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Halifax RLFC

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Halifax RLFC are a Rugby League club formed in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white.

Contents

History

After becoming the first ever winners of the Yorkshire Cup in 1876, the club went on to win it on another four occasions. Several players were supplied for the Yorkshire County side in these years, and five were picked for the full England rugby union team.

In 1886, the club moved to their traditional home of Thrum Hall, this would be their home ground for the next 112 years until 1998 when they moved across town to their present home, the Shay Stadium, which they share with Halifax Town AFC.

The Halifax club were founder members of the breakaway Northern Rugby Union in 1895. Onfield success continued producing one of their best ever teams in the early years of the twentieth century. In 1902-03 they achieved the 'double' by winning the Challenge Cup and finishing top of Division One. They won the cup again the following season, and were the first ever Championship Play-off winners in season 1906-07.

Halifax enjoyed their first Wembley Challenge Cup final victory over York in 1931. They have since been to Wembley six more times, winning in 1939 and 1987, with their last appearance being in 1988 when they lost to Wigan.

The sides of the late 1930s and mid-1980s were outstanding teams, but many fans would claim the best of all was the team of the 1950s. During this decade they were Championship runners-up three times, Yorkshire Cup winners twice, and Yorkshire League winners four times. They played in two Wembley finals in 1954 and 1956, featuring in the first ever drawn final against Warrington in 1954, losing in the replay at Odsal Stadium in front of a world record Rugby League crowd of 102,569.

Halifax joined the Super League in 1996 and became known as the Blue Sox. However, this proved to be unpopular with most supporters who continued to refer to them as 'Fax'. The club returned to the traditional Halifax R.L.F.C. at the start of 2003. At the end of the 2003 season they were relegated from Super League and narrowly avoided a second relegation to National League 2 in 2004.

National League One Teams

Batley Bulldogs

Doncaster Lakers 

Hull Kingston Rovers

Halifax RLFC

Leigh Centurions

Rochdale Hornets 


Oldham Roughyeds


Whitehaven Warriors 


Widnes Vikings 


York City Knights



2006 Fixtures/Results

FEBRUARY 


Sun 12th Keighley Cougars WON 38 10 


Sun 19th Oldham
(NRC) WON 42 26 


Sun 26th Rochdale Hornets
(NRC) LOST 12 16 


MARCH 


Wed 8th Oldham
(NRC) WON 66 8 


Wed 15th Kells ARLFC (at Whitehaven) WON 26 6 


Sun 19th Keighley Cougars
(NRC) LOST 18 38 


Sun 26th Rochdale Hornets
(NRC) LOST 6 16 


APRIL 


Sun 2nd Huddersfield Giants  LOST 8 40 


Sun 9th Leigh Centurions LOST 10 32 


Fri 14th Batley Bulldogs WON 26 6 


Mon 17th York City Knights WON 34 24 


Sun 23rd Hull KR (NRC - KO Round 1) LOST 6 88 


Sun 30th Hull KR LOST 22 30 


MAY 


Sun 14th Rochdale Hornets WON 18 12 


Sun 28th Whitehaven Warriors LOST 20 30 


JUNE 


Sun 4th Oldham WON 34 28

Sun 11th Batley Bulldogs LOST 8 24 


Sun 25th Doncaster Lakers LOST 18 22 


JULY 
Sun 2nd Leigh Centurions LOST 36 38 


Sun 9th Hull KR LOST 14 38


Sun 23rd York City Knights 3.00pm 


Sun 30th Widnes Vikings 3.00pm

AUGUST 
Sun 6th Oldham 3.00pm

Sun 13th Doncaster Lakers 3.00pm 


Sun 20th Rochdale Hornets 3.00pm 


SEPTEMBER 
Sun 3rd Whitehaven Warriors 3.00pm

Sun 10th Widnes Vikings 3.00pm

NATIONAL LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFFS 
Sun 17th Sept Play-Offs - Week 1 - 


