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Thanks in it now

Up the Trin

What a heart breaking watch, the missed goal kick has to be the most replayed clip of a R.L. game ever, & probably forever!

The obstruction try, I’ve watched it time & time again & I don’t think taking off the rose tinted glasses will ever change my mind. I would love to see the current refs analyse the clip & give their opinion, just to put it to bed once & for all.

Interestingly for me, (I was only six at the time) I was always told that Neil Fox was injured for the final, imagine the outcry if that were to happened nowadays!

Anyhow, I’m going to watch the full game now, a masochistic ‘till the end.

Filled up with tears watching it, a very good documentary makes you realise what a great club we have.

RIP Don Fox

Up the Trin

Groin injury 2 games previously, then was told if he didn’t play in the game before the final he wouldn’t play in the final, so he played but obviously wasn’t fit for the final so Don was kicking and sadly the rest is history

I was a bit surprised at Alan Smith as I was always under the impression that he was a Wakey lad. in which case I would have expected a little more sympathy. As I recall Leeds got him from Brooke House ARLFC. It still hurts very much to see that footage.
It was nice to see a programme where "Leeds" were not the stars of the show for a change.

Totally agree. I remember the injustice of the penalty try decision. I was at the game and was heart broken for Don.

still gutted to this day and refuse to watch the game again. The arrogance of the Leeds players, who were gifted the result was unbelievable.

That game was the really the end of of Wakefield trinitys dominance of the game in the 1960s it really set the club back and I really don't think the club has really recovered from it .

I thought it was an excellent documentary every Wakefield fan should watch. Especially the ones who come on here and slag players off just because of one bad performance. I was there at Wembley 50 years ago and it brought lots of memories back. Players had so much pride in their performance then but I still think most players still do and although some criticism is valid it's important not to make it too personal.

Every single point Leeds got came from the ref. People talk about bias in favour of the big clubs now but it was unbelievable back then in game after game regarding Leeds.

I'm just not old enough to "feel" it.
I've got a lot of empathy for the thing but the story to me is a human one, not necessarily a Wakefield Trinity one.
Yeah, Wakey are involved but I don't think I'd feel any different about it were it Hull, Dewsbury, Halifax or anybody else.
For me its about Don Fox, the fact he played for Wakey is kinda moot.
Its a good piece by the beeb on its 50th anniversary...

You must have a heart of stone not to feel that.



As other posters have suggested, Leeds have been getting the rub of the green for decades.

Just watched it again love the heritage of our great club. Great documentary emotional inspiring and informative.

Up the Trin

You need to be of a certain age Upandunder. Are you saying that you'd have had the same sentiment if it had happened to Sam Tomkins, Kevin Sinfield or Luke Gale? I wasn't there myself as I was married two months later and the money was needed, but it still touches a raw nerve and I still feel great compassion for DF. Nice to see the old newsreel film of the city as it used to be before it was ruined.

What happened before the 80's was before my time.
I don't feel hard done to as a trinity fan for that game, I feel for Don Fox.
And yeah, Leeds have been getting the rub for as long as I can remember but I don't remember the 60's, I wasn't born.
That's not to say I don't appreciate Trinity's heritage, I just can't get worked up about the loss, Don's predicament drives a coach and horses through it.
People are more important....

I hadn't intended going myself till I went into the George Hotel on the moor Friday night, the landlord and 3 others were going down in the car Sat morning and one of them could not make it so I went instead, my only real concern apart from Neil not playing was Hebblethaite from York the referee, I knew a lot depended on him from the clubs past experiences' with him and how well he proved us right, as for Don Fox human nature being what it is I'm ashamed to say for a day or two after I had very little sympathy just a numbness at being cheated.

Well I was thinking more along the lines of a game before my time, substitute Halifax for Wakey, or Leeds even, but if I'm gonna be honest, I wouldn't want any player to be effected by an event like Don was, Sinfield, Gale or Tomkins, they're just blokes like me and you underneath it all.
It would be unkind to say if you're tough enough to take the kick you ought to be tough enough to accept the consequence of missing it, which is true, but we're not all made the same, I dunno how an event like that would effect Sinfield, Gale or Tomkins.
Don couldn't get over it that's for sure, 22 years later back at Wembly taking the kick for that interview in 1990, the torture was etched in his face..


I dunno how it could have been different though, apart from not missing of course, and there's always the thought that mebbe if it wasn't that event that broke him, it would have been something else, such was his nature/disposition.

Yeah, I agree with you totally on the personal effect it had on Don, or indeed any other kicker, but what made it so much more "personal" to a fan like me and my contempararies was the whole unique events of the day, and that it happened to MY team. My ex-boss lived on the same road in Purston as Don and he told me that he was never the same man after that incident. I think the documentary was really well made and really captured the "feeling" of that day.

Indeed. Contrast that with the toasting some gave Scott Grix for his unfortunate mistake v St Helens in that crucial Super 8 game last season.

What a superb documentary. I had a tear in my eye more than once. I was only 5 and vaguely recall being sat with my Dad whilst he watched it on TV. I can't recall his reaction! I suspect he may have left the room!
Most touching was Neil's reactions; the obvious love for his brother and that comment 'I wished it had been me'. And I have never seen that footage of Don kicking it in 1990 in his dress shoes and trousers then doing an ironic celebration. Bless him and rest in peace Don

I was there. The thing that I'd not realised and that really stood out on the documentary was Don Fox's attitude at the last kick off after the Leeds score. One minute left on the clock but he still hadn't given up. He contrived a trick to get the ball back from the ko which led to Ken Hirst scoring and the rest's history. I was 14 and I cried my eyes out - for myself, for the team but mostly for Don Fox. Great documentary about a great player.

Watched both earlier on today and had a lump in my throat just watching the crowds both at Wembley and belle view and the atmosphere. It was stuff dreams are made of, local hero’s playing for their local team.
The likes of which will not to be repeated I guess.
When I hear of people dismissing the relevance of the challenge cup I think they do a disservice to the memory’s of players who have give their all for our great club.

At one of the Wakefield Literary Festival days at the Red Shed, Neil said something along the lines of "I wished it had been me, I could have lived with it, Don couldn't"

Hats off to whomever produced that documentary - it was very well done, and very moving.

Well before my time, but my Mum was a big fan - she's never forgiven the referee for the obstruction try; you can watch the footage over and over and fail to see what he thought he saw. On that basis, the fateful kick to win the game should never even have happened - and to see the effect it had on Don Fox for years afterwards was very sad. Poor lad indeed.