A Brief History of 94 years of playing rugby at Milnthorpe Green

This season Sandal RUFC is enjoying its 95th year of rugby at its Milnthorpe Green ground. From small beginnings the Club has progressed to its present day standing of one of the top ten senior sides in Yorkshire.

In the Beginning

Back in June 1927 a former Wakefield RFC member, Mr Claude Beaumont, took up residence in Sandal and sought to found Sandal RUFC by arranging to meet local sportsmen in the Castle Inn to consider his proposal. This they did on 26th August 1927 and at which meeting Sandal RUFC was born.
From its inception the Club obtained the use of an excellent playing area known as the “Tetley Field” and used a beer store of the original Walnut Public House, now a private residence, as its changing rooms. The 2nd XV had to change in an adjacent Joiner’s Shop off Barnsley Road, Wakefield.

Pre - War Years (1927-1941)

From birth the Club made steady progress such that in 1932/33 the Yorkshire Shield was won by beating Scarborough at Bridlington by 13-6. Then in 1933/34 Sandal, now being only six years old, sprang the surprise of the season by reaching the final of the Yorkshire Cup, accounting for Old Bradfordians, Baildon, Batley and Bradford, all away,
in earlier rounds. Unfortunately, the Club was beaten in the final by Otley at Lidget Green, Bradford by 13-3. As the Club’s fortunes advanced a strong feeling arose that a permanent ground should be secured. Attempts were made to purchase the “Tetley Field”, which had been used for four years, but the asking price was excessive. So the late Sir Thomas Pilkington was approached and he agreed to sell another area of land on very generous terms. As a result at a Special General Meeting held on 11th September 1931 it was unanimously resolved to purchase the ground, known today as the 1st XV pitch.
Then on Wednesday evening, 23rd September 1936, the new Ground and Stand were opened, the Ground by J.J.Glendinning, the Yorkshire RFU President, and the Stand by Major L.B.Holliday. The opening was celebrated at Milnthorpe Green by a game between Sandal and Headingley. The visiting side included F.Williams, a Welsh International fly-half and a master at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield. Also playing for the opposition at scrum half was the former founder Sandal player R.M.A.Kingswell, who later became President of the Rugby Football Union.
The Sandal wing threequarters were Jack Holdsworth, later to become President of the Club in 1960 and Prince Alex Oblensky, the Oxford University and England International, who had just returned from a tour of Argentina with the British team. Unfortunately on 29th March 1940, aged 24, he was the first rugby international to be killed in the Second World War, losing his life in a bizarre training accident in his Hawker Hurricane, just outside Ipswich. In spite of having Oblensky in the Sandal XV the hosts lost nil-3.

The War Years (1941-1945)

At the end of the 1940/41 season, Sandal, in common with many other rugby clubs, suspended activities during the war years and commenced playing rugby again at Milnthorpe Green in 1945/46. As a result of the war the Club lost 14 valued players, some of whom had demonstrated a more than average ability.
A plaque bearing the names of those who fell between 1939 and 1945 was dedicated by the Bishop of Pontefract at a service in St Helens Church, Sandal on Sunday 26th October 1947. The plaque currently hangs in the Clubhouse entrance foyer additional facilities of baths and changing rooms were opened. Then during the summer of 1956 a second set of baths and changing rooms were built primarily for the “A” and “B” XV’s and located on land adjacent to the original building.
Steady progress continued to be made throughout the fifties in all quarters of the Club with a highlight victory over Hartlepool Rovers during the 1955/56 season by 14-11 at the Friarage Road Ground. The victory was particularly significant because at the time Hartlepool Rovers was rated in the top 20 clubs in the country and on the day fielded two internationals and six county players.
The 1957/58 season produced more success with the 1st XV defeating Driffield, Old Thornensians, Old Pomfretions and Scarborough in the early rounds of the Yorkshire Cup only to be beaten in the final by Old Roundhegians 11-nil at Lidget Green, Bradford.

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