Billy Batten

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Billy Batten
Billy Batten.jpg
Personal information
Full name William Batten
Born (1889-05-26)26 May 1889
Kinsley, England
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.[1]
Wakefield district[2]
Playing information
Height Lua error in Module:Convert at line 452: attempt to index field 'titles' (a nil value).
Weight 13 st 4 lb (84.4 kg; 186.0 lb)
Position Fullback, Wing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1907–13 Hunslet 169 96 65 418
1913–24 Hull 226 89 1 269
1924–26 Wakefield Trinity 79 6 2 22
1927 Castleford 8 1 0 3
Total 482 192 68 0 712
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1908–21 Great Britain 10 3 0 9
1908–23 England 15 3 1 11
1908–26 Yorkshire 19 7 3 27
Source: [3]

William "Billy" Batten (26 May 1889 – 26 January 1959) was an English professional rugby league footballer of the early 20th century, noted as one of the greatest of his era. He played at three-quarter back for Great Britain and England, as well as English clubs Hunslet, Hull, Wakefield Trinity (Heritage #306), and Castleford. One of the game's first superstars, Batten was a brilliant athlete and a huge crowd-puller – and also well aware of his own worth. In 1988 he became one of the inaugural inductees of the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame. Batten is also a member of the Hull FC and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats halls of fame.

Early life

Batten was born on 26 May 1889 in the mining village of Kinsley, near Fitzwilliam, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His parents were James and Ann Batten, who both migrated to Yorkshire from North Wales. Batten started his rugby career with Kinsley and Ackworth United before joining Hunslet at the age of 17.[4]

Professional playing career

Hunslet

Batten made his debut for Hunslet in February 1907 in a 15–0 win against Barrow. He helped the club win All Four Cups in 1907–08. He was selected to play for his country during the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Batten was also a member of the first British touring team to travel to Australasia under the leadership of James Lomas in 1910.[5] He was selected to play during the tour against Australia (2 matches), Australasia (2 matches), and New Zealand.[6] Batten was known for his trademark "Batten Leap" – his ability to hurdle players.[7] He passed this trick on to his son Eric Batten, but the tactic was later outlawed because of its potential dangers.

Billy Batten played Fullback in Hunslet's 17–0 victory over Halifax in the 1907 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1907–08 season at Headingley Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 21 December 1907.

Batten was selected to play for his country during the 1911-12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Altogether, Batten won caps for England while at Hunslet in 1908 against Wales (2 matches), in 1908–09 against Australia (3 matches), Wales, in 1910 against Wales, in 1911–12 against Australia (2 matches), in 1912 against Wales, in 1913 against Wales. He also won caps for Great Britain while at Hunslet in 1908 against New Zealand, and Australia, in 1909 against Australia (2 matches).

During his time at Hunslet Batten was offered £4 a week to sign for Manchester United.[8]

Hull

He joined Hull for a then record fee of £600 in April 1913 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £205,400 in 2013),[9] and was to be paid £14 per match, a huge sum at the time[10] (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £4,794 in 2013),[9] plus an additional special bonus. These were huge figures at the time and made Batten possibly the highest-paid professional footballer in Britain, if not the world.[11] He helped the club win the Challenge Cup in his first season, when his presence in the side reportedly added £500 to gate receipts per game. Such was his popularity that Hull would print "Batten certain to play" over posters advertising their home games at The Boulevard.

Batten declined the opportunity to tour again with Britain in 1914 for "business reasons". His benefit match in 1920 reaped an incredible £1,079 13s 8d. (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £112,700 in 2013).[9] 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 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £61,970in 2013).[9] Batten won caps for England while at Hull in 1921 against Wales, and Other Nationalities, in 1922 against Wales, in 1923 against Wales,[12] Also while at Hull in 1921 Batten was selected to play for Great Britain against Australia.[13] He was transferred to Wakefield in May 1924 for £350.[8]

Wakefield Trinity

Batten signed for Wakefield Trinity in May 1924, playing in 79 games over the next couple of years, scoring six tries and kicking two goals. Billy Batten played Centre, i.e. number 3 in Wakefield Trinity's 9–8 victory over Batley in the 1924 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1924–25 season at Headingley Stadium on Saturday 22 November 1924, and played Centre, i.e. number 3 in the 3–10 defeat by Huddersfield in the 1926 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1926–27 season at Headingley Stadium on Wednesday 1 December 1926. He also continued his representative rugby career, playing for Yorkshire on four occasions. He stayed at Wakefield Trinity for two seasons before moving to Castleford in January 1927.

Castleford

Batten played in Castleford's inaugural 1926–27 season.[14]

Batten dynasty

Billy Batten had two brothers who were also famous players and the Batten dynasty continued with his three sons who all played at the top level, with Eric appearing in a record eight Challenge Cup Finals.[15] Batten's marriage to Annie Glover (birth registered April→June 1889 in Hemsworth district) was registered during January→March 1909 in Wakefield district.[16] They had children; William Batten (birth registered during July→September 1909 in Hemsworth district), Sydney M. Batten (birth registered during July→September 1911 in Hemsworth district), Mary Batten (birth registered during January→March 1913 in Hemsworth district), Frederick E. Batten (birth registered during July→September 1914 in Hemsworth district), Florence M. Batten (birth registered during July→September 1916 in Hemsworth district), Emily Batten (birth registered during April→June 1919 in Hemsworth district), Ann V. Batten (birth registered during July→September 1923 in Hemsworth district), and Robert Batten (birth registered during January→March 1927 in Hemsworth district). Batten's sons; Eric Batten, Billy Batten, Jr., and Bob Batten (Castleford 1951–55), were also top class rugby league footballers, as was Billy Batten, Jr.'s son, the rugby league footballer Ray Batten, he was also the uncle of rugby league footballer Stan Smith.

Notes

  1. ↑ Gate, p. 29
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Gate, p. 13
  4. ↑ Tom Mather (2010). "Best in the Northern Union". Pages 128–142. ISBN 978-1-903659-51-9
  5. ↑ William 'Billy' Batten at therfl.co.uk
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

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External links

Achievements
Preceded by Rugby league transfer record
Hunslet to Hull
1913–1921		 Succeeded by
Harold Buck
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