Hunslet R.L.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. They play home games at South Leeds Stadium and compete in Championship, the second tier of British rugby league.

The club was formed as a Phoenix club after the original Hunslet club folded.

History

1973–1996: New club In July 1973, the original Hunslet club was wound up following the sale of their Parkside ground, because no suitable new location could be found that was financially viable. The £300,000 proceeds of the sale of Parkside were distributed to shareholders.

Due to the efforts of their former Great Britain forward Geoff Gunney (MBE), local businessmen and supporters the club managed to reform as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season and moved to the Leeds Greyhound Stadium and erected iron American football posts. The resurrected club had a new badge depicting a rising phoenix to symbolise their rebirth. In 1974, New Hunslet adopted green and white as team colours because the traditional myrtle, white and flame colours were still registered to the former Parkside-based club, and they would not release them. The stay at the greyhound stadium was cut short when the owners closed the ground and arranged to demolish everything on the site.

In 1978, coach Bill Ramsey put a lot of pressure on the RFL and finally got permission to use the traditional colours. The club reverted to Hunslet for the 1979–80 season. With the closure of the Greyhound stadium, the next ground to host Hunslet was Mount Pleasant, Batley, for two seasons, before Hunslet moved to Leeds United's Elland Road football stadium then owned by Leeds City Council. After leaving Elland Road, Hunslet had a brief spell at Bramley.

On 19 November 1995, the club, now known as Hunslet Hawks, moved to the South Leeds Stadium, only about half a mile from Parkside. On that day, Leigh were the guests at Hunslet's first home game for twenty-two years. They then narrowly missed out on promotion from Division Two in 1996. Coach Steve Ferres left to join Huddersfield and David Plange took over as player-coach.

1996–2009: Summer era In 1997 the Hawks played in the first (and last) Challenge Cup Plate Final losing 60–14 to Hull Kingston Rovers. It was the Hawks first appearance at Wembley Stadium since 1965. Also in 1997, the Hawks were promoted to the First Division as champions.

In 1999 as a possible merger between Hunslet and Bramley was debated. In 1999 Hunslet won the Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final against Dewsbury, 12–11, at Headingley. After that game the Hawks were denied entry to Super League by the Rugby Football League who cited a document called Framing the Future as justification. This caused a number of players to leave the club and for the average attendance to fall by more than 1,200 to 800. A link-up with Leeds Rhinos saw Plange go to Headingley as Academy coach.

2004 saw the re-establishment the annual friendly against Leeds Rhinos for the Lazenby Cup, a trophy that had previously been contested between Hunslet F.C. and Leeds since 1912.

Paul March was the player/coach at Hunslet, joining midway through the 2009 season following the resignation of Graeme Hallas. March guided Hunslet to a 6th-place finish and a play-off spot in Championship 1. Hunslet travelled to Blackpool in the first week of the play-offs winning, 18–21, to set up an elimination semi-final against Oldham in which Hunslet were comfortably beaten, 54–30.

2010–present: Promotions and silverware In 2010 Paul March led Hunslet to their first silverware for over 11 years by securing the Co-operative Championship 1 title, and subsequent survival in 2011.

In 2012, Barry Eaton took over as coach. In 2014 Hunslet won the Grand Final after extra time against Oldham, thus gaining promotion to the Championship. Barry Eaton left in late January 2016 to join Leeds Rhinos and was replaced by his assistant coach and former Hunslet Hawks player Matt Bramald. Bramald left the club at the end of the 2016 season having completed his contract. He was replaced by former Hunslet player James Coyle.

Hunslet Hawks returned to their original name of Hunslet RLFC for the 2017 season following an overwhelming fan vote in favour of their original name. Fans were then asked to choose between the clubs' original 'Rampant Lion' crest and the 'Phoenix Rising' crest adopted by the club in 1973 when the club was reformed. Fans voted 54% to 46% in favour of the lion. On 13 October 2024, Hunslet earned promotion to the championship after beating Swinton 22–20 in the relegation/promotion playoff match. In the 2025 RFL Championship season, Hunslet finished bottom of the table recording just two wins all year.

Colours and crest

Hunslet play in myrtle, flame and white, with away colours mainly being white. The club's original crest was a 'Rampant Lion' but as part of a rebrand at the start of the summer era was the introduction of the Hunslet Hawks. In 2017, the club's fans voted to drop Hawks from their name and reinstate the 'Rampant Lion' crest.

Stadia 1973–1980: Leeds Greyhound Stadium The new Hunslet club's first ground was the Elland Road Greyhound Stadium in Beeston after they were told they could not play at Parkside. American football posts were erected to be used as goal posts.

