At the time of the semi-final win over Wakefield Trinity, Cas were in with a good chance of finishing in their highest ever league placing, with a top-2 finish looking likely.

The Friday after the semi-final their good run in the league continued with another win over Trinity at Belle Vue, this time by 13 points to 4. Incredibly, this was the fifth time Cas had beaten their opponents during the season. In addition to a league double and the Challenge Cup win, Cas had won both games of a two-legged BBC TV Floodlit Competition tie earlier in the season.

But, as the Wembley final approached, the team’s league from dipped dramatically. A loss at Featherstone was followed by two home defeats at the hands of Hull KR and Hunslet, leading to speculation in the local press that some first team regulars might lose their places for the big game. However, a 23-2 win at Bramley in the final league game secured a 4th place finish. This guaranteed a home game in the first two rounds of the Top 16 play-offs used to decide the season’s league champions. In the first round Cas struggled to a 14-10 win over Hull thanks to a Keith Hepworth try five minutes from time. Then they finally returned to top form in the next round scoring 50 points against a Swinton team that had finished the league season in 5th place. This was followed by an even better performance just a week before Wembley. An 18-6 win at St Helens in the play-off semi-final secured a place in the Championship Final for the first time since 1939. Leeds would be the opponents a week after The Challenge Cup Final. The win over Saints was achieved despite the absence of key forwards Johnny Ward, Brian Lockwood and Malcolm Reilly. One of the replacements, 22-year-old Dennis Harris, was outstanding and his performance brought him into the reckoning for a Cup Final place.

Tickets like gold dust

Off the field, the town was gripped by “Wembley Fever” during the weeks leading up to the final. The club’s initial ticket allocation of 3,000 seating tickets and 8,000 standing tickets had been sold in double quick time. A further allocation of 4,000 standing tickets priced at 5 shillings (25 pence) received from Rugby League Headquarters were also quickly snapped up. Local printer Gideon Shaw produced a range of free car stickers bearing a number of different slogans celebrating the team’s appearance in the final. Around 60,000 were printed and could be seen in almost every car and shop window in town, with some requested from places as far away as Portsmouth and Glasgow. Good luck messages were received from Castlefordians across the globe. They included messages from the widow of 1935 cup winner Leslie Adams from her home in Australia and 1939 Championship Finalist Ted Brindle who was by then living in South Africa. One man from Canada sent a 20 Dollar postal order (at the time worth £7 14 shillings and 6 pence) to go to the Castleford player who got most votes for the Lance Todd Trophy, and one man who had emigrated to Australia two years earlier arrived out of the blue at his mother’s house in Airedale just five days before the final, determined not to miss the match. But he said his greatest challenge wasn’t the 12,000 mile journey he’d just made; it was getting his hands on a Wembley ticket!

The week before the final, coach Derek Turner announced the names of the Wembley squad. The starting thirteen from the semi-final plus substitutes Trevor Bedford and Frank Fox were joined by Dennis Harris, Ron Willett and 20-year-old half back Glyn Jones in the party which travelled south on Thursday, 15th May. Hundreds of supporters turned out to see the team leave the North Eastern Hotel on Station Road at 9am. After stopping for lunch in Cambridge the team arrived at their home for the next two days, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, later that afternoon. This was where both Featherstone Rovers and Leeds had stayed prior to their cup final wins in 1967 and 1968, which everyone hoped would be a good omen. The team trained on Thursday evening and were taken to visit Wembley Stadium on the Friday morning to prepare for the big day.

Meanwhile, back in Castleford, the supporters were starting their journey south. A fleet of 150 buses and seven trains were on hand to transport the 15,000-strong army to London. Virtually every pub and club in the area had arranged trips to the final and many local businesses closed on match day so their employees were free to watch the match.

When the team for the final was announced there was one surprise selection. The starting thirteen was to be the same line-up that beat Wakefield Trinity in the semi-final, but there was to be a change on the substitutes’ bench. Despite faultless performances in two of the earlier rounds, Trevor Bedford was replaced by Dennis Harris. He had not appeared in any of the earlier rounds but had performed strongly when deputising for more senior players in the weeks leading up to the final. He was also able to play in either the three-quarters or the forwards, and this versatility was the factor that gave him the edge over the unlucky Bedford.

