Michael Hunte came to England from the Caribbean in 1957, aged 12.
A natural at rugby at school and then for Lockwood ARLFC in Huddersfield, he went on to represent Yorkshire and England at open age in the amateur game.
Hunte became Wakefield Trinity’s first black player in 1966, where he spent most of his professional career, although he was regularly hampered by knee problems. He returned to the amateur game with Eastmoor and had a short spell with Dewsbury in 1977.
He is the father of the former Great Britain three-quarter Alan, who is interviewed next week.
If you could relive one day from your career, which would it be?
My second game for Wakefield Trinity, against St Helens. We’d beaten Wigan on my debut when I faced Trevor Lake. This time I was up against Len Killeen, who had just won the Lance Todd Trophy at Wembley, and I scored two tries. I remember the crowd going mad when I ran behind the sticks for one of them. I bought a copy of the Green Final after the game, a newspaper that was printed late on Saturday afternoons, so you could read the report of the match you’d just played in. It said I was the second Billy Boston because I was very strong! Another day I’d happily relive would be being picked on the left wing on 5th November at Central Park to mark Billy, and we won that game too.
Why did your family leave the Caribbean for the UK?
I came here two months off my 13th birthday. My dad arrived 18 months before my mum and the three of us – I had two younger brothers. We knew Henderson Gill’s family back home. Dad was saving up to buy a house before we got there, but my mum got impatient, so we soon followed. We lived on Birkhouse Lane in Huddersfield, and dad bought another house on that street to rent out. My parents ended up with ten kids – they had another seven in England. The last three were triplets. There was a photo of them in the Daily Express because it was so rare then, and mum was 43. My eight brothers and my sister are all still in England apart from one of the triplets, who is in Scotland. Most are in Huddersfield.
When did you start playing rugby?
I started school at Mount Pleasant in August 1957. I’d never seen a rugby ball but by Christmas, I was playing for the Huddersfield town team in the under-13s. I went down to Lockwood one year at the end of the cricket season. George Clayton was the main man there. There was a trial match coming up between the Possibles and the Probables with about 42 players involved. I was told to bring boots, a towel, a jockstrap and trunks, and I would get a game. It was split into four 20-minute sessions, so everyone would play. I ended up playing in them all.
Is it true you lied about your birthplace?
George was impressed with me and reckoned I’d get picked for Yorkshire. But I said I wasn’t born here so I couldn’t play for them. He said, “If anyone asks where you were born, say England.” I objected at first, then went along with it. John Gledhill, who went to the same school as me, was a local newspaper editor. He knew the truth, but he came to interview me, and I had to say I was born in England. I was picked for the Yorkshire open-age amateur team in the 1965-66 season. We lost to Lancashire at Fartown, but we beat Cumberland in Whitehaven. I was then chosen for England Amateurs and we beat France at Wilderspool.
How did your move to Trinity come about?
Frank Dyson took me to Oldham and I did pre-season there in 1966. But George advised me I wasn’t ready and that was the end of my time there. Nippy Walker, a Dewsbury scout, was interested, but I said I was too good for them. He took me to Ken Traill’s pub in Hunslet, The Prospect. Ken was the Trinity coach. He wasn’t there, but his dad phoned the club and I was offered three trial matches. I played a pre-season friendly at Salford when a lot of first-teamers were absent. I played and scored against Hunslet.
What do you remember of your Trinity debut against Wigan?
I was travelling from Huddersfield to Belle Vue on the bus and was playing for the second team. Then I got a telegram saying I had to report to Belle Vue on the Saturday morning, as I was due to play for them against Wigan. I was on the right wing to mark Trevor Lake, the South African, and we beat them. I then signed for £350. I gave my mam some money and she got her first washing machine.
You were Trinity’s first black player. How much racism did you encounter in Rugby League?
There wasn’t much, to be honest. One of the players called me ‘Midnight’ which I didn’t mind. Then he called David Barends the same. David complained to the committee, who put a stop to it. At Eastmoor, I was called a monkey by a team-mate’s wife during a game. I shouted back, “Have you ever been shagged by a monkey?” She went quiet after that! I always stuck up for myself. A Lock Lane player was racist once, so I complained to the ref, and he got sent off. If everyone was white, these people would still find something to call you.
