Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wakefield Wildcats | |
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| Full name | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Rugby League Club |
| Emblem | Wildcat |
| Colours | Red, white and blue |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Sport | Rugby League |
| League | Super League (Europe) |
| Ground | Belle Vue |
| Official website | http://www.wildcatsrl.com/ |
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats is a professional rugby league club that plays in the Super League. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as 'Wakey', 'Trinity' or 'Wildcats'.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early years
In 1873 a group of young men from the local Holy Trinity Church formed the Wakefield Trinity club. One of the initial forces in rugby, Trinity won the Yorkshire Cup four times in nine years. Early matches were played at Heath Common before the club moved to Belle Vue - its present home - in 1879.
They were one of the initial 22 clubs to form the Northern Union after the acrimonious split from the Rugby Football Union in 1895.
Trinity won the Northern Union Challenge Cup for the first time in 1909, beating Hull 17-0 at Headingley. The corresponding 1914 final saw the result reversed, with Hull winning 6-0.
Jonty Parkin signed for Wakefield Trinity as a seventeen-year-old in 1913. In a strangely barren time for Trinity, they won only one Yorkshire Cup (in 1924-5 against Batley) and lost four Yorkshire Cups.
Parkin decided he wanted to leave in 1930, at the age of thirty-four, and he was put on the transfer list at £100. For some reason, Hull Kingston Rovers couldn't or wouldn't find the money; so Parkin paid the fee himself to secure his release. The game's bylaws were adjusted shortly afterwards, so that no player could ever do that again.
[edit] Post war
If the pre-war years were austere then the post-war period was bright and bullish for the Dreadnoughts. The first Wembley final after the war produced a return to winning ways as Trinity, with names such as Billy Stott, Herbert Goodfellow and Mick Exley, pipped Wigan to the Cup 13-12.
The club was not destined to return to Wembley until 1960 and had to slake its thirst for silverware on two Yorkshire Cup and two Yorkshire League victories in the 1950s. Wakefield returned to Wembley emphatically with a record 38-5 win v Hull under the guidance of coach Ken Traill and loose forward Derek "Rocky" Turner.
Trinity featured in the first league match to be broadcast on British television, a clash with Wigan at Central Park on 12 January 1952.
Wakefield won their third Challenge Cup victory two years later in 1962, running out 12-6 winners v Huddersfield. The successful defence of the Cup the next year iced a spectacular period in the club's history with three Wembley titles in four years. Further renown was arrested due to two Championship Final defeats in 1960 and 1962 v Wigan and Huddersfield respectively.
One of Trinity's great servants, centre Neil Fox, who scored a record 6,220 points in his 23 year career (19 with Wakefield) was coming to prominence, however, in Trinity's up and coming side. The club were victorious in a dour 1962 Challenge Cup win over Huddersfield although the Fartowners went on to deny them the double a few days later in the Championship final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.
With a victorious defence of the Cup in 1963, their fifth Challenge Cup title, Wakefield had still not been able to achieve the league championship title. The Holy Grail would be achieved in the 1966-67 season when a seasoned, Harold Poynton led a side that included Neil and Don Fox, Gary Cooper and Ray Owen, defeated Saints in a replay. They repeated the title feat the following year against Hull KR but were again denied the double when Leeds defeated them in the 1968 'water splash' final at Wembley played during a down pour that saturated the pitch. The game produced the most dramatic of finishes, when Man-of-the-Match, Don Fox had an easy conversion to win it for Wakefield, but missed it to leave Leeds 11-10 winners.
Trinity were crowned Champions for the only time in successive seasons - 1966-67 and 1967-68 - and were runners-up in 1959-60 and 1961-62.
Wakefield absorbed a number of different coaches at the helm in subsequent years but did not return to Wembley until Bill Kirkbride's talented charges fell 12-3 to Widnes in 1979 in front of nearly 100,000 fans.
The ensuing decline was temporarily halted when 'the King' Wally Lewis signed up for a brief spell with the club. But even the presence of the mercurial Kangaroo five-eighth couldn't prevent an inconsistent Wakefield from fluctuating between the two divisions.
Former player David Topliss stabilised the Dreadnoughts' ship in the late 1980s. He won immediate promotion in 1988 and consolidated the club's top tier status by acquiring the services of seasoned internationals like Steve Ella, Mark Graham, Brian Jackson as well as now former Wildcats' coach Andy Kelly and later John Harbin after flirtations with temporary coach Tony Kemp in 1999.
[edit] Super League era
When a Rupert Murdoch-funded Super League competition was proposed, part of the deal was that some traditional clubs would merge. Wakefield were down to merge with Castleford and Featherstone Rovers to form a new club Calder which would compete in the newly formed Super League. This was resisted and Wakefield were reduced to lower division football in 1995 but earned their place in the top flight on the back of their controversial victory over Featherstone Rovers in the inaugural Division One Grand Final in 1998. Wakefield adopted the "Wildcats" nickname in 1998, the year they entered Super League having won promotion from the first division.
