Sporting Heritage Day 2024: A Reight Yorkshire Affair

Every year, September 30 is National Sporting Heritage Day. The Wakefield district has a wealth of sporting heritage! 

While the likes of Rugby League, Sykes and Slazenger are pretty well known, here we're shining a light on two of our region's more unusual sporting events.

They feature in our latest displays at Castleford Museum and the new Ossett Library Museum Hub - and have suitably Yorkshire names!

Ah’ll race thee!

We're celebrating the World Coal Carrying Championships in the newly refurbished and reopened Ossett Library in Ossett Town Hall.

 

The 'Ah'll race thee!' display at Ossett Library

Every Easter Monday the village of Gawthorpe comes together to stage the World Coal Carrying championships.

What could be more Yorkshire than running up a steep hill with a heavy bag of coal on your back after making a bet in a pub?

That pub bet in the 1960s has turned into a Guiness World Record annual sporting event!

The main adult race is a gruelling challenge. Contestants carry a bag of coal from the Royal Oak pub on Owl Lane in Ossett to the Maypole Green in Gawthorpe. 

The route covers 1012 metres. Men carry 50 kilograms of coal and women carry 20 kilograms. Each year a pigeon clock records the official race times.

The race is much more than a sports competition. Athletes take part for lots of different reasons. They run for charity, personal improvement, or on behalf of a loved one who no longer can.

David Jones’ Guinness World Record time of four minutes and six seconds was set in 1995 and still stands today!

See what happened in the 2022 event, the first after the COVID-19 lockdowns, in our video:

A Reight Neet Aht! at Castleford Museum

Between 1936 and 1957 Castleford held a star-studded sporting event.

Since 1932 the game of marbles has been officially classified as a sport. Local journalist Sid Colclough got the community together to host an annual marbles (or taws) tournament each year as a charity event.

The event was the talk of Yorkshire. The cinema and music hall star, Gracie Fields was a patron. In 1940, the star guest was entertainer, George Formby. 

In 1955 Chairman of the Daimler motorcar company, Sir Bernard and Lady Docker, attended the event, arriving in a golden car. They played marbles, resting their knees on golden cushions. Lady Docker became Women’s world taws champion, and they donated £1000 towards cancer relief.

Find out more about the fabulous 1955 event in this video:

In 1956 the event was given a ‘zebra’ theme, some marbles even had zebra stripes. Even cars arrived reupholstered with zebra skins!

Explore more about A Reight Neet Aht in our dedicated blog, or visit the new display and get your gladrags on at Castleford Museum.

The 'Reight Neet Aht' display at Castleford Museum

Wakefield's Sporting Heritage

When it comes to sporting heritage, Wakefield District has lots to celebrate… even more than you might think!

We've dug out some sporty showpieces from our collection, many of which also feature in our 100 Years of Collecting Online Exhibition.

We are Rugby League

The Wakefield district is often defined by Rugby League. It both unites and divides our communities.

David Storey encapsulates this in his classic 1960 gritty northern novel, This Sporting Life:

Our copy of This Sporting Life, on display at Wakefield Museum

The story follows a Wakefield Trinity player as he navigates his sporting career and his love life. In 1963 a film version starring Richard Harris was released to rave reviews. 

Belle Vue stadium features as a key location in the film and many residents remember being paid to attend as extras in the stands.

Most local people are close followers of one of the big three teams: Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers. 

We have some fantastic objects telling the stories of the clubs, covering their historic victories and record-breaking achievements.

Iconic objects include this thick woollen jersey worn by Wakefield Trinity’s Harper Oliver Hamshaw way back in the 1880s: 

Harper Oliver Hamshaw's rugby jersey

This was a time when Trinity shaped the creation of professional rugby league by paying their star player, three-quarter back, Edward ‘Teddy’ Bartram, a salary of £52. This made him the first professional rugby league player.

Professional sport would be nothing without the supporters! 

Telling local fans' stories is just as important as that of the players. This rosette was proudly worn by a Featherstone Rovers supporter when Fev reached the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final in 1974:

A fan's Featherstone Rovers rosette from the 1974 Rugby League Challenge Cup Final

Local players didn't only capture hearts and minds - they smashed records. 

This rugby ball was used by Arthur ‘Brus’ Atkinson to make a record goal kick of 75 yards in Castleford's victory against St. Helens, on 26 October 1929. 

The record still stands 94 years later!

Arthur Atkinson's record-breaking rugby ball

But - it's not just rugby league Wakefield makes waves in!

Super Sharp Shooter: Stephanie Park

Stephanie Park nee Hopley (1940-2012) was a nurse and midwife in Wakefield. After losing a leg following an accident, she took up competitive shooting. Stephanie went on to become the World Disabled Champion in target shooting in 1987 and the winner of the Cardiff Open Shoot in 1989. This was the first sports event in which disabled and non-disabled competitors took part equally. 

She was also a world champion athlete in field sports and archery.

Stephanie in action

She hit all 10 shots through the central ring of this target shot at the 1989 National Small Bore Rifle Association Championship, and rightfully kept it as a souvenir! It features in our 100 Years of Collecting Online Exhibition:

Stephanie's keepsake target shot from the 1989 National Small Bore Rifle Association Championship 

Stephanie was also a disability rights campaigner and community leader. Her proud son Daniel kindly donated her archive to our collection in 2014.

Click here to read more about Stephanie's incredible life and career. 

Tour de Force: Barry Hoban

Barry Hoban is a former professional cyclist from Wakefield who rode during the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

He holds the record for the most Tour de Frances completed by a British rider – having finished 11 of the 12 he started between 1965 and 1978. 

He was also the first Briton to win two consecutive stages of the Tour, a feat not matched until 2008!

A display from 2014 showcasing Barry Hoban, featuring one of his bikes and jerseys

A Supporting Role: Sykes & Slazenger

As well as our sporting stars and top teams, Wakefield District has a very proud heritage of sports manufacturing.

In 1870 a saddler’s apprentice from Horbury founded William Sykes Ltd. Soon he was the chairman of a thriving international business. Sykes produced equipment for a huge variety of sports, from billiards to boxing, crown green bowling to croquet. 

A vintage Sykes advert from the 1930s

Sykes eventually became part of the Dunlop Slazenger empire, pioneering ground breaking new products and technologies. For more than a century, Horbury was a centre of excellence and innovation in sports production, supplying top competitions like the FA Cup and Challenge Cup.

When Australian legend Don Bradman maintained a test cricket batting average of 99.9 over his career (1928 – 1948), he did so using cricket bats made in Horbury. The Don Bradman endorsed signature cricket bat became a very popular and long running brand of bat for Sykes, and continued after the company merged with Slazenger:

A Don Bradman signature cricket bat

When England won the World Cup in 1966, they did so kicking a ball made here in Horbury. We've got one of the footballs made for the Final on display at Wakefield Museum:

One of the Slazenger 4-Star Challenge footballs made for the 1966 World Cup

In 1988 German Tennis ace Steffi Graf became the first (and still only) player to win a Golden Grand Slam (she won each of the four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic Gold medal all in one year). 

She did so using a tennis racket designed and made in Horbury - The Dunlop 200G Max:

A Dunlop 200G Max racket, the type used by Steffi Graf to win her Golden Slam

Read more about Sykes, Slazenger and Dunlop's impact on international tennis

So, yes - we're pretty proud of our sporting heritage!

Find out more:

Stephanie Park's incredible life and career

 

Staff Pick - Wakefield Trinity and Me

Memories from former Slazenger and Dunlop employees 

Transcribing the Sykes Visitor Book

100 Years of Collecting Online Exhibition