Sheet music for ‘Hurrah for the Claret and Gold’ written to celebrate the club’s 1890 Yorkshire Cup win (thanks to the Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage Project).
On 5 November I was invited to give a talk about Huddersfield and its role in rugby's split of 1895 by the Huddersfield Local History Society . HLHS is a wonderful organisation which explores the full range of Huddersfield’s social, political and cultural history.
In my talk, I looked at the growth of rugby in the town, the rise of the rugby club, the role of its most infamous administrator Frank Marshall, and how the split played out in the town during the 1890s. It ends with a few thoughts about how sport evolved in Huddersfield following the split.
For more on the history of the club and the town, take a look at the Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage website and James Mason’s 1972 documentary about his home town, Home James.