Sun 24th Sept Play-Offs - Week 2 -

Sun 1st Oct Play-Offs - Week 3 -

Sun 8th Oct GRAND FINAL -




2006 Squad


Active Squad


Brad Attwood


Damian Ball

Adam Hayes

Mark Barlow  

Joel Penny

Joe Hirst

Lee St Hilaire

Anthony Blackwood

Jason Boults

Simeon Hoyle

Jon Simpson


Dominic Brambani

Andy Kirk

Byron Smith

Marcus George

Andy Spink

Scott Law


James Haley


Dean Lawford


Damian Gibson


John Clough (On Loan From Salford)


David Wrench ( On Loan From Wakefield)



Injured Players


Radney Bowker


Ryan MacDonald


Dave Larder


Andy Hobson


Loaned Out


Chris Birchall


Released Players


Keith Heckenberg


Dayne Neirinckx


Nick Johnson


Lee Harland


David Highton


Dale Holdstock


Marcus St Hilaire



Coaching staff


Halifax's latest coach is 37-year-old former Wigan Warriors hooker Martin Hall, who once played for Halifax several years ago.  He takes over from Anthony Farrell.  Hall, who worked with Farrell on the Wales coaching staff last season, has joined the National League One club with a contract to the end of the season.


He was in the Halifax side that finished third in Super League in 1998 and was briefly assistant to player-coach Gary Mercer in 2000 before quitting to concentrate on his business interests.  He has also held the position of head coach at Rochdale Hornets and Hull Kingston Rovers.


"Martin is an experienced coach who has had plenty of success at this level working with relatively limited resources," said Halifax director Michael Steele.  "We are very confident he is the right man to help this club back to the level we all believe we should be playing at."



Mascots


The last time the club were in the premier flight of rugby, award winning mascots the outrageous twosome, Billy and Bluey, were cult heroes in the Halifax club.  Later, came Fat Cat, and Bruno The Bear.  



Major Honours





Hall Of Fame


George Thomson 1875-85; 
Jimmy Dodd 1876-93; 
Archie Rigg 1891-1915; 
George Langhorn 1897-1913; 
Joe Riley 1901-15; 
Billy Little 1901-10; 
Asa Robinson 1904-23; 
Jack Beames 1913-22; 
Cyril Stacey 1915-29; 
Frank Todd 1916-28; 
Dai Rees 1921-32; 
Hudson Irving 1933-47; 
Hubert Lockwood 1934-46; 
Charlie Smith 1936-48; 
Harry Beverley 1937-41; 
Arthur Bassett 1939-48; 
Arthur Daniels 1945-57; 
Stan Kielty 1946-58; 
Ken Dean 1948-60; 
Jack Wilkinson 1948-59; 
Alvin Ackerley 1948-58; 
Albert Fearnley 1950-56; 
Tommy Lynch 1951-56; 
John Thorley 1952-60; 
John Burnett 1953-67; 
Johnny Freeman 1954-67; 
Garfield Owen 1956-61; 
Charlie Renilson 1957-69; 
Jack Scroby 1959-70; 
Terry Fogerty 1961-73; 
Ronnie James 1961-72; 
Colin Dixon 1961-68; 
Ken Roberts 1963-67; 
Gordon Baker 1964-82; 
Mick Scott 1974-91; 
Chris Anderson 1984-87. 



External Links







 Rugby League National Leagues - National League One



Batley Bulldogs | 
Doncaster Lakers | 
Halifax RLFC | 
Hull Kingston Rovers |
Leigh Centurions |  
Oldham Roughyeds | 
Rochdale Hornets | 
Whitehaven RLFC |
Widnes Vikings | 
York City Knights | 



See also: Rugby League Championship Second Division








Rugby league in Britain and Ireland
 


 
Competitions

Super League | 
National League |
Challenge Cup |
National League Cup

National Conference League |
Rugby League Conference | Scotland Rugby League


 
National teams

Great Britain |
England |
Ireland |
Scotland |
Wales 


 
Federations

RFL |
BARLA |
Rugby League Ireland |
Wales Rugby League



Former competitions

Championship | 
Premiership | 
Lancs/Yorks Cups | 
Lancs/Yorks League 
  
Regal Trophy |
Charity Shield | 
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy  








 





From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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