Castleford: 1 Edwards 2 Briggs 3 Howe 4 Thomas 5 Lowndes 6 Hardisty 7 Hepworth 8 Hartley 9 Dickinson 10 Ward 11 Redfearn 12 Lockwood 13 Reilly Subs: 14 Harris 15 Fox (both unused)

Salford: 1 Gwilliam 2 Burgess 3 Whitehead 4 Hesketh 5 Jackson 6 Watkins 7 Brennan 8 Ogden 9 Dickens 10 Bott 11 Coulman 12 Dixon 13 Hill Subs: 14 Rabbitt 15 Smethurst (both unused)

Referee: D S Brown (Preston)

Attendance: 97,939

And so at shortly before 3pm on 17th May the teams from Castleford and Salford made the long walk from the Wembley dressing rooms to be greeted by a capacity crowd – the first for a Rugby League Challenge Cup final. Beneath their black tracksuit tops the Castleford team wore white shirts with a black and amber ‘V’, the same design as those worn by their predecessors in 1935. The Cas team was made up mainly of local players signed from local junior rugby. Only Tony Thomas and Dennis Hartley had needed transfer fees to be paid, to Wakefield and Hunslet respectively. In contrast, the Salford team had been assembled at great cost. In addition to big money signings from other rugby league clubs, such as Burgess from Barrow, Hesketh from Wigan and Dixon from Halifax, the cup final team also included big signings from rugby union. Ex-British Lions captain David Watkins captained the team and a second British Lion Mike Coulman partnered Dixon in the second row.

Tryless Salford

Many pundits were predicting a fast, free-flowing match as both teams had a reputation for playing open, attacking rugby. However, as the game got underway it was clear that both teams were more intent on victory than losing with style. Both sides conceded early penalties and ex-Castleford player Ron Hill gave Salford an early lead by converting one of them. Then came the only try of the first half. From a scrum, Malcolm Reilly and Alan Hardisty combined to create the space for Keith Howe to reach the try line. However, Mick Redfearn failed with the conversion attempt and shortly after Hill kicked a second penalty to give Salford a 4-3 half time lead. Having come from behind in earlier rounds, Cas were still confident of victory. And within ten minutes of the start of the second half they were back in front. Reilly took a short pass from Hardisty and made one of many charges at the Salford defence. He broke a couple of attempted tackles, including one from Salford scrum-half Brennan which resulted in him being catapulted over Reilly’s shoulder, before a well-timed pass back to Hardisty sent the Cas captain under the posts without a finger being laid on him. Redfearn’s conversion gave Cas an 8-4 lead. Although Salford threatened the Cas line they didn’t manage to cross it. They only managed a third penalty by Hill before Johnny Ward baffled the Salford defence before disguising a pass to Keith Hepworth to score a third try for Cas. A few minutes later the full-time whistle blew and Cas were 11-6 winners, finally ending the 34-year wait. Malcolm Reilly’s all action display earned him the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match – and, presumably, the 20 dollars from the supporter in Canada! Alan Hardisty was presented with the trophy by Sir Denis Blundell, the High Commissioner for New Zealand, before the team set off on the traditional lap of honour.

Bringing home the cup

The celebrations continued afterwards with a banquet at the Piccadilly Hotel in central London. In addition to the players, club officials and their wives, the function was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Castleford and the Chairman of the Rugby League Council, Mr J Jepson. After a day of recovery on Sunday, the team returned to Castleford on Monday, 19th May. They travelled up the A1 as far as Barnsdale Bar before transferring to an open-topped bus for the final few miles of the journey through Pontefract and on to Castleford. After encountering large crowds of supporters in Pontefract the route took the team to Airedale and along Queen’s Park Drive and Ferrybridge Road into Castleford town centre. At this point the size of the crowds brought the bus to a standstill. The journey along Carlton Street took 30 minutes, followed by another 20 minutes along Bridge Street and Pontefract Road. The bus finally turned into the grounds of Castleford Boys County Secondary School, where a Civic Reception was to take place. An estimated 10,000 supporters had gathered here to welcome the team, and the players and officials left the bus to emerge on the school roof where a number of them made speeches as they displayed the trophy. The entourage finally disappeared inside for the Civic Reception. One nice touch was the attendance at the reception of eight of the nine surviving members of the 1935 cup winning team. After so much effort to win the cup, the club were determined to keep it safe. So as everyone finally made their way home, the cup was taken to the local police station where it was locked up for the night!