Interesting Q&A from our former hooker: https://www.totalrl.com/rugby-league-he ... h-bridges/ For FC fans of a certain age

Interesting Q&A from our former hooker: https://www.totalrl.com/rugby-league-he ... h-bridges/ For FC fans of a certain age

I hate it when a player from the past is the title of a thread without any context.

My first thought is always that they have died.

What a great article! I can't believe this dad played with Keith Hepworth because I remember Keith playing for us in the late 1970's!

I can't believe Keith was only 31 when he played for us, he looked like he was in his late fifties!

That final in 83 still haunts me. Terry (think that was his name)Hudson should have been red carded for his kick on Kevin Harkin, and a great Hull team, probably at the peak of the Hull 80's teams, managed to lose after gaining the upper hand. A lot of people were adamant that the Featherstone contingent in our team that day "threw" the game, after Charlie Stone headbutted someone in kickable range, but I doubt that was the case, they looked hungover to be truthful! On the way to the ground were talking to a lot of their fans on the tube and for the majority their main concern was keeping the score line respectable, so we were a bit modest , saying things like "Oh well just enjoy the day" and "Anything can happen" , without truly believing we could fail to win handsomely, such was the gulf in class between the two teams. Little did we know eh?

I remember he had grey hair. Wikipedia says he made his Cas debut in 1958 so either that's wrong or he must have been in his late 30's.

.... that was his dad.

People go on about Wigan v Sheffield in 1998 but the Hull v Featherstone final was probably the bigger shock. We'd won fifteen out of the previous sixteen games running up to the Final and just won the league whereas Featherstone finished 12th. We beaten Fev in the three previous games between us that season. A devastating defeat and the following week we got beat by Widnes in the Premiership Trophy Final.

I guess we just turned up expecting to win.

hes right about there was more flair then.a part time mick crane had more flair and skill than any player today.

Hudson had already straight armed Topliss and virtually put him out of the game. The kick on Harkin’s head went unpunished if I remember through my alcohol fuelled memory but and it’s a big BUT, Charlie Stone did not head-but the player in the tackle, blood was already streaming down Steve Quinn’s (believe that was him) face and when Charlie stood up the ref saw the blood and gave the penalty, it happened right in front of me. He got up and kicked the winning penalty. It was just another Wembley freeze in a long line of them. Thank God for Radford.

We had a huge support at Wembley that day. Not only did we fill the Hull end, we also had a third of the Featherstone end. We’d been crowned Champions the week before and Hull were the hottest favourites ever for the Cup.

Featherstone started brightly and went ahead, then Terry Hudson stuck the boot in on Harkin. Think we were down 5-0 at half time. Paul Rose was the first player to be sin binned in a final. Hudson eventually found his way into the bin. However, we game out flying in the second half with Leulai in under the sticks and (Crooks) penalty try. It looked like we were going to run riot. However, Featherstone dug in and fought back to level it up.

With 3 minutes to go, I think Charlie Stone head butted Peter Smith in the tackle near our sticks and Quinn kicked the goal.

On the day Featherstone deserved to win.

Just one of my memories during the 80's. Came from Aus to see the 4 games( 1 draw and 3 losses) at Wembley. The attendance at the Featherstone match was the only one less than 90,000.

Another memory takes me back to childhood when one of my favourite Hull players in the 40's was fullback Freddie Miller who followed in the footsteps of one of my dad's favourite players, Joe Oliver. Freddie moved on to Featherstone and I went to see him play at Wembley against Workington in 1952. His team were beaten that day.

Freddie was at Hull in 1935 when they finished league leaders and won the Championship. Joe Oliver played at fullback in that final against Widnes and my dad was at the game.

I'm afraid your memory is badly letting you down there! The player that Charlie Stone head butted was Peter Smith not Steve Quinn, and the penalty was on the touch judge's intervention and he was already on the field before Smith had even stood up again, it was nothing to do with seeing the blood. If you watch the replay of the final (and I have many times 'cos I'm a Fev fan!) Smith's face was unmarked literally 30 seconds before he took that carry and then he was covered in blood immediately afterwards.

That said, the ref had been hoodwinked literally a minute beforehand - David Hobbs had dropped what should have been the match winning drop goal, you can see Whitfield get the handkerchief out to award the goal, and then a Hull player claimed he had touched the ball and the ref swallowed it (replays showed he hadn't touched it) and awarded a drop out.

No consolation to you guys, but one of the greatest days of my life. I'd travelled up to Barrow to watch us try and stave off relegation a couple of weeks before and we'd failed to score a point, we only stae dup because you guys beat Barrow the following week. I could scarcely believe the transformation at Wembley.

Sad how many of the major players from that final are no longer with us. Steve Quinn, Charlie Stone, Dave Topliss, Steve Evans and Ken Kellett, all great players.

Was an interesting article , you certainly paid a decent fee for him. Still , at the time both Rovers and FC were probably paying over the odds for many players.