Rugby League: Honours elude Cup's history men

1897 David Traynor Motley Saints and pristine Batley inaugurate Cup Rugby league - or Northern Union, as it was then known - was a mere infant when the decision was taken to introduce a knock-out cup during the breakaway organisation's second year of competition. Even in the world of rugby union which they had left behind, it was the romance of cup rugby that already pulled in the big crowds.

Along with the teams like Bradford and St Helens which have survived to this day, the first Cup draw included long-forgotten clubs such as Morecambe and Dukinfield.

Saints reached the first final, photographs of which show them wearing hooped jerseys which were not only badly faded, but which did not match.

They lost 10-3 to a better turned out Batley - the Gallant Youths - but one of their players, the Widnes-born winger David Traynor, had the consolation of scoring the first Cup final try to be hailed as something special.

Batley were winning 7-0 when Traynor went from inside his own half to score. Contemporary reports said that: "There will not be many better tries scored in the final, even if the Challenge Cup should last for a hundred years."

1929 John Leake First Wembley final shifts the game to bigger stage

Leake never scored a try or kicked a goal in the Challenge Cup, but he played a part in the history of the game that has not been fully acknowledged.

Leake was the secretary of the Welsh Commission, a shadowy organisation with a brief to convert the Principality to the 13-a-side code, either by co-opting existing union clubs or establishing new ones to play league.

It was he who put forward the suggestion that the final should be moved to London - although White City and Crystal Palace were both mentioned along with Wembley as possible venues.

The scheme was voted in by the narrow margin of 13-10 and Wigan beat Dewsbury 13-2, with Syd Abram scoring the first Wembley try and Roy Kinnear, father of the comedian of the same name, the third. 1965 Brian Gabbitas Classic confontation pits Hunslet against Wigan Hunslet was already a club with its best days behind it when the south Leeds side faced Wigan in what was regarded at the time as the best final ever played. Hunslet took a star-studded Wigan all the way before going down 20-16.

It was the only time that journalists have been unable to separate two candidates for the Lance Todd Trophy. Gabbitas, the Hunslet stand-off playing the game of his life, shared the award with the Wigan full-back, Ray Ashby.

Eight years later, Hunslet left their Parkside ground, a trauma from which they have only recently recovered. Today's appearance in the Plate final is their first return to Wembley. 1968 Don Fox Misses `sitter' to scupper Wakefield Trinity's hopes The most unforgettable blunder in Cup final history was Don Fox's failure to kick a last-minute goal, from in front of the sticks, that would have given Wakefield Trinity victory over Leeds in what, due to a pre-match downpour, became known as The Watersplash Final.

Fox, a member of a famous rugby league family - one brother, Neil, was among the finest players of his generation, and another, Peter, one of its most successful coaches - had already won the Lance Todd. But that fact is only remembered in the context of his subsequent miss.

For once, Eddie Waring found precisely the right phrase: "Poor lad." Fox seemed haunted by his dreadful moment for years. 1971 Syd Hynes Controversy clouds ignominious dismissal Leeds were the hottest of favourites to win this final, but were already on the way to defeat by homespun Leigh when their captain became the first man to be sent off at Wembley.

Inevitably, Leigh's player-coach, Alex Murphy, was at the centre of the controversy. He went down in a tackle by Hynes, who was then pointed down the tunnel by the referee, Billy Thompson.

Hynes still claims to have done nothing untoward and there are spectators who swear that they saw Murphy wink conspiratorially as he was taken off on a stretcher.

He returned in good time to collect the Cup and Hynes lost his unique claim to fame when Richie Eyres, of Widnes, was sent off in the 1993 final against Wigan. 1985 Peter Sterling Outstanding Australian gives all as Hull fall Hull's Australian scrum-half was arguably the best player of his era and he played a huge part in the final which took over from 1965 by being generally recognised as the best ever.

The Wigan stand-off, Brett Kenny (Sterling's team-mate for Paramatta and Australia), won the Lance Todd, but Sterling's display was extraordinary, as he probed and prompted, keeping Hull in the game for long enough to make it a classic.

At the end, Sterling sank to his knees, Kenny's gesture of sympathy towards him producing one of the great Wembley images. 1996 Nathan Graham Goulding's bombs prove too hot to handle The Bradford Bulls' full-back had been having a good match against St Helens last year - until six minutes midway through the second half that turned the game on its head.

In that short time, Graham three times failed to take high kicks from Bobbie Goulding, although on at least one occasion he was entitled to expect more help from other defenders. Three times Saints came up with tries and three times Goulding kicked the goals as they went on to win Wembley's most spectacular final 40-32.

The then Bradford coach, Brian Smith, mounted a spirited defence of Graham: "All those who'd like to be at the back to take those balls, with people coming through with baseball bats and hand grenades, should form a queue outside my office on Monday morning."

Smith declared that he still had full confidence in Graham - and three weeks later bought a new full-back, Stuart Spruce, from Widnes.