After years of struggling to keep up with the SL pace which saw the Wildcats finish next to bottom on most of their attempts they finally got around to making headway up the league. With the appointment of Shane McNally as head coach in 2002 and Tony Smith as his assistant the pair guided the Wildcats to their 1st ever SL play off position finishing in 6th place. In 2004 after a slow start to the season the Wildcats finished stronger than any other team in the competition giving their fans some hope of a little glory at the club which had been missing for too long.
Away at the KC Stadium in Hull the Wildcats produced a remarkable performance and managed to beat Hull despite having 2 men sin binned. No Wakefield fan will ever forget Michael Korkidas's run at the start of the 2nd half, a highlight of a magnificent performance which saw the Wildcats run out eventual winners in a close hard fought game.
The semis saw a visit to Wigan and there was real hope in the camp that Wakefield would make the elimination final play off and all looked to be going that way when the Wildcats led 14-0 but some strange decisions went the way of the Wiganers so it wasn't yet to be but Wakefield fans will look back on these 2 games with fondness for many years, The away support was outstanding for both efforts.
Shane McNally was sacked in June 2005 after a disappointing start to the season.
Tony Smith took over from Shane McNally and led Trinity to survival in 2005 but following four straight defeats which saw Wakefield drop into the relegation zone Smith was sacked on Monday, 17 July 2006. Smith's last game in charge was a 26-20 defeat against Huddersfield, a match in which his side squandered a 20-point lead - one of several occasions this season the Wildcats have collapsed in the second half.
On the 24 July 2006, Wakefield announced former Hull FC coach John Kear as Head Coach until the end of the season.
The Wildcats defeated their arch-rivals Castleford by 29-17 at Belle Vue on Saturday 16 September 2006 to preserve their Super League status in an epic match which saw both teams leading for spells of the game, had Wakefield not won the match they would have been relegated. Instead, their win, dubbed as "The Battle of Belle Vue" sent Castleford Tigers down to the National League One. The match was attended by a sell out crowd of 11,000.
In November 2006 the Wakefield City Council set out plans for a new sporting village to be built at Thornes Park which would incorporate a new stadium to be used by the Wildcats, along with gymnastics and boxing facilities and swimming pools. The council are now awaiting results of a feasibility study into the project which could cost as much as £25,000,000.
[edit] 2007 Squad
| Number | Player | Position | Previous Club | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Mark Field | Full Back | Wakefield Academy |
| 2 | |
Waine Pryce | Winger | Castleford Tigers |
| 3 | |
Jason Demetriou | Centre | Widnes Vikings |
| 4 | |
Ryan Atkins | Centre | Bradford Bulls |
| 6 | |
Jamie Rooney | Stand Off | Featherstone Rovers |
| 7 |  |
Ben Jeffries | Scrum Half | Wests Tigers |
| 8 | |
Adam Watene | Prop | Bradford Bulls |
| 9 | |
Sam Obst | Hooker | Whitehaven RLFC |
| 10 | |
Danny Sculthorpe | Prop | Wigan Warriors |
| 11 | |
Ned Catic | Second Rower | Sydney Roosters |
| 12 | |
Duncan MacGillivray | Second Rower | |
| 13 | |
Brett Ferres | Loose Forward | Bradford Bulls |
| 14 | |
Paul March | Scrum Half | Huddersfield Giants |
| 15 | |
David March | Hooker | Thornhill Trojans |
| 16 | |
Ricky Bibey | Prop | Leigh Centurions |
| 17 | |
Kevin Henderson | Centre | Leigh Centurions |
| 18 |  |
Olivier Elima | Prop | |
| 19 |  |
Danny Lima | Prop | Warrington Wolves |
| 20 |  |
Tevita Latu | Hooker | Cronulla Sharks |
| 21 | |
Matt Blaymire | Full Back | York City Knights |
| 22 | |
Peter Fox | Winger | Leeds Rhinos |
| 23 | |
Jason Golden | Second Rower | Leeds Rhinos |
| 24 | |
Dale Ferguson | Second Rower | Wakefield Academy |
| 25 | |
Richard Moore | Prop | Leigh Centurions |
| 26 | |
Luke George | ||
| 27 | |
Austin Buchanan | Winger | York City Knights |
| 28 | |
Paul White | Huddersfield Giants | |
| 29 | |
Mark Applegarth | Second Rower | Wakefield Academy |
| 30 | |
Steve Lewis |
[edit] Transfers
