1959-1960

Hopes that a return to the Yorkshire League, and a less demanding fixture list, would automatically result in a stronger challenge for championship honours were not fulfilled, Leeds finishing in 14th place for the third season in succession. Nor was any consolation derived from the cup competitions. Nevertheless, by the end of the season, the management were much nearer completing the team-building jigsaw than they can ever have imagined at the time.

Five players were transferred during the season: Fred Ward, after little more than eighteen months at Headingley, went to Keighley; Clifford Last to Hull K.R.; Alec Dick, to Batley; Jim Hainsworth to Bramley; and Pat Quinn, who captained the side until his marriage prompted a move to Lancashire joined Wigan. Three other players, who had served Leeds well over a number of years gradually faded out of the picture:. Jack Lendill, scorer of that all-important try at Thrum Hall and his brother Peter; and Jimmy Dunn.

With Lewis Jones already out of action for seven weeks with a broken arm sustained in a match in Paris, Leeds could ill afford to lose the services of Gordon Brown for four months with knee trouble, after the very first game at Oldham. In the circumstances, an increased burden rested on the shoulders of the relatively inexperienced Pycroft, and four new players who were thrown in at the deep end from the start: Fred Pickup, an 18-year-old centre from the Intermediates; Vince Hattee, a 19-year-old stand-off from Heworth; Peter Parker, a centre from Lock Lane; and Eric Horsman, who was to alternate between stand-off and scrum-half.

It was hardly surprising therefore, that Leeds lost all but one of the first eight league matches, and also went down heavily to the Australians. Far more remarkable was the valiant bid we made to retain the Yorkshire Cup. In the 1st Round, with Peter Lendill at full-back in place of the injured Quinn, and Hattee paired with Horsman at half-back, we registered a splendid win over Keighley at Headingley by 28 points to 14, with Horsman scoring two of the six tries and Hattee kicking five goals. With five backs unavailable for the 2nd Round clash with Hunslet, make-shift Leeds gave an inspired display to triumph over adversity, each member of the following team giving everything he had, and a little more besides: Hattee; Hemingway, Hallas, T. Whitehead, Hodgkinson; Horsman, Hinch; Skelton, Prior, Robinson, Tomlinson, Robins. Last. Nor did we succumb without a fight in the Semi-Final at Post Office Road. Indeed, with Hemingway scoring a try and Jones kicking two goals to mark his first appearance of the season, the result hung in the balance at 7-9, until Fawley crossed three minutes from the end to clinch a Featherstone victory.

Starting October on a promising note we staged a thrilling rally to beat Bradford Northern by the odd point at Headingley, despite the loss of Prior and Hallas through injury, and then accounted for Dewsbury and Bramley, but satisfaction over the signing of Dennis Goodwin, Barrow?s international second row forward, was tempered by the news that two more backs were out of action: Garside with a cartilage operation; and Hemingway, with a knee ligament condition, which was to render him inactive for almost two seasons. Neither Goodwin, nor Eddie Ratcliffe, a reserve winger, had a happy debut against Keighley, Leeds slumping to defeat with a deplorable second-half display.

November was notable for yet another capture, this time Jack Fairbank, Huddersfield?s boisterous second row forward, whose first appearance coincided with a magnificent victory over St. Helens at Headingley. Finesse and fury went hand in hand, with Jones, the virtuoso conducting the backs, whilst a rampant pack utterly crushed the St. Helens forwards.

Alas, the memory of that performance had to keep us warm through a bitterly dis?appointing December, with a solitary win over Castleford to compensate for five defeats, including a 39-5 drubbing at the hands of Wakefield Trinity on Boxing Day. Thus we finished the old year with a lamentable league record: played 21, won 7, lost 14, points for 336, points against 442.

The fact that no less than ten different half-back combinations had been tried since August, pinpointed the need for real authority and skill at the base of the scrum. To that end, the management recruited not one but two international scrum halves immediately before the Cup deadline. Tommy Gentles, of South Africa and Wigan, being signed for a comparatively modest fee, purely as an insurance against a possible breakdown in the negotiations to obtain the services of Colin Evans, who had played for Wales at Twicken?ham only a fortnight earlier.

Evans passed his entrance examination with flying colours in a league game against Doncaster: prior to facing Hull K.R. at Headingley in his first R.L. Cup-tie. It was baptism by fire, with Leeds fighting a desperate rearguard action in the second half as the Robins attacked relentlessly in a vain bid to snatch victory. Drawn to visit Central Park in the 2nd Round, Leeds gave a superb exhibition, with heroic tackling, brave running and incredibly long touch-finding by Jones, only to be cruelly robbed of victory by a diving try from Sullivan in the dying seconds. To Wigan, the victory; to this gallant Leeds team the glory: G. Brown; Hodgkinson, Hallas, Pickup, Ratcliffe; Jones, Evans; Fairbank, Simms,

There were no ?Cup blues? at Headingley! Just the opposite, in fact, as Leeds won developing into a thrilling winger of exciting pace and resolution. There was a bonus, too, with the arrival of Ken Thornett, a young Australian full-back, who was to become a great Headingley favourite.

Two other players were introduced during the season: Paul Stacey, loose-forward who had graduated through the junior teams; and David Johnson, a trialist winger who eventually joined Hull.