PHIL HODGSON talks to Trevor Hunt as he prepares to pass on a key role in the community game.
IT’S very doubtful that Trevor Hunt’s links with – and, more importantly, huge contribution to the health of – the National Conference League will come to a complete end at the close of this month.
Shortly before Christmas, he announced he is stepping down as chair (a position he has graced for 18 years) at the annual general meeting at the end of January.
He is likely to be succeeded by Mike Denning, the long-serving chair of Thatto Heath Crusaders and who is the NCL management’s recommendation.
Hunt said: “The passing recently of the NCL president Peter Moran demonstrated the need for some changes at the top.
“Nobody is indestructible or indispensable, and with a number of committee members getting on in years, including myself, I felt it was time to step down and make way for some new blood and new thinking.”
His departure coincides with moves to reorganise the NCL’s club representatives system so that regions rather than divisions will be reflected, while other proposed changes (all aimed at enhancing the competition and its management) will be presented to the clubs for consideration at the AGM.
Hunt reflected: “The management committee is fully behind these changes while Mike Denning has served on the league management as a club representative for many years and will make a good leader for the competition.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time as chair, and hopefully can be involved in another capacity.
“But for now it is important that we encourage individuals to come forward and take up the crucial club rep roles, and especially the position of chair of the NCL.”
Denning is the recommended candidate for the role of chair, while Hunt is being proposed to serve as president.
In the meantime, clubs and interested candidates are encouraged to submit their nominations and related details for any and all management positions.
Formative years
Hunt has come a long way from when, as a five-year-old, he “headed down the side of a railway track with my dad to Hilton Park to watch Leigh, coming back like a chimney sweep covered in dust from playing up and down the cinder slopes at the back of the wooden-sleeper terracing”.
It was there that he watched players such as Ken Boonzaier and Piet Botha from South Africa in addition to Australian Wally Tallis, the father of Gorden Tallis, and Alex Murphy.
Being a leading figure in the NCL is just part of Hunt’s backstory.
He was also central, when with BARLA, in developing Rugby League’s international scene, particularly in the South Pacific and South Africa.
He subsequently became a respected broadcaster and journalist (and the chair of the Rugby League Writers’ and Broadcasters’ Association).
Hunt has, for many years, been a prominent member of the community board and, all the while, somehow found time to enjoy a 40-year career in highway engineering, including a spell as chair of the ERANET Research Committee for the European Union.
But Rugby League, on and off the field, has been central to his life and, as a Leeds University player (and, significantly, secretary) he was selected to play centre for GB Universities against France in Perpignan in 1973.
Joining Leigh Miners in 1974, he initially had his on-field career derailed by peritonitis and a subsequent broken ankle before turning to local journalism and administration.
He recalled: “I formulated and ran the Champions’ Challenge from 1981 to 1984, whereby the top eight BARLA Trophy winners headed to Leigh Miners’ Twist Lane to battle it out pre-season for the Grainey Trophy, and the title Champions of Champions.
“The Trophy winners competing were the BARLA National Cup, Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire County Cup winners and the league champions of the North West Counties, Hull and District, Pennine and Yorkshire Leagues.
“The Miners were hosts and at the time had at least one of those trophies in the cabinet.
“The success of the Champions’ Challenge, and the appetite of clubs to travel to compete against the very best from other regions, was the precursor to the Conference League.
“I was part of the 1985 BARLA working party, as a representative of a leading club, that developed a ten-team competition, commencing in September 1986, to be named the National League.
“However by 1993, the constant rescheduling of fixtures and inconsistent management of the competition by the then-BARLA top brass was coming to a head, with the clubs and BARLA at loggerheads.
“The clubs wanted regular scheduled league fixtures, while BARLA prioritised cup competitions, which often left clubs without matches for weeks on end.
“Bad weather disrupted fixture scheduling, and cup games kept getting knocked back, prompting the postponement of league matches. And empty clubhouses didn’t bring in the revenue to keep the facilities in top condition.
“Matters came to a head when clubs were playing as many as eleven league matches in April, after having had no games for up to eleven weeks through bad weather and the cup priority rule. With Peter Moran as chair, we therefore set up the National Conference League.”
He continued: “The RFL were also having issues with some struggling clubs in the Championship and in that same year, Terry Parle and I met Kath Hetherington in Halifax to discuss a way forward for the Conference and the Championship.
