Wakefield Trinity Belle Vue Ground

In 1873 a group of young men from the local Holy Trinity Church formed the Wakefield Trinity club. One of the initial forces in the game, Trinity won the Yorkshire Cup four times in nine years and was one of the initial 22 clubs to form the Northern Union after the acrimonious split from the Rugby Football Union in 1895.

Trinity won the Northern Union Challenge Cup for the first time in 1909, beating Hull 17-0 at Headingley. The corresponding 1914 final saw the result reversed, with Hull winning 6-0, and proved to be an accurate guide to the teams pre-war endeavours, as Trinity lost four Yorkshire Cups in the thirties with a side that included club stalwart Jonathon Parkin.

Post War Success: 1945–1960
If the pre-war years were austere then the post-war period was bright and bullish for the Dreadnoughts. The first Wembley final after the war produced a return to winning ways as Trinity, with names such as Billy Stott, Herbert Goodfellow and Mick Exley, pipped Wigan to the Cup 12-13.

The Golden Sixties: 1960-1969
The club was not destined to return to Wembley until 1960 and had to slake its thirst for silverware on two Yorkshire Cup and two Yorkshire League victories in the 1950′s. Wakefield returned to Wembley emphatically with a record 38-5 win v Hull under the guidance of coach Ken Traill and loose forward Derek “Rocky” Turner. Wakefield won their third Challenge Cup victory two years later in 1962, running out 12-6 winners v Huddersfield.

The successful defence of the Cup the next year iced a spectacular period in the club’s history with three Wembley titles in four years. Further renown was arrested due to two Championship Final defeats in 1960 and 1962 v Wigan and Huddersfield respectively. One of Trinity’s great servants, centre Neil Fox, who scored a record 6,220 points in his 23 year career (19 with Wakefield) was coming to prominence, however, in Trinity’s up and coming side.

The club were victorious in a dour 1962 Challenge Cup win over Huddersfield although the Fartowners went on to deny them the double a few days later in the Championship final. With a victorious defence of the Cup in 1963, their fifth Challenge Cup title, Wakefield had still not been able to achieve the league championship title. The Holy Grail would be achieved in the 1966-67 season when a seasoned, Harold Poynton led side that included Neil and Don Fox, Gary Cooper and Ray Owen, defeated Saints in a replay. They repeated the title feat the following year v Hull KR but were again denied the double when Leeds defeated them in the 1968 ‘water splash’ final at Wembley.

So Close: 1970-1979
Wakefield absorbed a number of different coaches at the helm in subsequent years but did not return to Wembley until Bill Kirkbride’s talented charges fell 12-3 to Widnes in 1979 in front of nearly 100,000 people, with Wakefield’s David Topliss winning the Lance Todd Trophy for Man of the Match.

Two Divisions: 1980-1999
The ensuing decline was temporarily halted when ‘the King’ Wally Lewis signed up for a brief spell with the club. But even the presence of the mercurial Kangaroo five-eighth couldn’t prevent an inconsistent Wakefield from fluctuating between the two divisions.

Former player David Topliss stabilised the Dreadnoughts’ ship in the late eighties. He won immediate promotion in 1988 and consolidated the clubs top tier status by acquiring the services of seasoned internationals like Steve Ella, Mark Graham, Brian Jackson as well as now former Wakefield Trinity’s coach Andy Kelly and later John Harbin after flirtations with temporary coach Tony Kemp in 1999.

Recent Years: 2000-2022
In 2004 Wakefield Trinity reached the Super League play-offs for the first time, winning at Hull FC before losing a Wigan Warriors in the elimination Semi-Final.

September 2006 saw Wakefield Trinity defeat Castleford Tigers, 29-17, in a ‘winner takes all’ League game with the loser relegated, we also saw a home Super League record crowd of a sell out 11,000.

Trinity reached the first Rugby League Challenge Cup Semi Final in July 2008. The first in 29 years, falling to Hull FC, 24-32 at Doncaster.

Wakefield Trinity finished fifth place in the Super League table, losing out to Catalans Dragons in the first round of the play-offs in September 2009.

Wakefield Trinity win the ‘Million Pound Game’, a winner takes all play-off game defeating Bradford Bulls 24-16, at Belle Vue to maintain Super League status in October 2015.

Chris Chester was appointed Head Coach in 2016 and guided Trinity to three consecutive play-off finishes, two of them in fifth place in 2017 and 2018.

Trinity, now under the tutelage of Mark Applegarth, are entering an exciting period both on and off the field with the emergence of young homegrown players, plus the ongoing stadium development.