Today Previously: April 30th

TODAY PREVIOUSLY: April 30th

Rugby League

70 years ago today (30/4/1947) Fev played Huddersfield on a Wednesday at Post Office Road and came out with a 5-3 win. It was the first win on April 30th, having lost the two previous games - 5-0 away to Dewsbury in 1927 and 14-5 away to Broughton Rangers in 1932.

In 1958 Bradford Northern came to Featherstone on another Wednesday and Fev won by 38-23. A very high scoring game for that time.

The Featherstone team was: Len Barraclough; Frank Smith, Joe Mullaney, Jim Hunt, Cyril Woolford; Roy Bell, Mick Reynolds; Ken Welburn, Willis Fawley, Albert Fearnley, Mick Clamp, Cliff Lambert, Harry Street.

Willis Fawley and Mick Clamp both scored two tries and Frank Smith, Cyril Woolford, Roy Bell and Cliff Lambert scored the others. Rovers used three different kickers. Three a piece from Willis Fawley and Mick Clamp and Albert Fearnley also kicked a goal.

Fullback Len Barraclough is now in his eighties but still regularly attends home games and last week was singing on the pitch as a member of the Featherstone Male voice choir!

The last time that Fev had a match on April 30th was in 2009 when we travelled away for a Championship game against Widnes and won the match 9-8. Signs of things to come it being Daryl Powell’s first season as Rovers coach.

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Leeds Rhinos and Saint Helens have been the most successful teams of the summer era but on April 30th, 2004, Leeds got a hammering at Knowsley Road by 56-10. One of the Saints tries was scored by an eighteen year old substitute called Ian Hardman!

In 1997 Batley were playing in the third tier (then called the ‘Second Division’) and they had to travel to McClaren Field, the home of Bramley, for a Wednesday night league fixture. Batley won 24-18.

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We can’t find any international matches on April 30th.

World Events

In 1492, Christopher Columbus given royal commission to equip his fleet

In 1527, Treaty of Westminster signed by Henry VIII and Francis I of France

In 1789, George Washington inaugurated as first US president

In 1859, 1st weekly instalment of Dickens ‘Tale of Two Cities’ published

In 1945, Red Army opens fire on the Reichstag in Berlin

In 1988, Celine Dion wins Eurovision song contest for Switzerland

Birthdays

1662 Queen Mary II

1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician

1870 Franz Lehar, Austro-Hungarian operetta composer (Merry Widow)

1943 Bobby Vee, American pop singer

1949 António Guterres, Portugese politician and current United Nations Secretary-General

1965 Roy Powell, former Featherstone player (died 27 December 1998)