Geoff Gunney was a beast of a man and a real mud ball player with quite a bit of skill as well. He played I remember a few times for Great Britain and various England XIII I saw over the years and was always at the centre of everything that happened at Hunslet. I once remember him playing in a Cup game when a load of us went to Hunslet's then ground Parkside (Strange old place that was) on a Danby's Coach and recall him scoring a try right near the end with around four fc players on his back. However I guess what I always remember about him was the fact that my Dad always told me that he started playing about the time I was born and I was still watching him when I was around 23, so that must have been 1950ish to 1973ish! I do remember though when he died it saying that he played around 580 games for his beloved Hunslet (Imagine that!!!) and then went on to coach them and I think get involved with Wakey too. Great stalwart of the game. Great Club with loads of heritage too in fact a player I remember called Graham Idle (not that one) actually made around 750 appearances for them. Jamie Thackeray Paul Stirling Barry banks Rob Roberts Garry Kemble Graham Hallas Paul Harkin Steve Durham Tony Dean all ring a bell as either playing there before or after playing for us over the years but I might be wrong and I think Richie Barnett might have too. Great Club and many happy times at Parkside and the Elland Road Greyhound Stadium as well. I'm really pleased for them great fighting spirit. .

Hunslet (or New Hunslet as they were called at that point in their history) were our main rivals in the invincible season 78/79 (they were promoted with us as Division 2 runners-up).

Indeed, they were our 26th and final opponents for the season. In a very nervy night we triumphed 6-1 (I think) with either Charlie Stone or Charlie Birdsall crashing over near the end of the game to clinch it on one of the great nights in our history in front of over 12 thousand people for a second division game! (a portent of the years to come very shortly). If I recall correctly I think Tony Dean was in the Hunslet side that night, soon to become a Boulevard hero in his own right, one of my great cult figures to wear the black and white proudly, gave his all for us every time he played.

Also recall playing them in a JPS game in the mid-eighties, by which point they were playing at Elland road. Think there was only around 3000ish there in an eerie empty ground in a freezing cold November afternoon, with everyone reminiscing about the Widnes cup replay a couple of years before and Leuluai's famous try against Cas in '83

Have always had a bit of a soft spot for Hunslet every since 1979 (we very rapidly went in opposite directions after then) so congratulations to them on promotion, well done to all
Clubs like Hunslet, and particularly their loyal supporters, really are the die-hard and lifeblood of the game. They may not be big, they may not be glamourous, they will most likely never sit at the top table again, but these people will always keep the rugby league flame burning bright. Congratulations once more

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... rt-9628884 Love the thought of Matt Shaw re watching the game and pausing it to take photos of Rovers bombed opportunities for his article

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... rt-9628884 Love the thought of Matt Shaw re watching the game and pausing it to take photos of Rovers bombed opportunities for his article

could've saved himself the hassle and just said they weren't good enough

Saw Dennis Hartley when Hunslet lost to Wigan in the CC at Wembley in 1965.

In 1970 I was at the SCG for two matches when GB won both and secured the Ashes having been thrashed in the first match in Brisbane - GB have not won a series since.
Dennis like my namesake played in all 3 Ashes matches with Cliff Watson as the other prop and Johnny Whiteley was the coach.

As for the great BB. my dad was a huge fan and he was the first Hull player I remember him talking to me about his career and greatness.

Reckon you will likely be amongst the very last British rugby league fans to be able to witness an ashes victory. I'll bet when you walked out of the SCG that afternoon you had no inkling that was it for GB? Years of disappointment and endless hammerings lay in store for us!!

I was at Melbourne in '92 to witness a barely believable victory in the pouring rain that night, only for normal service to be resumed seven days later at Brisbane in the decider. Still, we enjoyed the week in-between at Surfers

Fifty-four years and still waiting the next one to come around. I feel we are as far away from winning a series against them as we ever have been throughout this whole time!

Hiku charged with a grade E for th Nsemba incident....really cant see what he has done to warrant that, yet Burgess seems to have got away with dropping his arm on Nsembas' head as he lay on the floor!

The Burgess incident didn't happen according to the RFL, Sky Sports and the Dibbins inbred board!

Seen as it's the closed season I thought I'd dwell on that Hunslet game on Friday 18th May 1979. What a night that was as we attempted to be the only Club to win every league game in a season and all that stood in our way was our nearest rivals for most of that season Hunslet. This is how I remembered it.

.........After a couple of pints in the packed Humberside Sportsman’s Club which was then run by my childhood pal Tony Roberts and which was the new ‘guise’ of the old supporters club, we joined 12,424 people crammed into the Boulevard. I went back to my roots that night and watched the game from the Gordon Street end of a packed Threepenny Stand where the atmosphere was electric. Hunslet really did not offer much at all on attack but their tenacious tackling soon subdued even the passionately loud fans around me, as the visitors did everything they could to keep us out. Lloyd, our record breaking kicker, missed four goals in the first half and at half time the scores stood at 1-0 after ‘Knocker’ Norton had dropped a solitary goal. The thorn in our side that night was Tony Dean, a little general and a player who was to sign and star for us two years later. He was known as the ‘drop goal king’ of British Rugby League. Although he missed with two attempts from narrow angles he slid one over from 30 yards bang infront in the second half to level the scores.

