A tribute to Arthur Bunting. RIP.
26 games, 26 wins. Hull’s 6-1 victory over New Hunslet on the final day meant that they finished the 1979 season as the first, and still only club to win all their league matches in one campaign. Already crowned runaway Division Two champions, they would finish 9 points clear of their nearest rivals who they incidentally met on the final day. But the West Yorkshire outfit almost ended Hull’s record breaking hopes.
New Hunslet went into the match with an impressive record of their own, winning their last seventeen consecutive matches. Their last defeat? You guessed it. At home to the Black & Whites. In essence, it was a dead-rubber of a game with the title sealed, but fans still flocked to the Boulevard to see if Hull could end the season with their incredible record intact. 12,424 turned out for the game, the biggest for a league game outside the top division; that’s if you discount the summer bash in more recent years.
Records tumbled with Arthur Bunting at the helm in the 1978-79 season. Hull had scored 143 tries prior to this match; however, it would be their 144th in the final minutes of their final game that would keep the tremendous record. For the majority of the closing stages, it looked like Sammy Lloyd’s goal would only be the difference. It was a record breaking season for Lloyd too, with 170 goals and 369 points, and the claim of kicking at least one goal in every game, but even he had an off-day missing 5 conversion attempts. It would be his second-row partner Charlie Stone who bagged the crucial score, one of only eight tries in over 200 Hull FC appearances.
Such was Hull’s determination to finish the season unbeaten, Arthur Bunting rejected plans for the Division Two champions trophy presentation to take place prior to kick-off at the Boulevard.
“Our aim is to win all twenty-six matches and I want nothing to take the players mind off the job to be done.
“Making presentations before the kick-off relaxes the players too much. I remember I was coach of Hull Kingston Rovers in 1975 when Huddersfield piped us to the Division Two title. We played them in a Premiership match and after they had gone round with the championship trophy, we thrashed them. I don’t want that to happen today. The players have worked too hard building this record to let it slip now.
“They want to get in the record books and stay there, because nobody can beat the unbeatable.”
Arthur Bunting (Speaking in 1979)
The stage had been set the previous week as Hull travelled to Oldham where they ran out victors 10-5.
Despite all their meticulous preparations, it did look for a long time like Hull would let the record slip. Hunslet came to ruin the party and for large periods of the game silenced the usually raucous Threepenny Stand. In attack, the visitors were poor and kept looking for an opening that never came, but the rough and brutal defence kept supporters on edge for the entire contest.
Hull took a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to the boot of Steve Norton who knocked over a drop-goal. Hunslet peppered the sticks after the restart with attempts to level the scores, and after three attempts, Tony Dean was successful and brought Hunslet level. Lloyd slotted over a seventieth minute penalty to put Hull ahead 3-1, but nerves were still present right up until the final minutes when Stone crossed for the winner.
Hull could now get their hands on the trophy, and their sights quickly turned on a return to the top division.
“It was something special, unique and packed with drama. We were under so much pressure. Not because of promotion, we’d already got that, but because we could create Rugby League history by winning every league game we played.
“All the boys were aware of how massive that was and the fact you don’t get a second chance – a defeat or draw and that would have been it. “t showed in our performance because we were tense and nervy and struggled to produce the form we had shown in winning the other 25 games. But the key was we had to class and quality to dig our way out of trouble and come up with the goods when it mattered.
“That’s the sign of a good team and we were just that as we proved over the next few years.”
Sammy Lloyd (Speaking in 2009)
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