“A further meeting between Peter Moran and myself with Maurice Lindsay (chief executive of the RFL at the time) secured a considerable grant for the clubs in the Conference, whilst Blackpool, Chorley and Nottingham Outlaws were relegated into what was by then to be the National Conference League.
“Terry Parle was elected chairman, I became vice-chair and Peter president.
“We resigned the Conference’s full membership of BARLA – becoming an associate member – and with the new management set-up we included two representatives of the RFL (one as treasurer) and one from BARLA.
“At around the same time the NCL expanded from two divisions to three as we welcomed more leading amateur clubs while, with Terry to the fore, Peter and I worked hard behind the scenes to help break down the entrenched attitudes of old-guard BARLA leaders, to eventually help broker a peace between them and the RFL.
“Thereafter as a member of the community board under the chairmanship of RFL chief executive Richard Lewis, both Peter and I were able to continue to convince the RFL that the NCL was indeed the flagship competition of the community game.”
Top job
Hunt became chair of the NCL in 2006 and has been duly re-elected ever since.
He said: “In that time we have implemented processes of continuous assessment not only of the member clubs, but of the constitution, competition and operational rules, leading the way on ClubMark Standard assessments whilst becoming the first League to attain gold standard, with all clubs then achieving ClubMark gold for their own organisations.
“My constant aim – shared by those within the management – is to provide a top-quality competition which enables any player, coach, administrator or referee to perform at the highest level they can achieve, whether that be through moving on up into the professional ranks or by enjoying success with their respective NCL club and the Community Lions international selection.
Hunt, for all his achievements, insisted: “In my 19-year period as NCL chair, perhaps the most momentous decision I had to make was to lead the NCL in the switch to summer from winter in 2011.
“There was a great deal of uncertainty at all levels of the community game, but there were so many positives, particularly the chance for youth and junior players to develop their skills on firm pitches on lighter nights, as well as for open-age teams to get certainty of fixtures.
“For a couple of years prior to the switch, winter fixtures had been postponed for numerous clubs between November and February, through inclement weather and the then-hardly-acknowledged climate change.
“All Leagues were undecided but after months of negotiations with the RFL I was convinced it was the way to go and with the support of the NCL management was able to make the final presentations on the pros and cons of the move to the clubs.
“The NCL backed us and voted to make the switch, and the rest of the community game followed suit.
“We had worked hard with David Gent from the RFL to establish a playing pyramid from the top of Super League down to the lower levels of the community set-up.
“The NCL was designated tier four, behind Super League (tier one), Championship (two) and League One (three). BARLA were tier five with the regional leagues.
“We then were able to bring in a fourth division for the NCL in 2019, with the top flight being renamed the Premier Division.”
Post-pandemic optimism
Hunt continued: “Of course Covid was our toughest time – as it was for everybody.
“But we all worked hard with the RFL’s Kelly Barrett, Marc Lovering and Ralph Rimmer to plot a way through the labyrinth of restrictions to obtain whatever grants were available to help keep clubs afloat.
“They were worrying times in so many ways, but with NCL clubs at the very heart of their communities, it was vital that we somehow kept them in business.
“When we were finally able to get back into action, albeit in an initially-convoluted competition, it was a relief to everyone.
“But everything we at the NCL have achieved is through a strong set of management figures, both on the committee and at the clubs.
“Tony Johnson, as vice-chair, and Peter, as president, have been absolute rocks throughout my tenure, and all the clubs reps over the years have contributed significantly, especially Joe Fitzsimmons in his 27 years, as have long-serving Billy Dillon and Mike Denning.”
Hunt is optimistic for the future of the NCL.
He said: “It is important the community game has a top-tier competition which is available for young adult players to test themselves at the highest level.
“Some will inevitably move on, as late developers, into the professional game.
“And the success of the ‘dual registration’ scheme in 2024 shows just how the NCL can help develop players.
“A competition which pits the best of one region against the best of another is imperative in maintaining the integrity and strength of the community game.
“It is important that this is not lost in the RFL’s future strategy for the sport at all levels.
“Without strong and vibrant grassroots at all ages, Super League and the Championship clubs will struggle to develop the quality of players they need.
“We must not lose sight of the fact that the young men of today are hopefully those who will help put England’s men’s team back on top of the international tree.
“The NCL is founded on bricks and mortar and it provides the foundation on which our game is actually built.
“The people at the clubs realise that, and the management realises that – and that is why I am confident that the NCL will continue to thrive and set the bar for so many other competitions to try and emulate.”