Your career was dogged by knee injuries. Is it true you first injured it chasing one of your brothers around the house?
That’s how I did my cruciate ligament. I’d already had my cartilage out and played in a sevens tournament where I’d had a right battle with the Dewsbury scrum-half Alan Bates. Back home, my brother Martin was tapping the front door with a brush to wind me up. I charged at him, and he went flying. I did my knee because it hadn’t fully recovered from the cartilage.
How did you meet your wife?
I had three knee operations, starting with the cartilage in April. I went into hospital in December 1967 for another op. I couldn’t sleep that night. The sister did her rounds and then sat and chatted with me for 45 minutes. We went on a date when I got out and she ended up being my wife!
How did your knee problems affect you?
Wakefield won their first Championship Final without me in 1967. They won it again in 1968, and I also missed the Watersplash final. After one season back as a winger, I ended up in the pack because I had lost pace. I did play amateur rugby for a long time, but I was a different player because of the knee problems.
Why did you leave Trinity?
I was in the second team and playing well. The club figured no one would buy me because of my bad knee. They told me I had no value, so I decided I didn’t want to stay. York wanted me, but I went to Eastmoor. My first game was against Bisons, who had a 19-year-old Trevor Skerrett playing for them. I was still playing for them at 46.
I did a bit of coaching at Eastmoor too, along with Dave and Keith Holliday. I was initially Dave’s assistant coach. We got to a final in 1975 against Lock Lane at Bus Vale in Leeds. A few of us briefly broke away from Eastmoor and formed our own team, Parkhill Primrose, with Keith as the coach and me as captain. After eight matches, I went to Featherstone Miners Welfare as player-coach. I stayed until the end of the 1975-76 season and went back to Eastmoor. I also went to Dewsbury for a short period in 1977. I later coached the Under-17s at Eastmoor. My son, Alan, and my son-in-law, Steve Race, were in that team, as was Jim Leatham, who went on to play for Leeds and Hull.
Alan went on to have a great career. Did he benefit from your experiences?
I’d like to think he did in terms of turning pro and dealing with clubs. I wish I’d had someone helping me when I signed for Wakefield for £350 in 1966. I found out later I should have got much more.
When Alan first played Under-9s, he ran strong and straight, and I said to my wife, “If he keeps running like that, he’ll be a professional one day.” I played a lot of cricket, so I didn’t see all his games, but he’d often come home and tell me he’d scored four tries. I’d ask how many he let in. I was harsh on him.
He went through the amateur game and was chosen to tour Australia with the Great Britain Under-19s in the summer of 1989. Hunslet and Sheffield wanted him, but we knew he was too good for them. He signed amateur forms for Wakefield, so he could still go on the tour. He played his first match at Castleford in the centre against Shaun Irwin because James Leuluai was injured. He was wrapped up every time he got the ball by Shaun and Rambo Gibbs, but he was sound in defence. His next game was in the Challenge Cup against Batley. He was a sub because Leuluai was fit again. Trinity were terrible in the first half, but Alan came on, made two tries and scored one. We didn’t think Trinity could afford Alan because they had no money, and they were run by the council, but they did offer ten and then 15 grand, which we knocked back.
Leeds invited us to watch a Cup game against Carlisle, but we ended up arguing up with the man on the gate who didn’t want to let the whole family in, even though the club had agreed for five of us to come. And Leeds were unimpressive against Carlisle. Alan met the coach Mal Reilly but told me later he didn’t want to play for him. In the end, Malcolm gave Alan his Great Britain debut!
It came down to Wigan or Saints. Maurice Lindsay couldn’t make it, but he phoned when we were there and promised “a contract beyond Alan’s wildest dreams.” We went to a Saints match a few days later. They offered us 15 grand after the game in the boardroom, but I told them we’d already turned down that amount from Wakefield. They upped it to 20. I told them we were due to go back to Wigan, but Alan took me to one side and told me he didn’t want to play for Wigan. So he signed for St Helens.
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