Billy Batten

William "Billy" Batten, (born in Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire) was an English rugby league footballer. He played for Hunslet, Hull and Great Britain was one of rugby league's first superstars. He was a brilliant athlete and a huge crowd-puller - and also well aware of his own worth.

Early career

Born in the Yorkshire mining village of Kinsley, near Fitzwilliam, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Batten joined Hunslet at the age of 17 and helped the club win all four cups in 1907-08. He was also a member of the first touring team to travel to Australasia under the leadership of James Lomas in 1910. He was later to decline the opportunity to tour again with Britain in 1914 for "business reasons".

Hull

He joined Hull for a then record fee of £600 in 1913, and was to be paid £14 per match plus an additional special bonus. These were huges figures at the time and attracted criticism. He silenced those critics somewhat by helping the club win the Challenge Cup in his first season, when his presence in the side reportedly added £500 to gate receipts per game.

Popularity

Such was his popularity that Hull would print "Batten certain to play" over posters advertising their home games at The Boulevard. His benefit match in 1920 reaped an incredible £1,079 13s 8d. To put that in context Alex Murphy, one of the game's true legends, raised approximately £2,000 in his "phenomenally successful testimonial year" almost 50 years later.

Batten was known for his trademark "Batten Leap" - his ability to hurdle players. He passed this trick on to his son Eric Batten, but the tactic was later outlawed because of its potential dangers.

External links

* [http://rugbyleaguehistory.co.uk/?page_id=9 Billy Batten at rugbyleaguehistory.co.uk]
* [http://www.hunslet.org.uk/019d8595350ad260d/019d8595350adc619/019d85953609df632/index.htm Billy Batten at hunslet.org.uk]