1966-1967

League Leaders and Yorkshire League Championship! This was the dawn of an era of unprecedented success in ?The Headingley Story?, surpassing even the glories, of the ?Golden Thirties?. It was a season of change and innovation, too, with Headingley?s floodlights switched on for the first time for the County match between Yorkshire and Lancashire, and the Laws of the Game amended to introduce the ?penalty plus a free play-the-ball? and the ?four tackle rule?.

The campaign opened under a cloud with Harry Poole returning from Australia with a troublesome knee injury, but Leeds were soon making hay in the August sunshine, with four successive league victories. The debut of John Langley, a centre from Normanton, was the occasion for a sparkling display from the exuberant Shoebottom, whose 4 tries and 9 goals utterly deflated Batley, and left him just one point short of the individual scoring record established by Lewis Jones against Bradford Northern In 1956.

In view of early season form, a home defeat by Bramley in the 1st Round of the Yorkshire Cup came as a rude shock. The Villagers got away to a flying start to gain a commanding 20-7 lead, before Leeds made a late rally to reduce the margin to two points, only for Cowan to drop the ball in the very last minute in the act of touching down for what would have been a dramatic match-winning try. Someone had to suffer! It was Hunslet, at Parkside, going down to their heaviest defeat for twenty years, but no doubt their bank manager managed to raise a smile on receipt of a cheque for the services of prop forward Ken Eyre, who was to fracture an arm only a week later, on his first appear?ance in Leeds colours. Even so, we put paid to Wigan in a free-scoring game, and ended the September programme, still unbeaten in the League, with a rousing win at Odsal.

If the hallmark of a good side is its ability to win when playing below par, Leeds qualified in October. Losing rhythm, as a result of injuries, and slipping from fluent authority into drab mediocrity, Leeds still stayed on the winning track to achieve a best-ever start to a season, with eleven consecutive league victories, before losing at St. Helens at the end of the month. Moreover, playing under the Headingley floodlights for the first time, we had earned a draw against Castleford.

Our interest in the Floodlit Competition ended in the Station Road mud, but super-fit Leeds, now back on top form, blended flair, tenacity and teamwork, to win all but two of their next fourteen league matches. It was first-class fare, providing a fascinating kaleidoscope of colourful incident: two magnificent, searing runs by Gemmell, against Oldham at Headingley; a fright at Lawkholme Lane, where Keighley wiped out a 12-point deficit in as many minutes, before a Risman goal and tries from Gemmell and Ratcliffe restored sanity; three frustrating drop goals by Curry, to rob us of victory at Watersheddings; the unlucky Ken Eyre, cracking the same arm bone at Halifax; three tries in the last ten minutes to snatch an incredible win at Featherstone; reserve wingers, John Atkinson and Alan Smith, showing their paces on Boxing Day, to thrill a crowd of 16,000; Clark forcing himself over the line to clinch a tremendous triumph at Hull; and two nail-biting finishes against Bradford Northern and Featherstone Rovers, as Leeds went into the R.L. Cup Competition with a firm grip on the League leadership. Meanwhile, with Peter Moscatt due to return to Australia, hooker Tony Crosby had been signed from York.

There were no losers in the 1st Round at Headingley! Leeds, with superior speed and expertise, were always certain winners; and Blackpool Borough, who had forfeited ground advantage, were amply rewarded with an attendance of 9,000, No sooner had Leeds been drawn to visit Oldham in the 2nd Round than we were parting with two players, Louis Neumann making his farewell appearance against Castleford, before joining Eastern Suburbs; and Test winger Geoff Wriglesworth, scorer of 98 tries in 173 appear?ances, being surprisingly transferred to Bradford Northern at his own request. Leeds had not won a R.L. Cup tie in Lancashire for twenty years, but the result at Watersheddings was never in doubt from the 14th minute, when Risman glided up on the blind side to create an overlap for Atkinson to wrong-foot Curry and finish the move in classic style. Four minutes later, Broatch went through a yawning gap, to make the interval score 6-2; and Atkinson, ever quick to profit from a loose ball, put the game beyond Oldham?s reach in the second half. The 3rd Round meeting with Swinton, watched by a tense Headingley crowd of 20,000, was a hard, and at times ruthless, battle for survival, with Leeds triumphing over all manner of ill luck and adversity, the broken arm sustained by Poole being purely accidental, unlike the two high tackles that put Risman out of action for several minutes and felled Atkinson in full flight. Even the ball seemed perverse, crucial goal-kicks bouncing off the posts, and few present will ever forget that agonising last quarter of an hour as Swinton bombarded the Leeds line to pull up to 15-17, with Gowers desperately trying to drop a goal in the closing minutes, Alas, the road to Wembley was once again barred at Fartow! Already assured of the League Leaders? Trophy, Leeds were clear favourites in the Semi-Final, and two splendid tries by Alan Smith and Hick, together with a Seabourne drop goal, gave us an 8-4 lead with half-an-hour to go, but hope turned to despair as Featherstone exploited a monopoly of possession to turn the scales with a match-winning barrage.

Wembley might be deferred for another year, but not the Yorkshire League Championship! Leeds routed Dewsbury at Crown Flatt to make doubly sure, Ratcliffe scoring four tries, and thus rounded off the League programme with only five defeats in 34 games. Misfortune struck again in the 1st Round of the Championship play-off, an unconvincing home win over Widnes being marred by Clark breaking a thumb; and a season of high endeavour, far exceeding expectations, ended on a disappointing note with a quarter-final defeat by Castleford as Leeds threw away points with wanton prodigality.

During the season, Ken Owens and Ron Morgan were transferred to Hull; and other players introduced included: Frank Brown, centre; and Ted Barnard, Peter Fozzard and Phil Sunderland, forwards.