Viv Huzzey in Action for Oldham RLFC

The DVD on which Viv Huzzey may feature

I found an interesting blog article (link below) which mentions Viv Huzzey playing for Oldham RLFC in 1901 (having quit Welsh rugby union in September 1900 after being ignored for the post of Welsh team captain).

Oldham v Swinton (12 January 1901) 5-7 [Match void, replay 3-3] 

Oldham: Thomas; Davies (t), S. Lees (g), Fletcher, Huzzey; Lawton, A. Lees; Foster, Wormald, Wilkinson, Telfer, Moffat, Bonsor, Broome, Ellis 

Swinton: Chorley; Lewis, Messer (t), R. Valentine (2g), Hampson; Davies, Morgan; Harris, Pomfret, Jones, Preston, J Valentine, Vigors, Berry, Pollitt

This is one of three rugby league matches featuring on the DVD Mitchell and Kenyon Edwardian Sports.


As the Rugby Reloaded blog says:

The highlights of the nine Northern Union matches on the DVD - all played between 1901 and 1903 - show us rugby league mid-way between rugby union rules and the move to 13-a-side and the play-the-ball in 1906. 

So it seems that Viv Huzzey moved codes when the codes were very much as Catholicism and Orthodoxy circa 11th Century, i.e. breaking apart, slowly drifting, becoming 'politicised' with a small p, and gradually the rules of both would drift from each other whilst retaining the same overall beliefs (as both codes would score tries and both faiths would believe in transubstantiation).


In an earlier post we saw how rugby union in 1905 still had scrums of anything from one player per team, and this looks very much like rugby league restarts today (sorry I do not know any of the terms let alone rules of rugby league past or present).


Again from Rugby Reloaded:

The line-out had already been abolished in 1897 and in the same year the scoring system had been changed so that tries (three points) were now worth more than goals (all two points). In contrast, union goals were worth three points, as were tries, and drop goals scored four points.

Being Welsh of Irish descent of course Rugby Union is very much akin to Catholicism, in that it is the true way and we do pray that our 'seperated brethren' will see the light and return to the One True Fold (of Rome, and Rugby Union).

I have ordered the Edwardian Sports DVD (commentary by Adrian Chiles!) and if there is footage of Viv Huzzey - as I hope there will be - I will upload it to YouTube and post a link here... Time will tell.

A still from the Edwardian Sports DVD

The DVD itself is something of a heroic story as detailed by the site Movie Mail:

In 1994, during demolition work, 800 rolls of nitrate film were found in sealed barrels in the basement of a shop in Blackburn. They turned out to be one of the most exciting finds of early film ever made, with the rolls featuring the work of the Mitchell & Kenyon film company, active between 1897-1913. Remarkably, the films were in an excellent state of preservation. Consequently, because the images we see now from them are mostly so clean and scratch free, and provide such a clear view of Edwardian life, they give the amazing sensation of turning a picturebook past into a living present. Two new collections from the Mitchell & Kenyon archive are now on DVD, Edwardian Sports and Ireland.

Interestingly as Cork circa 1901 is featured on the 'Irish' film, there is an infinitesimally small chance that a Hurley family member from Cork County could be on the sister DVD to the one I hope my famous Huzzey relative is.

Link:
Rugby Reloaded
Edwardian Sports DVD reviewed