BACK in 1968 on the fourth of May I was at Headingley to see Wakefield Trinity defeat Hull KR 17-10 in the Rugby League Championship Final.

It was a great game, with great players such as Neil Fox, Ian Brooke, Harold Poynton and the South African winger Gert Coetzer playing for Wakefield, while the Robins had equally great players such as Roger Millward, Phil Lowe, Peter Flanagan and Frank Foster. Wakefield fullback Gary Cooper was the player of the match and he was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy.

I was a young lad in those days and I would never have imagined that I would have to wait 58 years to witness Trinity again becoming the Rugby League Champions.

But fortunately I’m still here and on Saturday I did just that.

And the great thing was that the stage in 2026 at Old Trafford was so much bigger than it was at Headingley in 1968,

Played in a packed stadium with more than 71,000 people in attendance, it seemed like a much bigger event.

I was also at Headingley a year earlier for the Championship Final at Headingley on 6th May in 1967, when Wakefield drew with St Helens 7-7 after being awarded a hotly disputed try by Ray Owen that led to a replay at Swinton’s historic Station Road ground the following Wednesday.

The replay was played in front of 33,537 fans and Wakefield emerged triumphant 21-9 against a Saints team that had some wonderful stars, including Tommy Bishop, Tom van Vollenhoven, the Barrow brothers (Frank and Tony), Cliff Watson, Ray French and John Mantle.

My main memory is of Ian Brooke scoring two tries and Ray Owen winning the Harry Sunderland Trophy after giving an outstanding performance.

I wonder how many other people who were at Old Trafford on Saturday were also at those earlier Championship Finals.

But it’s quite remarkable to think that after those two triumphs Wakefield wouldn’t win another major trophy until this season.

And I suppose it would be equally true for any Warrington supporter who saw their last Championship triumph against Oldham at Maine Road in 1955. My colleague Ian Wilson, who writes match reports from Oldham for League Express, was present at that game as a nine-year-old boy. It was his first ever Rugby League match.

Although Warrington have never won the Championship since 1955, in contrast they have won the Challenge Cup on many occasions, so they didn’t go into Saturday’s game as bereft of trophies as Trinity did.

As for the game itself, I suspect that Tom Johnstone has sealed his position in the England World Cup squad with his brilliant performance and I will be interested to see whether any other Trinity stars have played themselves into the squad.

The prospect of Johnstone playing for England outside Herbie Farnworth is something to truly look forward to, although there are rumours that Johnstone may have pulled out of the England squad because of injury.

I hope those rumours are untrue.

And congratulations to Tyson Smoothy, who becomes only the second player to win an NRL Grand Final (with Brisbane last year) and a Super League Grand Final in successive years. The only other player who did that was Ben Harris, who won the NRL Grand Final in 2004 with Canterbury Bulldogs and the Super League Grand Final in 2005 with Bradford Bulls.

What has really struck me about Saturday’s game, following on from Hull KR’s triumph in 2025, is that the Super League competition is demonstrating more depth now than it has throughout its existence, with probably half the clubs in the competition being able to look ahead to next year’s Super League with a genuine chance of winning it.

And I hope that that number can soon be extended to ten clubs and then to all 14 or 15, depending on how many clubs are in the competition.

Last week, the RFL’s new chief executive started in the job.

He would have been at the game on Saturday and I hope that the game convinced him that he really does have something that is truly worth selling and investing in.

London Broncos can’t remain in limbo

London Broncos defeated Doncaster 78-6 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium to win the Championship Grand Final on Sunday.

It now seems that the only obstacle to the NRL’s proposed deal with the RFL, which is now reputed to be worth about £60 million over five years, is the status of the Broncos, whether they will be in Super League next season and, if so, how they will be funded.

The NRL has said that their presence in Super League is a pre-condition of the deal going through and, when you look at that scoreline against Doncaster, it’s blindingly obvious that they should be in Super League in 2027.

The proposed NRL deal will put more money in every club’s pocket and if the price of having the Broncos in the competition is that the distribution will be split 15 ways rather than 14, then the clubs should be prepared to make that decision.

As things stand no one can be sure what will happen in 2027 and that is a crazy situation.

The Broncos’ presence in Super League will be a long-term benefit for the competition and in particular the value of its broadcast rights.

The clubs should resist the temptation to keep putting their heads in the sand.