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Huddersfield Giants are a professional Rugby League club (from Huddersfield , West Yorkshire ) who play in the Super League . They are currently coached by Jon Sharp and play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium (which they share with Huddersfield Town FC ). The club, particularly amongst older supporters, is sometimes referred locally as Fartown named after The Ground which they occupied up until 1994 , which is located in the Fartown district of Huddersfield. They play in a distinctive strip of a claret shirt with thin gold hoops, claret shorts and claret and gold hooped socks and are currently sponsored by the University Of Huddersfield . HISTORY Early years The earliest record of a football match being played in the Huddersfield area is in 1848, when a team of men from Hepworth took on a team of men from Holmfirth near Whinney Bank in Holmfirth. Hepworth won a close fought game which "exhibited the usual amount of confusions, bloody noses, etc" and took the prize of £5 which had been jointly donated by each side. There may have been many other games organised along similar lines but there appears to have been no formal structure to sport in the Huddersfield area until the opening of the Apollo Gymnasium by an Irishman named Professor John Le Blanc on August 3 , 1850 . At this time Le Blanc's gymnasium was the only venue in the town where young men could take part in physical activities. Le Blanc offered the opportunity to participate in Fencing , Swimming , Bowling , Cricket and many other sports. Foot races were regularly organised and illegal prize fights were reputedly held on the nearby moors. In 1864 the towns's theatre was commandeered by the local Volunteer Rifle Corps for use as a drill hall. In turn, the Apollo Gymnasium was turned into the Gymnasium Theatre. This left the keen athletes of Le Blanc's club with nowhere to go and they responded by forming a more organised athletics association. In an advertisement headed "Huddersfield Athletic Club" they invited "gentlemen desirous of becoming members" to a public meeting at 8 o'clock on the evening of November 16 , 1864 at the Queen Hotel. The meeting went ahead, a hundred names were registered and a committee was formed. Within a month a new gymnasium was in service in a basement on Back John William Street. On January 27 , 1866 twenty members of the Huddersfield Athletic Club (HAC) agreed to play a football match against twenty of the Huddersfield Rifle Corps at Rifle Field in Trinity Street. Although the result was a scoreless draw, a large crowd was attracted. In light of this success the HAC agreed to start a formal football section which was to commence play at the beginning of December 1866. Initially the HAC made no contribution to the support of the football club and each paying member was forced to pay a subscription of 2s 6d (12.5p). As the football club grew, however, it became a useful recruiting tool for the HAC. In 1869 six matches were played and by 1870 three of the club's players had been selected to represent Yorkshire . By 1872 there were so many players that a second team was formed. Fartown The growth in popularity of the club and the need for better facilities led to the HAC approaching St John's Cricket Club with a proposal to merge the two clubs. The cricket club had been formed in 1866 at Hillhouse and had moved to a new ground, previously owned by the proprietor of the George Hotel at Fartown in 1867. By 1875, when amalgamation talks began, over £800 had been spent on developing the new ground. At a meeting on November 27 , 1875 , at the Thornhill Arms Inn the two clubs agreed to merge to form the Huddersfield Cricket & Athletics Club. The motion was passed by 55 votes to 37. Initially the Fartown Ground was used for athletics festivals whilst the football section stayed at Rifle Field, but alterations made in the summer of 1878 meant that rugby could begin at the start of the 1878/1879 season with the visit of Manchester Rangers on November 2 . The new ground would become the club's home for 114 years and would provide the club's famous "Fartown" nickname. Northern Union and golden years In 1895 the club were founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union , (later the Rugby Football League ). The club has seen many ups and downs in its long history, but for the first 60 years of rugby league it was one of the powerhouses of the game, with only Wigan as rivals in terms of trophies won. Harold Wagstaff was only fifteen years and one hundred and seventy-five days old when he played his first match for Huddersfield, against Bramley in November 1906. At the time, he was the youngest first-team player the game had seen, he had signed on for a £5 signing-on fee. Huddersfield beat the touring 1908-1909 Kangaroos 5-3. They were impressed enough with stand-off Albert Rosenfeld to sign him up that evening along with Australian Dual Code International Pat