1967-1968

6th June, 2017 By Phil Daly

1967-1968

The barren years were truly over! The seeds of teamwork and fitness, honest endeavour and flair, had borne fruit yet again, as Mick Clark and all his squad garnered a Headingley harvest rich beyond compare: the Rugby League Challenge Cup, the League Leaders? Trophy and the Yorkshire Championship Cup.

With Albert Eyres, signed from Keighley, to join his brother in the pack, Leeds opened the season with a comfortably-paced victory at Bramley, but it was soon a case of bellows to mend in a breathlessly exciting August. St. Helens wiped out a 10-point deficit to win a thrilling encounter at Headingley; against Featherstone Rovers, we lost Atkinson with a dislocated shoulder, and very nearly the game, too, after leading by 17 points; and at Fartown, where Chris Fawdington from the Intermediates made his debut, we were gasping on a precipice of anxiety, until Gemmell strode away for a superb try.

September opened in the same vein! Batley, who had conceded 155 points in their first four games, led by 10 points to 2 at half-time, in the 1st Round of the Yorkshire Cup at Headingley, and incredulity had given way to clock-watching desperation before Hynes started a 23-point avalanche in the final half-hour. And so it went on: a last-minute defeat, through a Gorman drop goal at Mount Pleasant; a death-or-glory rally: with Hynes and Cowan crossing in the last ten minutes, to snatch victory from Workington Town; and then a nerve-tingling 2nd Round cup-tie against Hunslet at Headingley. With Leeds losing 10-11, and just ten minutes to go, Gemmell broke clear on his own ?25?, reached half-way through sheer bluff, and then watched Crosby race to the posts like a winger; but no sooner had Risman converted than Evans went over for Hunslet, to rekindle the embers of doubt, until Rollin put Clark through for the nail-in-the-coffin try just three minutes from time. Four days later, the deep touch-finding and sure goal-kicking of Price, the Bradford Northern full-back, brought our second home defeat of the season, and though we clicked into form with a five-try win at Castleford, it was, perhaps, the shock-therapy of a Semi-Final trouncing by 31 points to 6 at The Boulevard that put Leeds on the road to ultimate success.

At all events, following wins over Bradford Northern at Odsal and Halifax at Head?ingley, in a Floodlit Competition replay, Leeds ran amok with 23 dazzling tries in three matches, to humiliate Hunslet, Doncaster and York, and then came back in triumph from Craven Park, where Hynes had cleverly kicked ahead for Langley to score the only try of the match, Alas, fate prescribed yet another unpalatable dose when we least expected it! Within five days, Bramley?s pack had laid the foundations for their first league victory at Headingley for 22 years; three days later, we could salvage only pride in a hard-fought game against the Australians; and a brave second-half bid at Wheldon Road to end Castleford?s three-year unbeaten record in the Floodlit Competition, was frustrated by injuries to Hynes and Dewhurst.

Three defeats in a week represented a challenge, not a disaster! Lacking Risman, Hynes, Gemmell and Dewhurst, all injured, Leeds restored morale with a tremendous victory by 26 points to 9 at Hull, with half-backs Shoebottom and Seabourne, and centre Watson, out?standing. Nor was Gemmell?s transfer to Hull, on domestic grounds, allowed to dampen enthusiasm, Bill Ramsey, Hunslet?s hard-foraging second row forward, being signed two days later, in time to score a debut try against Keighley, and then share in a 50-point frolic against Doncaster. Undeterred by a three-point defeat at Workington, we cooked Wakefield Trinity?s goose on Boxing Day, rattling up 13 points in one spectacular seven-minute flash, and then, with Shoebottom in devastating form, blitzed York with seven tries at Clarence Street. Three more high-scoring wins followed in January, and though Castle?ford reduced our gallop to a trot, we went into the R.L. Cup Competition as League leaders, but without the services of talented Robin Dewhurst, who had joined Bramley. Although a 1st Round victory at Headingley was a mere formality, with Liverpool City clearly outclassed in all departments, Leeds never touched peak form and were surprisingly casual, squandering several excellent try-scoring opportunities. Not so in the League! Disregarding the absence of Clark and Risman, on International duty, we accounted for Dewsbury at Crown Flatt, and turned Halifax into puppets of convenience with a seven-try display of magical, matchless rugby. Now for Bramley in the 2nd Round! It was all too easy, a strangely-lethargic performance by the Villagers offering meagre fare for a Head?ingley crowd of almost 12,000; and we turned from the Cup to record three more wins in the League, though had it not been for Seabourne?s astute generalship, our unbeaten run would surely have been in peril at Keighley. It certainly seemed to be in the 3rd Round at Watersheddings, with Joyce on as substitute for the injured Clark, and a second-half wind to face with only a slender three-point lead. Yet, within ten minutes of the resumption, victory was virtually assured, with the ball bobbing from Curry?s grasp in a tackle, for Joyce to canter over unopposed, and a slide-rule pass from Seabourne putting Alan Smith over for his second try of the match.

