Super League, and one of its best players, hit very different 500 landmarks at Knowsley Road on June 6th, 1999
WHILE it has taken Rugby League World 48 years to reach its 500th issue, it took Super League just short of three and a half seasons to reach its 500th game.
When we set out to establish what the landmark game was going to be, we did wonder if we’d be able to definitively pin it down to one game, but fortunately for us, and this feature, we were able to.
Making sure we took into account the multiple mid-week games played in the previous month, we worked out that the fourth game played in round 13 of the 1997 season would be the special game. But that fourth game fell on a Sunday – June 6th to be precise – a day when typically lots of rugby is played. But luckily, of the four top flight games scheduled for that day, they all had staggered kick of times so the first – St Helens v Salford Red was the one.
Had we tried to focus pre-summer era for the 500th game of rugby league played we would have had an issue, with the Rugby League Record Keepers club informing us: “It’s from the second season in 1896-97, when all games kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday, so it would be a tie for all the 15 league games played on September 12th, 1896.”
So Salford’s visit to Knowsley Road it is, and on the face of it a 48-0 win for the hosts was perhaps not as exciting a spectacle as the milestone maybe deserved, but fittingly the game saw Sean Long score his 500th point for the club in just his 64th game for them. He kicked six successful goals, with his fifth taking him to the personal landmark.
Despite what the final scoreline might suggest, Salford started strongly, as they had on other occasions that season, but once again failed to take their early chances and were made to pay for it, when Saints took the lead through Chris Smith on 18 minutes.
Saints never looked back and Sonny Nickle and Kevin Iro bagged further first half tries before Smith got a second with just minutes left before the break.
That had virtually sewn the game up for Saints, but they did not let up in the second half and when Tommy Martyn showed great balance and vision to send Paul Davidson in for a try just minutes after the restart Salford’s heads could’ve dropped, but instead they held out for another 10 minutes before Smith completed his hat-trick, quickly followed by Martyn’s chip kick through put Fereti Tuilagi over.
The final quarter saw tries for Paul Newlove and Keiron Cunningham, and despite a late rally, Salford couldn’t stop themselves from being “zilled” a phase coined by a delighted Saints coach Ellery Hanley afterwards.
The win saw St Helens retain a three-point lead at the top of the table with 16 weeks left. They eventually lost that position to Bradford Bulls, who finished the year five points clear of second-placed Saints. But when the two met in the Grand Final at Old Trafford that October, it was Saints that took the title with a 8-6 win.
ST HELENS 48 SALFORD REDS 0
Sunday June 6th, 1999
SAINTS: 26 Paul Wellens, 14 Chris Smith, 3 Kevin Iro, 4 Paul Newlove, 19 Anthony Stewart, 20 Tommy Martyn, 7 Sean Long, 10 Julian O’Neill, 9 Keiron Cunningham, 21 Sonny Nickle, 2 Fereti Tuilagi, 8 Apollo Perelini, 11 Chris Joynt. Subs (all used): 12 Paul Davidson, 29 Tim Jonkers, 25 Mark Edmondson, 30 Scott Barrow.
Tries: Smith (18, 38, 53), Nickle (21), Iro (36), Davidson (42), Tuilagi (59), Newlove (67), Cunningham (70); Goals: Long 6.
REDS: 5 Bobby Thompson, 28 Mark Johnson, 22 Stuart Littler, 1 Gary Broadbent, 3 Paul Carige, 20 Simon Svabic, 7 Martin Crompton, 10 Craig Makin, 9 Malcolm Alker, 25 Paul Southern, 11 Hudson Smith, 19 Joe Faimalo, 12 Darren Brown. Subs (all used): 8 Neil Baynes, 15 Paul Highton, 18 Esene Faimalo, 26 Carl Briggs.
League Express Men of the Match: Saints: Chris Joynt; Reds: Martin Crompton
Referee: Stuart Cummings; Penalty Count: 11-6; Half-time 22-0; Attendance: 7,402
500th game of rugby league
Fixtures for September 12th, 1896 (Courtesy of the Rugby League Record Keepers Club)
Morecambe v Widnes
Runcorn v Swinton
Salford v Oldham
St Helens v Rochdale Hornets
Stockport v Wigan
Tyldesley v Broughton Rangers
Warrington v Leigh
Bradford v Hull
Bramley v Batley
Brighouse Rangers v Leeds Parish Church
Huddersfield v Heckmondwike
Hunslet v Halifax
Leeds v Manningham
Liversedge v Holbeck
Wakefield Trinity v Castleford
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 500 (September 2024)
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