The 50th anniversary of Dewsbury’s greatest success is getting ever closer.
But will the Rams be playing in the basement division as they look back at the halcyon days when they were top of the tree?
Back in 1972/73, the men from Crown Flatt – ironically named because, much like at neighbours Batley, the pitch at their old ground had a pronounced slope – pulled off one of Rugby League’s biggest-ever shocks by becoming league champions.
Going into the 16-team play-offs from a final position of eighth, after defeating ninth-placed Oldham, they won at league runners-up Featherstone Rovers, then table-topping Warrington.
That sealed an Odsal meeting with third-placed Leeds in what was to be the last of the old Championship Finals (the league split into two for the following campaign and the use of play-offs to determine the title wasn’t reintroduced until the 1998 Super League season).
Many reckoned Dewsbury had reached their zenith by edging out Warrington and believed backing up that victory by defeating Leeds, who had thumped them 36-9 in the Yorkshire Cup final (it was three points for a try at the time), would be a step too far.
But coach Tommy Smales, the former Barrow and Featherstone loose-forward, came up with a tactical masterplan of scissors moves and dummy passes which his players, including the lethal Stephenson duo, centre Nigel and hooker and future Sky Sports pundit Mick, followed to perfection.
Nigel, who was to represent England in the 1975 World Cup, claimed a try, four conversions and a field goal (worth two points) while Mick, who had helped Great Britain win the 1972 tournament, crossed twice as Dewsbury won 22-13 to put red, amber and black ribbons on the handsome title trophy.
Benefiting from the spadework of forwards such as Harry Beverley, Jeff Grayshon and John Bates, stand-off Alan Agar scored the other try.
And 27 years later, his son Richard – last week in the news in unhappier circumstances after standing down as coach of Leeds – landed the late field-goal which clinched a 13-12 win over Leigh in the 2000 Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final at Gigg Lane, Bury.
Dewsbury, coached by Neil Kelly, who is currently preparing Cornwall for their League One bow against North Wales Crusaders at Colwyn Bay on Saturday, and whose side included captain and fullback Nathan Graham, who is current team chief Lee Greenwood’s assistant, halfback maestro Barry Eaton and loose-forward Damian Ball, hoped the victory had earned them a place in Super League.
With what is now the Tetley’s Stadium, opened in 1994, not meeting the RFL’s top-flight requirements, the club proposed a groundshare with Sheffield Eagles at the Don Valley Stadium until the necessary improvements were made.
But the governing body rejected the proposal, and Dewsbury, having invested heavily in their squad in the hope of making the promised land, were left in a precarious position.
Kelly left for Widnes while amid financial pressure, the team who had also won the Trans-Pennine Cup (for non-Super League teams) in 2000 was broken up.
The first of so far two stints in the third tier started after relegation in 2003, and while the club has played in the Championship since 2010, it took a late-season surge to escape the relegation zone last year.
This time around, with injuries biting deep (against Newcastle Thunder last time out, Dewsbury were missing at least half a dozen players who would ordinarily have made the starting side) there has been just one victory in six attempts in the league (visitors Sheffield Eagles were edged out 12-10 in round three).
And the chance of a potentially lucrative Challenge Cup run was ended by a fourth-round defeat at Workington Town.
That said, Newcastle were made to work hard for their 24-22 win in West Yorkshire.
And former England back Greenwood, who coached leading amateurs Siddal in the National Conference League and Gloucestershire All Golds in League One before his appointment at the Tetley’s Stadium in October 2018 (he has also been an assistant coach at both Batley Bulldogs and Halifax Panthers, for whom he played) will hope more of his reshaped squad are available for his side’s tough-looking next match at Leigh Centurions on Friday.
And Dewsbury, who operate to one of the tightest budgets in the Championship, will also hope to benefit further from their dual-registration partnership with Super League club Hull KR.
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