It looked likely that the game was going to end in a draw although Hunslet plugged away and another Dean drop goal could never be discounted. Could we lose out at such a late stage? I was ‘in pieces’ in the stand and was hardly able to watch when following a foul on John Newlove, Sammy at last found his kicking boots and slotted over a penalty. We were in the lead at last, but it was still touch and go, with the whole place holding its breath every time Tony Dean got the ball in our half! As first stone and then Birdsall flattened him into the mud when he was thinking about it. It was then left for the most unlikely of hero’s to score the only try of the game and seal a place in the record books. Charlie Stone, who only scored eight tries in 200 appearances for the club, side stepped his way over the line with three Hunslet would be tacklers in attendance and the place erupted as despite Lloyd missing again with the conversion, we were home, we were the champions and now as Vince Farrar and the team paraded the trophy round the ground, we were real record breakers! We were all ready Champions before the game kicked off but Arthur Bunting would not let the trophy be paraded beforehand for fear of it disrupting our focus.

It was certainly not a classic game, but for sheer tension and ultimate ecstasy, with so much at stake, it still ranks as high as any game I can remember at the Boulevard........ AS BP said without teams like Hunsdlet competing and being part of it all over the years the game would not be here today.

Just as I thought

The sport is as corrupt as they come.

Will also predict that Hiku will be given 3 games which will be reduced to 2 on appeal. The only 2 games he will miss will be the NZ Internationals.

Radio Humberside sports music intro
on Kr’s old Trafford defeat.
“ to dream the impossible dream “
Really tickled me.
Followed by Pinkneys sour grapes on
Kr defeat.
Sewell bigging kr up.
I personally think until the club take the chip off their shoulder and start investing in bringing academy players through,
they will continue to fail.

Shout out to the Rovers supporter on Twitter who thinks it's unfair to go on about them not winning a major trophy for forty years as for some of that time they weren't in the top flight.

Great recollection there Wilf, your memory is certainly working better than mine here!
Had completely forgotten it was Knocker who opened the scoring with the drop goal! Also Sammy missing almost as many kicks that night as he had done in the previous 25 games combined!

I do remember the reason why the game took place so late (18th May and a Friday night to boot which was a rare occurrence back then) was due to a horrendous winter with it snowing for seemed like weeks on end. Barely a game was played across Jan/Feb leading to a massive fixture backlog for everyone which meant the season over-ran well beyond the usual end date.

Like Wilf says, it was an incredibly tense night with the developing score line doing absolutely nothing to calm the crowd (12424!!! unbelievable!). It had become obvious we were going to promoted back up to division one even before we had reached Christmas, and it was highly likely we were always going to finish top, but the whole second half of the season revolved around the fact could we win all 26 games.
Halfway through the second half that night the whole season felt like it was on a knife edge, amazing really for a team long since assured of promotion, but the whole club (Bunting, the players, supporters) became obsessed with 26 wins all the way through the winter-spring of '79.

Charlie Stone's try (barnstorming run from about three yards out I think ) brought about a mixture of relief and ecstasy in equal measure for all. Seem to remember also that because it was mid May it was still fairly light at the end, even though it was an evening game, especially after the freezing dark nights of the winter.

Even though it was only promotion out of division two (we've only spent two years outside the top tier since that night) the achievement ranks alongside any of the titles and cup wins which decorate our proud history. The momentum that team instilled into the club carried us forward through the next six years up to 1985.

It's difficult to put across the pride we felt in our team and club at that time, how we felt and believed that they were representing us, how we lived and suffered with the team through the many highs and, at times, crushing disappointments as if we were all out there on the field with the players.

For those of us of a certain vintage!!, this is why these recent seasons have been so dispiriting and morale sapping. It's not just the pathetic level of performance (although that's bad enough) which has been served up for far too long now. It's simply the seemingly complete lack of respect and pride in the team, the club, themselves and, most importantly, we the long suffering faithful.
We may have been playing second division rugby in 1978/79, but in terms of pride, passion, commitment, energy (along with no small amount of rugby skills) and in their bond with the Boulevard faithful it was the polar opposite of the frankly unacceptable dross which we have had to endure these past four years, this year especially!!

Anyway, it was a great night for Hull Fc in May 1979, and it triggered a great period with so many memories for some of us and so many outstanding players donning the famous shirt.
Once again, congratulations to Hunslet on a deserved promotion. Like I said earlier, I still have a soft spot for them for their part in pushing us so hard in 78/79. Maybe one day we will meet again, though hopefully not in the Championship .

Every cloud has a silver lining, as the old saying goes!!
Think that's what I would call 'clutching at straws'!!

That Major Trophy twitter account is gold