1968-1969

A glass of Chateau Latour 707 or, perhaps, Chateau Beauregard 717, no, give me every time, the exquisite ?Headingley 69?, a vintage which embodies the rich flavour of yet another wonderful season, and captures the sparkle of the League Championship Cup, the League Leaders? Trophy, the Yorkshire Championship Cup, and the Yorkshire Challenge Cup.

The season opened with a flourish, 16-year-old John Holmes, a full-back from Kirkstall B,C. showing rare promise in scoring ten goals and a try as Hunslet slumped to a crushing defeat in the Lazenby Cup match. It was nothing like as easy five days later, however, a three-point defeat at Leigh indicating that Leeds were still ?running-in?: rugby of Rolls Royce perfection and Alfa Romeo acceleration was to follow in due course! Even so, we won our next four games in the League, yet would surely have lost at McLaren Field, had it not been for Seabourne?s tap and dive over, whilst the Bramley players were still arguing with the referee.

The Yorkshire Cup Competition called for a touch on the accelerator down by five points at half-time in the 1st Round at The Boulevard, we left Hull standing in the second-half, scoring 26 points without reply. We went on to ride rough-shod over Warrington too, brilliant handling yielding 6 peerless tries, and though Featherstone Rovers applied the brake for a time in the 2nd Round of the Cup, tries from Langley and Alan Smith, together with five Risman goals and the inevitable Seaborne drop goal, saw us safely through to the Semi-Final. Drawn away yet again, this time at Thrum Hall, where survival was always the name of the game, no quarter was asked or given, with the result hanging in the balance until Hynes engineered the vital links for Alan Smith and Ratcliffe to power their way over in the closing minutes. And so to the Final, against Castleford at Belle Vue! This was a truly remarkable game, in that although the spotting was keen and the tackling relentlessly hard, Castleford virtually made a gift of tries to Watson and Atkinson, whilst Leeds, with a meaner streak, offered only one to Hill. For all that, Leeds did contrive two tries on their own account, with the alert Smith profiting from a delayed pass by Batten, and Hick crossing towards the end to confirm that the Yorkshire Cup was coming back to Headingley after a ten-year lapse. The Leeds team was: Risman; A. Smith, Hynes, B. Watson, Atkinson; Shoebottom, Seabourne; Clark, Crosby, K. Eyre, Ramsey (Hick), A. Eyre, Batten.

Meanwhile, Leeds had out-dazzled both Salford and the Headingley lights to qualify for the 2nd Round of the Floodlit Competition, but performances in the League had been erratic, a draw at Belle Vue, in conditions reminiscent of that never-to-be-forgotten Wembley Final, and two breathtaking displays at Headingley to rout Leigh and Bradford Northern, being followed by an alarming second-half collapse at St. Helens. Now, however, free from cup-tie inhibitions, and with Seabourne taking over the captaincy from Clark, Leeds gave full rein to their talents, tries bearing the hallmark of perfection streaming off the assembly lines, match by match, in great profusion, so that despite elimination from the Floodlit Competition at Leigh, we approached the R.L. Cup Competition with a sequence of 15 consecutive league victories,

With Andrew Broatch and John Sykes already transferred to Bradford Northern, John Davies about to go to Crown Flatt, where he was soon to meet a tragic and untimely death, Leeds signed Mick Lamb, the Yorkshire and Headingley R.U. centre, before the Cup deadline

Perhaps someone had forgotten to feed the pavilion black cat! We had been drawn away in each round of the Yorkshire Cup; our luck was out in the R.L. Cup, at Thrum Hall for the 1st Round, a five-point margin of victory was uncomfortably close, for though we exploited superior speed and polish to score five tries, Risman had a rare off-day with his goal-kicking. At Lawkholme Lane, in the 2nd Round, razor-keen Keighley never recovered from a first-half shock, Hynes stealing a short pass from Kellett almost out of Aspinall?s hands, to race under the posts; so that, with Seabourne thriving on the second-half glut of possession provided by Crosby, Leeds cruised to victory with all the assurance born of consistent success. Alas, the Wembley trail ended at Wheldon Road, in a 3rd Round encounter that was unduly physical. Certainly Seabourne?s effectiveness was reduced by ultra-vigorous tackles; yet it was his long pass, and Batten?s sleight-of-hand which put Risman over, to give Leeds a slender lead with thirty agonising minutes still to go. That was just eight too many, a late try by Briggs, converted by Redfearn, taking Castleford through to the Semi-Final.

All was not lost! Bravely bouncing back from the springboard of acute disappointment, Leeds completed their last seven league matches in impressive style, to finish as League leaders and. Yorkshire Champions for the third successive year. One of these games was of particular significance, the much-weakened team which lost at Odsal to end a run of 23 league games without defeat, including two promising young forwards: Phil Cookson and substitute Graham Eccles.

Now for the final prize! Memories of the Championship play-off games are legendary. In the 1st Round, we were only leading Oldham 14-12, until Crosby scored the crucial ?killer? try on the stroke of half-time; in the 2nd, against Workington Town, we withstood a bombardment, and yet found reserves of courage, stamina and ingenuity to score four splendid tries .. and who could ever forget that dramatic Semi-Final clash with Salford: two spectacular tries by Dixon; Seabourne retiring to the bench four times with a dislocated shoulder; and a thrilling match-winning rally led by Clark. And then, that tremendous grandstand finish. In the controversial Final against Castleford at Odsal, with Leeds trailing by 3 points and the pendulum of fate inexorably ticking its way into the last five minutes …. a high kick from Redfearn …. the ball scrambled away to Risman near the Leeds ?25? ….. a 30-yard run … a finely-judged kick …. and there was Atkinson striding away in triumph, for Risman?s sure boot to give Leeds the Championship Cup they so richly deserved. The Leeds team was: Risman; Cowan, Hynes, B. Watson Atkinson, Shoebottom, Seabourne (Langley); Clark (Hick), Crosby, K. Eyre, M, Joyce, Ramsey, Batten: Shepherd, and Philip Holmes.