1963-1964

Leeds had not experienced a season like this in peace time since 1907. Hard as they tried, and do what they would, it seemed all too often that management and players alike were in the clutch of cruel circumstance and doomed to misfortune. Knocked out in the 2nd Round of the Yorkshire Cup and the 1st Round of the R.L. Cup, and failing once again to qualify for the Eastern Division play-off, Leeds staggered through the First Division programme like a brave, punch-drunk boxer and lost all but ten of the thirty matches. Fortunately, with Keighley and Hull faring even worse, there was little or no danger of relegation, but it was a welcome relief, just the same, when an extraordinary general meeting of the clubs resolved that the two-division experiment should be discontinued at the end of the current season.

Early season results gave no hint of the traumas that lay ahead, and there seemed to be no cause for immediate concern, with Andrew Broatch, a close-season signing from Hawick, settling in well at centre, and splendid wins over Hull at The Boulevard and Workington Town at Headingley to discount defeats against Hull K.R. and Keighley. During September, however, confidence began to be eroded by the drip, drip, drip of persistent defeat, broken only by a solitary victory over Castleford in the 1st Round of the Yorkshire Cup. Reverses at Wigan and Swinton, and at Featherstone in the 2nd Round of the Cup were unwelcome, yet not entirely unexpected, but the home defeat at the hands of Hunslet, which let the alarm bells ringing, would surely have been averted had we shown the same determination as we did against the Australians a week later. Perhaps the presence of Ken Thornett, at full-back for the Tourists, provided the spur; certainly, he engineered our defeat with an overhead pass which put Cleary in for the only try of the match.

In the meantime, with Cowan due for a cartilage operation, Devereux about to take up a coaching appointment in Australia, and Simms labouring under the handicap of a troublesome knee condition, the management had recruited two welcome additions to the playing staff: Alan Lockwood, the Yorkshire County hooker, from Hull K.R., and Mick Clark, Salford?s second row forward. Talented as they were, they could only share, rather than dispel, the prevailing gloom, so that by the end of October even the optimists were beginning to drift into the ranks of the pessimists. Two more defeats in the First Division were bad enough, in all conscience, but to lose to Doncaster at Headingley in the Eastern Division, with Horsman mainly instrumental in our downfall, was a bitterly ironic humiliation. Yet, within days, Hattee was joining Horsman.

The first match in November presented a rare gleam of light in a dark labyrinth of despair with Hull routed at Headingley by 30 points to 7, and that by a young and drastically changed team which included: 18-year-old Ray Batten, signed from Heworth and grandson of the immortal Billy Batten, at loose-forward; 18-year-old Jack Thomas. a local product, at prop; Robin Dewhurst, recovered from his leg fracture, at full-back; and 16-year-old Barry Seabourne, making his second appearance at scrum-half. Alas, the relief was only transitory! The sad saga of frustration and failure continued through November and December, despite the signing of three more forwards, who all turned out for the first time at Widnes: Bill Drake, from Hull; Les Chamberlain from Hull K.R., and Peter McVeigh from Batley. Thus we rang out the old year with an abysmal record in the First Division: played 17, won 4, lost 13, points for 179, points against 311. We rang in the new without the services of versatile Fred Pickup, who had been released to join the Manly-Warringah club in Australia.

January heralded four successive wins, including a double over Huddersfield, but still the Headingley hoodoo persisted: 23-year-old Barry Simms, who had worn the No.9 and No. 13 jerseys with equal merit, was compelled to retire on medical advice; and Dick Gemmell, a centre signed from Hull in readiness for the R.L. Cup, sustained a broken fibula in his very first game, against Hull K.R. at Headingley. Whereas the transfer of Derek Davies to Hull had been expected, the eve-of-cup departure of Colin Evans to York came as a great shock, despite the rapid strides made by the irrepressible Shoebottom and the undoubted promise of Seabourne.

Our luck was out in the Cup draw, too. Salford, away! Five times previously, Leeds had faced Salford in the R.L. Cup and always at Weaste. On this occasion, ground advantage perhaps made all the difference, Salford scraping through with four points to spare, though to be fair, they did score the only two tries of the game. It was a match of ?ifs and buts?: Lewis Jones could well have been awarded an obstruction try in the first half, and there was a. suggestion of a knock-on when Southward scored his second try. Even so, the following Leeds team was never sufficiently in command to make its own luck: Simpson; Cowan, Broatch, Dewhurst, Wriglesworth; Jones, Shoebottom, Drake Lockwood Chamberlain, McVeigh, Shaw, Neumann.

Incredibly, a fortnight later, Leeds defeated St. Helens at Knowsley Road for the first time since 1947, but then relapsed into a sequence of three consecutive defeats. On Easter Monday, however, with Lewis Jones donning for the last time the blue and amber jersey he had worn so modestly yet with such distinction, the team rose to the occasion to beat Halifax handsomely, young Dewhurst earning a nod of approval from the master himself for five excellent goals. As the final whistle sounded, and Lewis left the field with the outstanding Leeds record of 385 appearances, 144 tries, 1244 goals and 2920 points, it was the end of an era, and countless thousands, to whom he had given so much pleasure. doubted whether they would ever see his like again. A rugby genius, who had become a legend in his own lifetime, had left for Australia. Lucky Australia!

As the season drifted to its close, Leeds won only two of their six remaining matches, but it was good to see Gemmell back in action again, and the younger players justifying the faith placed in them by the management. Time and patience were to bring a rich reward.

Two other players were introduced during the season: David Hartley, winger from Normanton; and Ernest Towler, forward, from Yorkshire Copper Works. For ever-reliable Colin Tomlinson it was the end of a 9-year stint with 200 appearances and 22 tries.