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Hunslet R.L.F.C.

Club information
Full name	Hunslet Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)	Parksiders
Colours
Founded	1973; 52 years ago (1973)
Website	hunsletrlfc.com
Current details
Ground(s)	South Leeds Stadium (4,000)
Coach	Dean Muir[1]
Captain	Matty Beharrell
Competition	Championship
2024 season	4th (promoted via playoff)
Current season
Uniforms
Home colours

Hunslet R.L.F.C. is a professionalrugby league club inBeeston,Leeds,West Yorkshire, England. They play home games atSouth Leeds Stadium and compete inChampionship, the second tier ofBritish rugby league.

The club was formed as a Phoenix club after theoriginal Hunslet club folded.

In July 1973, the originalHunslet club was wound up following the sale of their Parkside ground, because no suitable new location could be found that was financially viable. The £300,000 proceeds of the sale of Parkside were distributed to shareholders.

Due to the efforts of their formerGreat Britain forwardGeoff Gunney(MBE), local businessmen and supporters the club managed to reform as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season and moved to the Leeds Greyhound Stadium and erected iron American football posts. The resurrected club had a new badge depicting a rising phoenix to symbolise their rebirth. In 1974, New Hunslet adopted green and white as team colours because the traditional myrtle, white and flame colours were still registered to the former Parkside-based club, and they would not release them. The stay at the greyhound stadium was cut short when the owners closed the ground and arranged to demolish everything on the site.

In 1978, coachBill Ramsey put a lot of pressure on the RFL and finally got permission to use the traditional colours. The club reverted to Hunslet for the 1979–80 season. With the closure of the Greyhound stadium, the next ground to host Hunslet wasMount Pleasant, Batley, for two seasons, before Hunslet moved toLeeds United'sElland Road football stadium then owned by Leeds City Council. After leaving Elland Road, Hunslet had a brief spell atBramley.

On 19 November 1995, the club, now known as Hunslet Hawks, moved to theSouth Leeds Stadium, only about half a mile from Parkside. On that day,Leigh were the guests at Hunslet's first home game for twenty-two years. They then narrowly missed out on promotion from Division Two in 1996.^[2] Coach Steve Ferres left to join Huddersfield andDavid Plange took over as player-coach.

In 1997 the Hawks played in the first (and last) Challenge Cup Plate Final losing 60–14 toHull Kingston Rovers. It was the Hawks first appearance atWembley Stadium since 1965. Also in 1997, the Hawks were promoted to the First Division as champions.^[2]

In 1999 as a possible merger between Hunslet andBramley was debated.^[3] In 1999 Hunslet won the Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final against Dewsbury, 12–11, at Headingley.^[2] After that game the Hawks were denied entry toSuper League by theRugby Football League who cited a document called Framing the Future as justification. This caused a number of players to leave the club and for the average attendance to fall by more than 1,200 to 800. A link-up withLeeds Rhinos saw Plange go to Headingley as Academy coach.

2004 saw the re-establishment the annual friendly against Leeds Rhinos for theLazenby Cup, a trophy that had previously been contested between Hunslet F.C. and Leeds since 1912.^[4]

Paul March was the player/coach at Hunslet, joining midway through the 2009 season following the resignation ofGraeme Hallas. March guided Hunslet to a 6th-place finish and a play-off spot in Championship 1. Hunslet travelled to Blackpool in the first week of the play-offs winning, 18–21, to set up an elimination semi-final against Oldham in which Hunslet were comfortably beaten, 54–30.

In 2010 Paul March led Hunslet to their first silverware for over 11 years by securing the Co-operative Championship 1 title, and subsequent survival in 2011.

In 2012,Barry Eaton took over as coach. In 2014 Hunslet won the Grand Final after extra time against Oldham, thus gaining promotion to the Championship. Barry Eaton left in late January 2016 to join Leeds Rhinos and was replaced by his assistant coach and former Hunslet Hawks playerMatt Bramald. Bramald left the club at the end of the 2016 season having completed his contract. He was replaced by former Hunslet playerJames Coyle.

Hunslet Hawks returned to their original name ofHunslet RLFC for the 2017 season following an overwhelming fan vote in favour of their original name.^[5] Fans were then asked to choose between the clubs' original 'Rampant Lion' crest and the 'Phoenix Rising' crest adopted by the club in 1973 when the club was reformed. Fans voted 54% to 46% in favour of the lion.^[6]On 13 October 2024, Hunslet earned promotion to the championship after beatingSwinton 22-20 in the relegation/promotion playoff match.^[7]

Hunslet play in myrtle, flame and white, with away colours mainly being white. The club's original crest was a 'Rampant Lion' but as part of a rebrand at the start of the summer era was the introduction of theHunslet Hawks. In 2017, the club's fans voted to dropHawks from their name and reinstate the 'Rampant Lion' crest.

The new Hunslet club's first ground was theElland Road Greyhound Stadium inBeeston after they were told they could not play atParkside. American football posts were erected to be used as goal posts.

In 1982, the greyhound stadium closed and Hunslet were left homeless. For two seasons they ground-shared withBatley while they searched for a permanent home in Leeds.

In 1983, after leaving Batley, Hunslet negotiated a deal withLeeds City Council to play atLeeds United'sElland Road, which the council owned at the time.

Hunslet moved into the South Leeds Stadium,Beeston, Leeds after it was built in 1995. The stadium is used to host athletics and also has a swimming pool and other facilities the club can use. The stadium has one main stand that accommodates the grounds 5,000 capacity.

• Frank Davies won a cap forWales while at Hunslet in 1978 against England
• Robert 'Iain' Higgins won caps forScotland while at London Broncos, and Hunslet 1997…2001 1-cap + 1-cap (sub)
• Charlie Wabo won caps forPapua New Guinea while at Hunslet
• Michael Mark won caps for Papua New Guinea while at Hunslet
• Neil Lowe won caps for Scotland while at Hunslet
• Lee Hanlan won caps for Ireland while at Hunslet
• Arthur Clues won caps for Australia while atWests, and won caps for Other Nationalities while at Leeds, and Hunslet

• Division 2 / Championship:

Winners (1): 1999

• Division 3 / League 1:

Winners (2): 2010, 2014

• League 1 Shield:

Winners: 2017

• League 1 Play-Off Final:

Winners: 2024

General

• Hawks:facts and history

Inline

• Hunslet official site
• Hunslet Hawks forum on rlfans.com
• Hunslet Hawks Fans Forums – RugbyLeague.org
• Pictorial history of rugby league in HunsletArchived 26 March 2018 at theWayback Machine

• Hunslet R.L.F.C.
• Sport in Leeds
• Rugby clubs established in 1973
• Fan-owned football clubs
• Rugby league teams in England

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