Walsh one of the best forwards of the Kangaroos . Rosenfeld played his first game against Broughton Rangers on 11 September 1909 . The club's golden period came around the time of the First World War . The club was able to assemble a team of players from across the British Empire who swept all before them. Known as "The Team of All Talents", they were led by Harold Wagstaff and are still regarded as one of the finest football teams to have ever played. In the five years leading up to the First World War they won 13 trophies. In the season 1914-1915 they became only the second team to win " All Four Cups " when they lifted the Championship, the Challenge Cup , the Yorkshire Cup , and the Yorkshire League . Two members of the team, centre Harold Wagstaff and wing Albert Rosenfeld were honoured by inclusion in the original Rugby League Hall Of Fame . They were later joined by the Cumbrian second row Dougie Clark . Of just seventeen players to be elected to the Hall of Fame, no fewer than three were teammates in that famous Huddersfield side. In total, Huddersfield boast five representatives in the Hall of Fame, more than any other club. The particular fame of "The Team of All Talents" sprung from their extraordinary three quarter play. In 1911-1912, Rosenfeld became the first player to score more than 50 tries in a season - a feat previously thought to be impossible. That season he scored 78. His wing partner, Stanley Moorhouse scored 52. In 1912-1913, Rosenfeld scored 56, and then in 1913-1914 he broke his own record with 80 tries, a record which stands to this day. On 28 February 1914 , the club defeated Swinton Park by a record 119-2 (Rosenfeld contributing 7 tries) in a Challenge Cup tie at Fartown. The record would stand until 26 November 1994 when the Huddersfield club broke their own World Record by defeating Blackpool Gladiators 142-4 in a Challenge Cup tie at the McAlpine Stadium - centre Greg Austin scoring 9 tries on his way to 52 tries that season, a World Record for a centre. Huddersfield's dominance prior to the First World War was such that they went unbeaten in 38 consecutive matches before the suspension of the league in 1914. Huddersfield did not take part in the 1918-9 season. In the 1919-20 season, the first five games were won for a 43 match unbeaten run over 6 years which still stands as a record today. The unbeaten run consisted of 28 league matches, 8 Yorkshire Cup-ties, 5 Challenge Cup-ties and 2 League Championship play-offs. In addition, Huddersfield were drawing 8-8 in a Yorkshire Cup-tie that was abandoned because of fog and replayed. There can be no doubt that the war cut short a golden age for the club, and whilst trophies would continued to be collected until the mid 1960s Huddersfield would never again return to the heights of that magical period. Albert Rosenfeld's last game for the club was on 2 April 1921 , a cup-tie against Leeds. Wagstaff retired from rugby league in March 1925, with Huddersfield his only club. He played his last match as a fullback, against Oldham at Watersheddings. The highest attendance at Fartown to watch a Huddersfield game was 32,912 against Wigan on the 4 March 1950. Decline and revival By the 1970s , the club had become a shadow of its former self, the old Fartown ground had fallen into disrepair and the club frequently finished in the lower reaches of the league. Local businessman, John Bailey, took a controlling interest in the stadium, the club and the pavilion. In 1984, in an attempt to revive the club, Huddersfield adopted the moniker 'Barracudas' and Fartown was renamed ''Arena 84''. As the crowds continued to stay away, it became clear that Bailey could not stem the decline. The 'Barracudas' and 'Arena 84' were dropped for the 1988/1989 season. The revival of the club began when Alex Murphy took over as coach in 1991. Huddersfield were the first ever champions of the newly-formed third division in 1991/2. Promotion to the Second Division had been achieved, and there was pride once again in the famous claret and gold shirt. The club moved to Huddersfield Town A.F.C. 's home ground at Leeds Road in 1992, before taking a share in the McAlpine Stadium (now known as Galpharm Stadium ) in 1994. In 1996, Ken Davy took over as chairman of Huddersfield; Huddersfield added Giants to their name. Since then the club has returned to the top division of British rugby league. In 1998, the club was promoted to Super League , and in late 1999 merged with Sheffield Eagles almost purely for financial reasons. They were officially known as the Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants, but more popularly as 'Shuddersfield'. This arrangement lasted only a season before the Huddersfield name was reverted to. In the four seasons between 1998 and 2001, they lost 81 times in 99 matches, avoiding relegation for a variety of reasons. Australian Tony Smith was appointed as coach for the 2001 season, he was unable to save the team from relegation at the end of that