In the inauspicious surroundings of Lawkholme Lane, Keighley, Castleford gave a first team debut to a promising 17-year-old stand-off-half. His name was Alan Hardisty.

Although nobody knew it at the time, he was to go on to be one of the greatest players in the club’s history and lead a major change in the club’s fortunes from being a struggling team regularly near the wrong end of the table to one of the most feared, respected and successful teams of the following decade. It could be argued that this match marked the birth of Classy Cas.

His connection with the Castleford club began in the weeks leading up to the start of the 1958/59 season. He and his best mate Keith Hepworth walked down to the Castleford ground with the hope of joining in with the Under 17s training session. They were met at the ground by the then ‘A’ Team coach George Clinton who told them that, unfortunately, the Under 17s weren’t training that night. However, George recognised the two lads and was aware of the reputation they had from playing for Glasshoughton in local junior rugby. So, rather than turning them away, he invited them to join that evening’s ‘A’ team session. The following week, first team coach Harry Street, who had himself only arrived at the club in June, organised a trial match between the first team and the ‘A’ team and, having impressed at the previous week’s session, Alan was selected to play on the wing for the ‘A’ team.

Making an impression

Street was so impressed with Alan’s performance in the trial match that he decided he needed to sign him immediately. So after the match, he persuaded Alan to sit in his van and told him not to move. Harry then rushed in to find club secretary Len Garbett to get the signing-on forms before dashing back out to his van, where Alan was still obediently waiting. Harry then drove him home to speak to his dad before Alan signed for a fee of £150. He would receive a further £500 if he played for Yorkshire and £1,000 if he played for Great Britain. His first week’s wages were 7 shillings and 4 pence (about 36 pence).

Early Days

His first appearance for the club was on 16th August 1958 in an ‘A’ team win at Batley. After scoring a try in his second ‘A’ team appearance – a home win against Bramley – he made a third appearance with the ‘A’ team in a win against Hunslet on 20th September. His half-back partner in that match was his best friend Keith Hepworth, who was still only 16-years-old. This was the first time they had played together for the club. The local press reported that they both “played extremely well considering their years”.

Stepping Up

The following week Alan got his chance with the first team. John Sheridan, the club captain and centre, was suspended. The regular stand-off, Cliff Burton, was switched to centre to cover, and Alan was selected for his debut at stand-off half.

Under the new coach, the team had had a very good start to the season winning their first four league games before being knocked out at the First Round of the Yorkshire Cup by Hull KR. By the time of the Keighley match they had suffered two more defeats but were still confident of getting another win. The teams lined up as follows:

Castleford: 1 Lunn 2 Ward 3 Burton 4 Hattee 5 Battye 6 Hardisty 7 Evans 8 Wright 9 Bridges 10 K Pye 11 Howard 12 E Bryant 13 Taylor

Keighley: 1 J Phillips 2 Hollindrake 3 Ellerby 4 Hallas 5 Bleasby 6 Sabine 7 Hebden 8 Shreeve 9 Hemmings 10 Bardgett 11 Glynn 12 S Phillips 13 Crewdson

Referee: C F Appleton (Warrington)

Attendance: 4,000

Cas started the game well and hooker Bridges dominated the scrums, giving them the majority of possession. However, the reshuffled three-quarter line struggled to make the most of it and failed to make progress against keen tackling. One promising aspect of the performance was the improvement in the forwards who more than held their own. But the most promising aspect was the individual performance of the debutant at stand-off-half. The local press described him as “a player of much more than average ability” as he broke the defensive line on several occasions. Unfortunately, his teammates were unable to take advantage, managing only one try by loose-forward Taylor. The 21-7 defeat didn’t reflect the team’s performance, but overall Keighley were the better team.

Alan was equally impressive in his second appearance – a 21-15 home defeat to Barrow. This time the 17-year-old was directly opposed by the great Willie Horne. Horne had captained Barrow to three Challenge Cup finals and captained Great Britain to victory over Australia in the 1952 Ashes series. He is now a member of the Rugby League Hall of Fame. But Hardisty was not intimidated and gave another promising performance.

Alan clearly impressed the coach because he went on to play 27 matches in his first season, scoring seven tries. On 4th April 1959 he was joined in the first team by Keith Hepworth for the first time. Both players were still only 17-years-old and both scored tries in a 27-23 defeat against Huddersfield. They went on to partner each other at half-back on 229 occasions for the club and became one of the most famous half-back partnerships in the history of rugby league.

Harry Street’s policy of signing talented local players was beginning to pay dividends. By the time Hardisty and Hepworth arrived Bill Bryant was already established in the ‘A’ team and over the next couple of seasons they were joined by the likes of Peter Small, Johnny Ward and Derek Edwards. Hardisty was having a greater influence on the team and in 1961, at only 19 years of age, he was appointed vice-captain. Then, at the start of the 1961/62 season he took over from John Sheridan as club captain. He was still only 20 years old. He was to remain captain until his last match for the club in April 1971.

Onwards and Upwards

Progress had been gradual but continuous and the club finished 12th out of 30 teams in 1961/62. But the following year the team made the major breakthrough, finishing in the top four of the league for only the second time in their history. Over the next seven seasons Alan Hardisty captained the team to becoming Yorkshire League Champions, BBC2 Floodlit Trophy winners three times and two-time Challenge Cup winners in the most successful era in the club’s history.

International Recognition

His exploits hadn’t gone unnoticed by representative selectors and he played his first match for Yorkshire against Cumberland in September 1961. He went on to make a total of five appearances for his county. He also caught the eye of the international selectors and he made his first appearances for Great Britain playing home and away against France in March 1964. He also captained his country against France in 1967. In total he represented Great Britain twelve times, including test matches in Australia during the Great Britain tours of 1966 and 1970. At the time of the 1966 tour he was widely considered the best stand-off half in the world.

His final appearance for Castleford came in the final match of the 1970/71 season, a 10-4 play-off defeat at Wakefield. In total he had made 401 appearances for the club, scoring 206 tries, 78 goals and 42 drop-goals. He remains the only player to have scored more than 200 tries for the club.