Breaking Ground: The Robins journey to Wales

Hull KR’s first foray outside the traditional rugby league heartlands of Lancashire and Yorkshire, Cheshire and Cumbria, came as far back as 1907, when they made the then formidable 424-mile round trip to play Ebbw Vale, in the rugby union stronghold of South Wales, on 21 December that year.

Seeking to expand even in those far-off days, the Northern Union had increased its’ ranks by the recruitment of two Welsh clubs for that season. It was a successful trip for the Robins. A penalty goal by the legendary Alf ‘Bunker’ Carmichael was the only score of the first half, and after a try apiece in the second, it was winger George Pratt’s score that gave Rovers a 5-3 win.

On the last day of that season, Hull KR returned to South Wales, and this time returned with an 8-3 win over Merthyr Tydfil. Winger John Neal crossed twice that day, the first converted by Carmichael for an 8-3 win. The two Welsh clubs finished in the bottom five of the 27 NU table that year, whilst Rovers were up in sixth place.

The following season, these two Welsh clubs were joined by Aberdare, Mid-Rhondda and Treherbert. But the quirks of the fixture formula meant Hull KR only faced Ebbw Vale in 1908/09, and, without Carmichael that day, the Robins were unable to convert any goal kicks, and suffered a 15-9 reverse on what was their third visit to South Wales on 9 January 1909.

Hull KR paid their one and only visit to Treherbert early in the 1909/10 season, and tries by the redoubtable Alfred Mann (2), and centres Phil Thomas and ‘Teddy’ Hughes, plus five Carmichael goals, gave them a 22-10 win. Aberdare and Mid-Rhondda lasted only one season, and Treherbert too disappeared after 12 games in 1909/10, after losing all of them.

Merthyr Tydfil folded before the start of the 1911/12 season, but the Robins paid one final visit to Ebbw Vale on 23 March 1912, when they returned with a 13-3 win, courtesy of tries by Idris Dean, Pierre Boltman and Bill Sandham, and two goals from Carmichael.

Nearly forty years later, on 15 December 1951, the Robins returned to South Wales, this time to the capital, to play a Cardiff side who played a single season in the RFL, 1951/52, before withdrawing due to poor attendances. Tries by Henry ‘Ike’ Mills and hooker Jim Tong plus two goals from club ‘great’ Alec Dockar, gave the Robins a 10-7 win at the Penarth Road ground used by the club in its short lifetime.

Further attempts at expansion into the Principality saw another club formed in Cardiff in 1981, but despite some success in Division 2, it did not get the support it deserved, and after moving to Bridgend in 1984, it lasted only one more season, and Hull KR did not cross paths with it.

In 1996, another attempt was made to establish the game in the valleys, with the creation of the South Wales club. 1,879 people came to watch the first game, coincidentally against the Robins, at the Talbot Athletic ground in Aberavon on 31 March.

Unfortunately for the hosts, Hull KR triumphed 70-8 in a game that featured the debuts of Stanley Gene and his fellow-countryman John Okul, who scored two tries and one respectively on the day. Mike Fletcher contributed 22 points with nine goals and a try.

The Robins next foray into South Wales took place on 5 May 2007 for that year’s Super League Magic weekend at the Millenium Stadium. Hull FC were the opposition, and Hull KR gained an invaluable win, ending a run of eight successive defeats, by 14-10.

The Robins took a half-time lead of 14-6, through Andreas Bauer, Luke Dyer and David Tangata-Toa tries, plus a Scott Murrell conversion, and withstood all but one of the Black & Whites’ attacks in the second half.

The venue was a lucky one for Hull KR and the following year, on 4 May, they again defeated their closest rivals, 22-17. All four of the three-quarter line, Peter Fox, Chev Walker, Jake Webster and Dan Fitzhenry scored tries for the Robins and Paul Cooke kicked three goals in front of a 32,516 crowd. The following year, the Magic weekend moved to Edinburgh.

Celtic Crusaders, based in Bridgend, were formed in 2005, and admitted into Super League in 2009. After comfortable home wins in League and Cup that year, the Robins made the trip down into the valleys to play the Welsh club on 20 June, where Clint Newton scored two tries in Hull KR's 32-18 triumph.

For 2010, the Crusaders, as they were then known, moved to the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, where Rovers visited them in the last match of the regular season on 9 September and suffered a 24-30 defeat.

A Ben Galea hat-trick was the highlight of Hull KR's 38-10 win in the following season’s fixture on 9 July, but it was the last Super League season for the Crusaders, who had already been docked six points for going into administration and were refused an SL licence for 2012, and it was the Robins’ last trip into Wales to date.

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