Now only one step from those twin towers of glory, Leeds pressed on regardless in the League, with admirable victories at St. Helens and Featherstone, to establish an unassailable seven-point lead, before lining up opposite Wigan in the Semi-Final at Station Road. It was not to be ?third time lucky?, rather ?third time magnificent?! If we needed inspiration, we found it in the 20th minute, a perfect pass from Ramsey leaving Boston stranded, for Atkinson to embark on a glorious try-scoring run; if we needed a little luck it came our way just. before the interval, when Boston crashed through four tackles only to lose the ball in the act of touching down; if we sought to entertain, surely none present will ever forget that second-half display of dazzling virtuosity as we ran in four more tries to crush Wigan by 25 points to 4.

The sequence of 18 wins, equalling the record of the 1957 team, ended at Belle Vue in the last league match of the season; and dreams of the ?double? were dispelled in the 2nd Round of the Championship play-off, Wigan taking advantage of the absence of Hynes and Risman, to exact retribution for that Semi-Final humiliation. Still to come were the agony and the ecstasy of a dramatic Wembley Final, which is described in the Press report which follows.

SLAPSTICK AND WAGNER MAKE A WEMBLEY SPLASH

Leeds 11 Wakefield Trinity 10

Normally, the captain of a Cup-winning team, the sweat of victory still on his brow and the trophy still in his hands, is about the last person one would call on for a dispassionate assessment of the events from which he has just disengaged himself. But the comments made by Clark after Leeds had beaten Wakefield Trinity in the Rugby League Cup Final make him an exception to the rule. ?Neither side deserved to lose in such conditions,? he said. ?We won because we had most of the luck. Football skill didn?t count for much.? Brave words from a winner.

I join with Clark in refusing to treat the occasion in terms of rugby but there is plenty to say about it in terms of drama. There will never be another splash like it. Wembley was awash so much so that one felt concerned whether the players? insurance against injury included the risk of death by drowning in the pools which covered the pitch.

A queer mixture

For much of the time the surface was simply not fit for football to be attempted, though I am not quarrelling with the decision to carry on, in an attempt to entertain 90,000 people, most of whom had travelled a long way.

The entertainment provided was a bizarre mixture of Laurel and Hardy slapstick and Wagnerian high drama (yes, thunder and lightning and all), though whether the principals enjoyed the funny bits is doubtful. Two of them at least will enter an emphatic disclaimer. Atkinson, the Leeds left-winger, gave away the first try (entirely blameless, I must say) and then was the fortunate recipient of a penalty try which won the match for Leeds.

Cruel trick

On Don Fox, alas, fortune played one of the cruellest tricks I have witnessed in a long association with sport. After 79 minutes he was the man who won the Lance Todd Trophy for the outstanding individual performance in the Final; a minute later, he was the booby who threw away the Cup by missing a kick at goal from in front of the posts. Fox?s left foot, he said, slipped on his last run-up step and caused him to slice the ball wide.

A controversial try

The justice of Mr. J. P. Hebblethwaite?s award of a try to Atkinson, after the Leeds left-winger and three Wakefield players had chased Atkinson?s kick to the line, was bitterly contested. The referee (and Atkinson, naturally) were both convinced that Atkinson would have reached the ball first had not Coetzer impeded him. Brooke maintained stoutly that he had his hand on the ball at the time, so as far as the award of a try was concerned what?ever happened between the other two players was irrelevant. Penalty, perhaps; try, definitely not. Mr. Hebblethwaite?s decision surprised me, but he was a lot better placed to see what happened than I was.

Tries from kicks

All the three tries came from kicks. Atkinson teed one up for his opposite number, Hirst, by preventing the ball from going into touch, and then skidding uncontrollably into the cinder track surrounding the touchline. Don Fox?s conversion enabled Trinity to lead 7-4 at half-time, for previously he had landed one penalty goal, against two for Leeds by Risman. In normal circumstances, to have led at all, would have been an achievement after the hammering Shepherd took in the scrums, but here Crosby?s 15-3 advantage merely gave Leeds twelve extra chances to make mistakes.

The Laurel and Hardy interlude lasted from the 15th minute to the 70th when Risman?s improvement of the penalty try put Leeds ahead and gave the cue for Wagner. The frenzied congratulations showered on Risman when he landed a 40-yard penalty goal in the 79th minute showed that Leeds believed they were home (if not dry) with the score 11-7.

But straight from Fox?s kick-off, Hirst, Trinity?s right-winger, went clean through the Leeds defence with a couple of hearty kicks, and before anyone had realised just what was happening, he had thrown himself on the ball for the try which was to result in the most shattering experience of Don Fox?s long career.

Leeds: Risman; A. Smith, Hynes, B. Watson, Atkinson; Shoebottom, Seabourne; Clark (captain), Crosby, K. Eyre, Ramsey, A. Eyre, Batten. Subs: Langley, M. Joyce.

Wakefield Trinity: Cooper; Hirst, Coetzer, Brooke, Batty; Poynton (captain), Owen; Jeanes, Shepherd, D. Fox, Haigh, McLeod, Hawley. Subs: Garthwaite, Round. Referee: Mr. J. P. Hebblethwaite (York).

During this memorable season, David Walker was transferred to Keighley; and three other players were introduced: Harry Beverley, John Burke, and Robert Coverley, a hooker from Hull.

Four Leeds players were honoured with selection for the World Cup squad to tour Australia: Bev Risman (Captain), John Atkinson, Mick Clark and Mick Shoebottom.

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