Transfer for 2007 (In)
| Name | Signed From | Fee | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny Sculthorpe | Wigan Warriors | 2006 | ||
| Wayne Pryce | Castleford Tigers | 2006 | ||
| Peter Fox | Leeds Rhinos | 2006 | ||
| Brett Ferres | Bradford Bulls | 2006 | ||
| Paul March | Huddersfield Giants | 2006 |
Transfer for 2007 (Out)
| Name | Sold To | Fee | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Korkidas | Salford City Reds | 2006 | ||
| David Solomona | Bradford Bulls | 2006 | ||
| James Evans | Bradford Bulls | 2006 | ||
| Colomn Halpenny | 2006 | |||
| Tom Saxton | 2006 | |||
| Maxime Greseque | 2006 | |||
| Monty Betham | Retired | 2006 |
[edit] Famous Ex-Players
- Adrian Vowles
- Albert Rosenfield
- Bobby Goulding
- Brad Davis
- Colomn Halpenny
- David March
- David Solomona
- David Topliss
- Derek Turner
- Don Fox
- Don Vines
- Francis Stephenson
- Gareth Ellis
- Gerry Round
- Harold Poynton
- Henry Paul
- Jack Wilkinson
- Jason Robinson
- Jonty Parkin
- Julian O'Neill
- Mark Conway
- Martin Holland
- Michael Korkidas
- Monty Betham
- Neil Fox
- Nigel Bell
- Peter Fox
- Wally Lewis
- Willie Pochin
[edit] Honours
- Championship: 1966-67, 1967-68 (twice)
- Challenge Cup: 1908-09, 1945-46, 1959-60, 1961-62, 1962-63 (5 times)
- Yorkshire Cup: 1910-11, 1924-25, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1951-52, 1956-57, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1964-65, 1992-93 (10 times)
- Yorkshire League: 1909-10, 1910-11, 1945-46, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1961-62, 1962-63 (7 times)
- Division One1: 1998
[edit] Footnote
- For the seasons 1996-1998 the term Division One in fact denoted the second rank of rugby league, coming below Super League.
[edit] Belle Vue
Situated on the A638 to the south of Wakefield city centre, Belle Vue (Wakefield), known as the Atlantic Solutions Stadium in 2005, has been the home of Wakefield Trinity for over 100 years.
The stadium certainly has seen better days but recent and on going improvements such as adding the hospitality suite (known as the benidorm holiday flats by home and away fans alike) at the south end of the ground and new players' facilities have improved the ground. To all Wakefield fans Belle Vue is a very special place.
[edit] Records
[edit] Player records
- Most Tries In A Match: 7 by F Smith vs Keighley, 1959
- Most Goals In A Match: 13 by Mark Conway vs Highfield RLFC, 1992-93
- Most Points In A Match: 36 by Jamie Rooney vs Chorley, 2004
- Most Tries In A Season: 38 by F Smith 1951-52
- Most Goals In A Season: 163 by Neil Fox, 1961-62
- Most Points In A Season: 407 by Neil Fox, 1961-62
[edit] Team records
- Highest Attendance: 28,254 vs Wigan, 1962
- Highest Super League Attendance: 11,000 vs Castleford Tigers , 2006
- Biggest Victory: 90-12 vs Highfield RLFC, 1992-93
[edit] Head Coach History
| Name | Contract Started | Contract Ended |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Fox | June 1974 | May 1976 |
| Geoff Gunney | June 1976 | November 1976 |
| Brian Lockwood | November 1976 | January 1978 |
| Ian Brooke | January 1978 | January 1979 |
| Bill Kirkbride | January 1979 | April 1980 |
| Bill Ashurst | June 1981 | April 1982 |
| Ray Batten | May 1982 | July 1983 |
| Derek Turner | July 1983 | February 1984 |
| Geoff Wraith | February 1984 | May 1984 |
| David Lamming | October 1984 | April 1985 |
| Len Casey | April 1985 | June 1986 |
| Tony Dean | June 1986 | December 1986 |
| Trevor Bailey | December 1986 | April 1987 |
| David Topliss | May 1987 | April 1994 |
| David Hobbs | May 1994 | January 1995 |
| Paul Harkin | January 1995 | January 1996 |
| Mitch Brennan | January 1996 | June 1997 |
| Andy Kelly | June 1997 | May 2000 |
| Tony Kemp | May 2000 | October 2000 |
| John Harbin | October 2000 | November 2001 |
| Peter Roe | November 2001 | July 2002 |
| Shane McNally & Adrian Vowles | August 2002 | September 2003 |
| Shane McNally | October 2003 | June 2005 |
| Tony Smith | June 2005 | July 2006 |
| John Kear | July 2006 | Current |
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
| Super League (Europe) |
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| Rugby league in Britain and Ireland | |
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