A-Z of Leeds Rhinos - 'E' is for ...Elland Road.

Originally scheduled for Wakefield Trinity’s Belle Vue, the 1938 Championship final was switched to Elland Road after Leeds and Hunslet both made it through.
Leeds Rhinos take on Hull KR at Elland Road in 2018. Picture by Simon Cooper PA WireLeeds Rhinos take on Hull KR at Elland Road in 2018. Picture by Simon Cooper PA Wire
Leeds Rhinos take on Hull KR at Elland Road in 2018. Picture by Simon Cooper PA Wire

A crowd of 54,112, still the record for a rugby league game in the city, saw Ted Tattersfield kick Leeds ahead with a penalty goal, but Hunslet hit back to win 8-2 - handing the Loiners their fifth defeat in as many finals - through tries by Ernest Winter and Jimmy O’Sullivan, plus a Jack Walkington drop goal.

Twenty years later Leeds lost to Hunslet at Elland Road again, 15-8, in the city’s first floodlit rugby league match. They were beaten there 15-4 by Wigan in the 1983 JP Final and lost a Challenge Cup semi-final replay 17-0 to Hull KR three years later, after a 24-24 draw on the same ground. The big-match hoodoo was broken when two classic tries by Garry Schofield helped Leeds to a 33-12 victory over Castleford in the 1988 Yorkshire Cup final.

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Leeds beat Featherstone Rovers 39-22 at Elland Road in a 1994 Challenge Cup semi-final and played there in four World Club Challenges, defeating Canterbury Bulldogs 39-32 in 2005 and Melbourne Storm 11-4 three years later, but losing 28-20 to Manly Sea Eagles in 2009 and 18-10 to Melbourne the following year.

England's rugby union side trained with Rhinos at Headingley in 2005. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.England's rugby union side trained with Rhinos at Headingley in 2005. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.
England's rugby union side trained with Rhinos at Headingley in 2005. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.

Hunslet were based at Elland Road from 1982-94 and Rhinos played two ‘home’ games there in 2018 during rebuilding work at Headingley, beating Hull KR 20-11 and losing 25-24 to Castleford.

‘E’ is also for...England rugby union.

Rhinos hosted a three-day joint training camp with world champions England in January, 2005. England coach Andy Robinson described the link-up as “awesome” and insisted: “We’re practising rugby, whether it’s league or union and integrating and interchanging ideas in a change of environment.”

In 1893, two years before the Northern Union was founded, a 30,000 crowd at Headingley watched England lose a rugby union Test match to Scotland by two drop goals to nil.

Ellery Hanley. Picture by Steve Riding.Ellery Hanley. Picture by Steve Riding.
Ellery Hanley. Picture by Steve Riding.
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‘E’ is also for...Ellery Hanley who starred for Bradford Northern and Wigan before joining his hometown club for a five-season stint at the end of his career.

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