One for the older clientele who reside on here!!


This weekend sees the 40th anniversary of the legendary 1985 Fc - Wigan Challenge cup final, one of  the most famous games of rugby league to have taken place in the UK. A clutch of truly world-class players, including two Aussie superstars, served up arguably the greatest cup final ever.


The downside from our perspective, of course, is that we were the ones on the losing side at the end. The fact that it had been such an outstanding match was scant consolation to the black & white hoardes packed into the crumbling stadium that afternoon.


In fact, 'packed' is the operative word here. My chief memory of the afternoon is how many of us were shoe-horned in behind the posts, allegedly well above the stadium's maximum capacity. It was so tight in there we spent most of the game stood on each other's toes!. HSE would have a field day today were it to ever happen again.


It would take us 32 years to pay Wigan back for the defeat. Can't believe that four decades have now passed since that famous afternoon, where does the time go!!   

Five more minutes and we would have won. Have to say Bunting got the team wrong that day. Schofield should have started, he'd scored twenty odd tries and 100+ goals that season.


There has always been some confusion over thw attendance that day. Some sources say 97,801 and some say 99,801 (Wikipedia for example shows both depending which page you read). The latter would make it the 4th highest attendance in rugby league history. Very unlikely to ever be matched of course.