History - Biggest Crowd

An aerial view - printed as a souvenir postcard - of Odsal Stadium, Bradford during the 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay between Warrington and Halifax. A record crowd of 102,575 were logged at the turnstiles, though it is believed by eyewitnesses that there were substantially more than that.

The 1954 Challenge Cup Final, between Halifax and Warrington, was a disappointment. They were the two best teams in the league that season, Halifax having headed the table just one point ahead of the Wire, each having won their respective county championships. But they simply couldn't get going together at Wembley, chiefly because they were so wary of each other that the stars on both sides were tackled out of the game. Halifax led 4-0 at half time. after a couple of penalties from Tyssul Griffiths, the former Newport fullback. In the second half, Warrington drew level the same way, with goal-kicks from Harry Bath, their great Australian second-row forward. And that was that; still the only time Wembley hasn't seen a single try on Cup Final day. The 81,841 spectators prepared for battle to be resumed the following Wednesday, 5 May 1954. at Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Many, many more people than that turned up for the replay.

Most commentators were expecting 70,000 or so after such a glum performance on the Saturday, and a shuttle service of fifty buses operating from the city centre from 4.25 p.m. (for a seven o'clock kick-off) was thought to be perfectly adequate, while the twelve special trains scheduled from Warrington were thought, in the circumstances. to be rather more than would be needed. People, in fact, had started queuing a good hour before the buses started running, but the ground authorities had everything well planned, with 100 gatemen and 150 policemen on duty. An hour before the kick-off, with 60,000 already in the deep bowl of Odsal, and as many again still converging on the stadium from all points of the compass, both the turnstiles and the bobbies were swamped in a sea of steadily pushing, generally good-humoured but exceedingly determined humanity.

The traffic for miles around had become jammed fast by this time, so that the Halifax team coach had to be given a police escort down the wrong side of the road leading to Odsal. Many who had come to see these players simply abandoned their vehicles and started to walk the rest of the way. Some stayed put resignedly and heard the match commentary on their car radios. Others threw themselves on the mercy of nearby houses and listened in more comfortably there. So great was the crush both inside and outside the ground that two hundred people fainted: some of them had got inside, decided they wouldn't be able to see anything, and collapsed as they were struggling to get out again. By 7 p.m., people were squatting ten deep in front of others who were on proper seats arranged around the speedway track; others had climbed on to Odsal's precipitous stands and were watching from the roofs. By the time the players came down the long flight of steps on to the field, they were invisible until they shouldered their way on to the pitch. No one had seen anything like this before; nor would they ever do again. The official figure for that crowd afterwards was 102,569; but so many others gatecrashed Odsal that the true figure is believed to have been something like 120,000 that evening. Even the lower figure is still easily the biggest ever to see a rugby match of either code anywhere in the world until the recent double header at the new Sydney Olympic Stadium, whereas the larger one is well short of the biggest crowd to see a British sporting event - over 149,000 who attended the Scotland v. England soccer international at Hampden Park, Glasgow on 17 April, 1937.
The teams that historic evening were:

WARRINGTON	HALIFAX
Eric Frodsham (captain)	Tyssul Griffiths
Brian Bevan	Arthur Daniels
Jim Challinor	Tommy Lynch
Ron Ryder	Billy Mather
Stan McCormick	Dai Bevan
Ray Price	Ken Dean
Gerry Helme	Stan Kielty
Dan Naughton	John Thorley
Frank Wright	Alvin Ackerley (captain)
Gerald Lowe	Jack Wilkinson
Harry Bath	Albert Fearnley
Austin Heathwood	Derek Schofield
Bob Ryan	Desmond Clarkson

And it was another dour struggle, though it could scarcely fail to be exciting in that atmosphere. Challinor scored a try alter nine minutes, and half an hour later Griffiths kicked a penalty, so the teams took the break at 3-2 to the Cheshire side; but the Yorkshiremen had already had two tries disallowed. Hallway through the second half it was Warrington still ahead, by 5-4 after a penalty by Bath and another by Griffiths. The game was sealed by Gerry Helme, who slid over in the comer for a try which Bath couldn't convert. There was controversy just before the end when, for the third time, Halifax had a try disallowed, alter Daniels chased a kick from Kielty and referee Ron Gelder, rather a long way from the action, ruled that the winger hadn't managed to touch down before being turned over by the defence. So it was Warrington's cup alter all, with an 8-4 victory, and a second Lance Todd trophy for Helme, who had already won it four years earlier; the only man to do this twice until Andy Gregory of Wigan did so in 1988 and 1990, Martin Offiah of Wigan repeating the feat in 1992 and 1994.

It was nearly breakfast time before some Warrington supporters reached home, in the long traffic jam stretching from Odsal across the Pennines. Three days later, they were at Maine Road, Manchester, to see the same two teams fight for the championship in the play-off final. Warrington won that one, too, 8-7.

Gerry Helme, the Warrington scrum-half scores during the Odsal replay, and grins like a delighted elf. The density of the crowd that Wednesday night is obvious here.