Sport in general boomed in the years after World War II as people had gone over six years without it. Rugby League was no exception. Many players had fought during the war as well as the majority of the supporters. When the war finished the country wanted to get back to normality as quick as possible, and watching rugby league was one way for people to do this. The late 1940’s and early 1950’s bared witness to some of the biggest crowds sporting events have ever seen. Fartown drew in the crowds as the club started to attract a lot of talent. By 1948 Fartown had gifted players which were also playing well as a team. The difficulty of living up to the ‘team of all talents’ from the 1910’s was daunting, but for the supporters this team was as good as any. The 1948/49 season saw Fartown win the Championship play-off against Warrington at Main road in front of what was at the time a world record crowd of 75,194. This capitalised on a season which also brought home the Yorkshire League title. More success followed in the next season as Huddersfield retained the Yorkshire League title and reached anther Maine Road Championship decider. Unfortunately, on this occasion Wigan proved too strong, winning 20 points to 12, in front of 65,065 people. But before by the end of the 1950s Huddersfield had won 3 Yorkshire cup finals, in 1950/51, 1952/53 and 1957/58, and the Challenge Cup final, in 1952/53.
Neil was fortunate enough to watch most of the big names from this decade in action. Here, he talks us through the main players from this period.