffield Eagles almost purely for financial reasons. This arrangement lasted only a season before the Huddersfield name was reverted to. The upheaval did not help performances on the field and although Australian Tony Smith was appointed as coach for the 2001 season, he was unable to save the team from relegation at the end of that year, ironically Huddersfield's best since entering Super League.
In the NFP in 2002, the club went unbeaten for the entire league season, drawing only one match. Along the way the team accumulated 1,156 points to equal the record for points in a league season achieved in 8 more games by Leigh in 1986. The team won the Buddies Cup, as it was then known, and also the NFP Grand Final in October 2002, which secured promotion back to the Super League for the 2003 season.
In 2003 under Smith the Giants established themselves as a Super League club, finishing 10th, above Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Halifax Blue Sox. After guiding the Giants back to Super League, Smith and assistant coach Brian McDermott moved onto Headingley to take control of the Leeds Rhinos. St Helens assistant coach and former Hull forward Jon Sharp was appointed head coach for 2004 and the team improved again, finishing 7th in the league and making their first appearance in the Challenge Cup semi-finals since 1971.
The beginning of the 2005 Super League season saw the club make its highest-profile signing in fifty years when Australian centre Michael De Vere signed from the Brisbane Broncos, becoming the club's first Australian international player since Pat Devery in the 1950s.
For the kick off of the 2006 season the club unveiled a host of new signings to strengthen the squad, including the iconic New Zealand international scrum half Robbie Paul.
July 30, 2006 will go down as one of the proudest days in the Giants recent history. After a convincing victory over Salford in the quarter final, the Giants faced Leeds Rhinos (ironically coached by Tony Smith) in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Odsal Stadium. Against all the odds, massive underdogs Huddersfield pulled out what is regarded as possibly their best performance of modern times, Stuart Donlan and Chris Nero with 2 tries apiece and Michael De Vere with a try and five goals steering them to a 30-12 victory. Huddersfield lost the Challenge Cup Final to eventual Super League champions St Helens 42-12, but the performance heralds the best Huddersfield achievement since the modern era began in 1970, and many believe has finally and firmly closed the book on one of the club's darkest chapters.
[edit] Current squad
As of 10 October 2006:
| Nationality | Player | Position | Previous Club |
|---|---|---|---|
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Paul Reilly | FB | |
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Martin Aspinwall | W | Wigan Warriors |
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Shane Elford | C | Wests Tigers |
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Jamaal Lolesi | C | Wests Tigers |
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Chris Thorman | SO | Parramatta Eels |
| / |
Robbie Paul | SH | Bradford Bulls |
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Eorl Crabtree | P | |
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Brad Drew | H | Canberra Raiders |
/ |
John Skandalis | P | Wests Tigers |
/ |
Chris Nero | SR | St George Illawarra Dragons |
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Steve Snitch | SR | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
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Stephen Wild | LF | Wigan Warriors |
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Stuart Jones | SR | St Helens RFC |
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Paul Jackson | P | Castleford Tigers |
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Darrell Griffin | P | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
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Ryan Hudson | H | Bradford Bulls |
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Paul Smith | SR | Rochdale Hornets |
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Andy Raleigh | SR | Hull KR |
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Mat Gardner | W | Leeds Rhinos |
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Tom Hemingway | FB | |
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Simon George | LF | |
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Keith Mason | P | Castleford Tigers |
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Kevin Brown | SO | Wigan Warriors |
[edit] Honours
- Championship: 1911-12, 1912-13, 1914-15, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1948-49, 1961-62 (7 times)
- Challenge Cup : 1912-13, 1914-15, 1919-20, 1932-33, 1944-45, 1952-53 (6 times)
- All Four Cups: 1914-15
- Division Two Championship (including Northern Ford Premiership): 1974-75, 2002 (2 times)
- Division Three Championship: 1991-92
- Divisional Premiership: 1998
- Yorkshire Cup (Rugby Union): 1889-90
- Yorkshire Cup (Rugby league): 1909-10, 1911-12, 1913-14, 1914-15, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1926-27, 1931-32, 1938-39, 1950-51, 1952-53, 1957-58 (12 times)
- Yorkshire League: 1911-12, 1912-13, 1913-4, 1914-15, 1919-20, 1921-22, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1948-49, 1949-50, 1951-52 (11 times)
- National League Cup: 2002
[edit] Records
[edit] Player records
- Most tries in a match: 10 by Lionel Cooper vs Keighley, 17 November 1951
- Most goals in a match: 19 by Major Holland vs Swinton Park, 28 February 1914
- Most points in a match: 39 by Major Holland vs Swinton Park, 28 February 1914
- Most tries in a season: 80 by Albert Rosenfeld, 1913-14
- Most goals in a season: 147 by Ben Gronow, 1919-20
- Most points in a season: 332 by Pat Devery, 1952-53
[edit] Team records
- Highest Score: 142-4 vs Blackpool Gladiators, 26 November 1994
- Highest Attendance: 32,912 vs Wigan, League, at Fartown, 4 March 1950
- Highest Attendance (Neutral game): 35,136 Leeds vs Wakefield, RL Challenge Cup Semi-Final, at Fartown, [[19 April 1947]]
[edit] All time British Rugby League Records
- Most tries by any player in a season: 80 by Albert Rosenfeld, 1913-14
- Most tries by a centre in a season: 52 by Greg Austin, 1994-95
- Most tries by a centre in a game: 9 by Greg Austin, vs Blackpool Gladiators, 26 November 1994
- Highest Score: 142-4 vs Blackpool Gladiators, as above
- Highest Winning Margin: 138 vs Blackpool Gladiators, as above
- Longest Unbeaten run: 43 matches, 1914-1919
- Unbeaten in a Season: 28 games (27 wins, 1 draw), 2001-02
- Most Points scored in a Season: 1,156, 2001-2002
[edit] Hall of Fame members
- Harold Wagstaff - Rugby League Hall of Fame
- Albert Rosenfeld - Rugby League Hall of Fame and International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
- Dougie Clark - Rugby League Hall of Fame
- Neil Fox - Rugby League Hall of Fame
- Martin Hodgson - Rugby League Hall of Fame
[edit] External links
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