1980–1982: Mount Pleasant

In 1982, the greyhound stadium closed and Hunslet were left homeless. For two seasons they ground-shared with Batley while they searched for a permanent home in Leeds.

1982–1995: Elland Road

In 1982, after leaving Batley, Hunslet negotiated a deal with Leeds City Council to play at Leeds United's Elland Road, which the council owned at the time.

1995–present: South Leeds Stadium

Hunslet moved into the South Leeds Stadium, Beeston, Leeds after it was built in 1995. The stadium is used to host athletics and also has a swimming pool and other facilities the club can use. The stadium has one main stand that accommodates the grounds 5,000 capacity.

2027 squad

2027 transfers

Gains

Player From Contract Date

Losses Player To Contract Date Dan Abram 3 September 2026 Eddie Battye Cam Berry Keelan Foster Darcy Simpson Elijah Simpson Charlie Graham Halifax Panthers1 year20 September 2026

Retired

Player Date Kevin Larroyer 3 September 2026 Jimmy Watson

Players

Players earning international caps while at Hunslet Frank Davies won a cap for Wales while at Hunslet in 1978 against England Robert 'Iain' Higgins won caps for Scotland while at London Broncos, and Hunslet 1997...2001 1-cap + 1-cap (sub) Charlie Wabo won caps for Papua New Guinea while at Hunslet Michael Mark won caps for Papua New Guinea while at Hunslet Neil Lowe won caps for Scotland while at Hunslet Lee Hanlan won caps for Ireland while at Hunslet Arthur Clues won caps for Australia while at Wests, and won caps for Other Nationalities while at Leeds, and Hunslet

Coaches

Jack Walkington 1946–1960 Fred Ward 1962–1967 Harry Poole 1969–1971 Geoff Gunney 1971–1973 Bill Ramsey 1978–1979 Paul Daley 1980–1985 Peter Jarvis 1986–1987 David Ward 1986–1987 Nigel Stephenson 1988 Jack Austin 1988 Johnny Wolford 1988 Paul Daley 1990–1991 Paul Daley 1993 Stephen Ferres 1994–1996 David Plange 1996–2000 Roy Sampson 2000–2006 Mark Cass 2007 Graeme Hallas 2008–2009 Paul March 2010–2011 Barry Eaton 2012–2015 Matt Bramald 2016 James Coyle 2016–2017 Gary Thornton 2017–2021 Mark Cass (interim) 2021 Alan Kilshaw 2021–2023 Dean Muir 2023–2025

Seasons Super League era

SeasonLeaguePlay-offsChallenge CupOther competitionsNameTriesNamePointsDivisionPWDLFAPtsPosTop try scorerTop point scorer1996Division Two221804730326363rdR4 1997Division Two201505682256301stR4 1998Division One3017112719575356thR4 1999Northern Ford Premiership282107845401422ndWon in FinalR4 2000Northern Ford Premiership2880204876781615thR4 2001Northern Ford Premiership2861213809591316thR4 2002Northern Ford Premiership273123438954717thR4 2003National League Two181017513425216thLost in Elimination PlayoffsR5 2004National League Two181008475394206thR4 2005National League Two181107476385225thLost in Elimination PlayoffsR4 2006National League Two2242164116171010thR4 2007National League Two228014368591318thR4 2008National League Two2240183367781712thR4 2009Championship 1181008472411336thLost in Semi FinalR4 2010Championship 1201802828305551stPromoted as ChampionsR5 2011Championship204115395630207thR4 2012Championship182016248684109thR4 2013Championship2660205297043013thR4 2014Championship 1201550716249492ndWon in FinalR5 2015Championship2350183627691011thR5Championship Shield308022518957167th2016League 12111010544550227thR52017League 1157084183771410thWon in Shield FinalR42018League 1 2615011735596307thR42019League 1 201208596379245thLost in Elimination PlayoffsR41895 Cup R12020League 1colspan="9"R5 2021League 118936564435216thLost in Elimination Playoffs 2022League 1208111513524177thR4 2023League 1181404572284282ndLost in Preliminary FinalR3 2024League One201307522534264thWon in Promotion FinalR31895 Cup GS2025Championship2420222561058413thR31895 Cup R12026Championship2480164967761614thR31895 Cup R1

Honours Division 2 / Championship: Winners (1): 1999 Division 3 / League 1: Winners (2): 2010, 2014 League 1 Shield: Winners: 2017 League 1 Play-Off Final: Winners: 2024

References General Hawks:facts and history Inline

External links Hunslet official site Hunslet Hawks forum on rlfans.com Hunslet Hawks Fans Forums – RugbyLeague.org Pictorial history of rugby league in Hunslet