year, ironically Huddersfield's best since entering Super League. In 2002 Huddersfield Giants remained a full-time professional teams despite playing in the Northern Ford Premiership . The club went unbeaten for the entire league season, drawing only one match and winning a record equalling 29 games. Along the way the team accumulated 1,156 points to equal the record for points in a league season achieved in 8 more games by Leigh in 1986. The team won the Buddies Cup , as it was then known, and also the NFP Grand Final against Leigh in October 2002, which secured promotion back to the Super League for the 2003 season. In 2003 under Smith, the Giants established themselves as a Super League club, finishing 10th, above Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Halifax Blue Sox . After guiding the Giants back to Super League, Smith and assistant coach Brian McDermott moved onto Headingley to take control of the Leeds Rhinos . St Helens assistant coach and former Hull forward Jon Sharp was appointed head coach for 2004 and the team improved again, finishing 7th in the league and making their first appearance in the Challenge Cup semi-finals since 1971. The beginning of the 2005 Super League season saw the club make its highest-profile signing in fifty years when Australian centre Michael De Vere signed from the Brisbane Broncos , becoming the club's first Australian international player since Pat Devery in the 1950s. For the kick off of the 2006 season the club unveiled a host of new signings to strengthen the squad, including the iconic New Zealand international scrum half Robbie Paul . July 30 , 2006 will go down as one of the proudest days in the Giants recent history. After a convincing victory over Salford in the quarter final, the Giants faced Leeds Rhinos (ironically coached by Tony Smith) in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Odsal Stadium , Bradford. Against all the odds, massive underdogs Huddersfield pulled out what is regarded as possibly their best performance of modern times, Stuart Donlan and Chris Nero with 2 tries apiece and Michael De Vere with a try and five goals steering them to a 30-12 victory. Huddersfield lost the Challenge Cup Final to eventual Super League champions St Helens 42-12, but the performance heralds the best Huddersfield achievement since 1970, and many believe has finally and firmly closed the book on one of the club's darkest chapters. 2007 Super League season The start of the 2007 season saw the Giants make some exciting signings, including West Tigers trio, Jamaal Lolesi , John Skandalis and Shane Elford , as well as Ryan Hudson who returned to rugby league after completing a 2-year drugs ban. Despite much optimism, the season started horrendously for the Giants in terms of results. After 7 consecutive losses they found themselves marooned at the foot of the table, 5 points adrift. Large sections of the fans began to question the coach's ability and as a result crowds began to dwindle and morale was beginning to suffer. However, Jon Sharp maintained that the Giants could turn it around, noting that all of their prior defeats were within a converted try of victory. By the end of May, the picture was totally different. The Giants had a .'' Retrieved on 18 May , 2007 . In addition, Sharp was named consecutively as Coach of the Month for .'' Retrieved on 25 May , 2007 . The Giants winning run came to an unexpected end in a shocking 14 - 12 defeat by Salford city reds at the Willows. The Giants had been overwhelming favourites with fans and bookies as Salford have been rooted to the bottom of the table for the most of the season. After the defeat Huddersfield coach Jon Sharp was quoted as saying that the Giants had contributed to their own downfall by playing a poor kick and chase. Never the less after 2006's Challenge Cup Final, beating Bradford Bulls for the first time since entry to Super League and their longest ever winning streak in Super League it is clear that Huddersfield Giants are putting to rest the previous half a century of bad luck and bad performances. CURRENT SQUAD ''As of 26 August , 2007 '': HONOURS
RECORDS Player records
Team records
All time British Rugby League Records
RUGBY LEAGUE HALL OF FAME MEMBERS The following is a list of Huddersfield rugby league players that have been inducted into the Rugby League Hall Of Fame ''(in alphabetical order)''. ¹Also member of International Jewish Sports Hall Of Fame REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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| Before | Workington Town |
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| Title | Rugby League Challenge Cup |
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| Years | 1912-13 (1st win)<br>1914-15 (2nd win)<br>1919-20 (3rd win)<br>1932-33 (4th win)<br>1944-45 (5th win)<br>1952-53 (6th win) |
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| After | Warrington Wolves |
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