A MEDAL won by a true great of Huddersfield rugby league has been sold.
The gold medal was won by Billy Kitchin in Huddersfield’s Yorkshire Cup triumph in 1910.
It was a game which sparked a period of great success for the Fartown team, as they lived up to their billing as ‘The Team of All Talents’.
Now the 9ct gold medal has come up for sale on eBay and has been sold to an unknown buyer for £350.
It was sold by a Cheshire-based jewellery and antique firm, D J Massey & Son.
A spokesman for the firm said: “Huddersfield were a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895 and the town is the birthplace of what we know as rugby league.
“They were one of the first truly international teams with players from all over the British Empire and in the early 20th century they took trophy after trophy.
“In the five years leading to the First World War they took 13 trophies with the first coming in 1910, when they took the Yorkshire Challenge Cup”
Kitchin – who was born William Farrington Kitchin – had joined Huddersfield in 1900 from the Cumbria side Wath Brow.
He made his debut for the Fartowners on September 1 at Hull KR as a winger, but later went on to play at centre and at fullback for the club as they dominated the sport.
He had a brief spell in South Africa but returned to the Fartown side that racked up so many honours.
He played for Huddersfield against touring sides from both New Zealand and Australia and later went on to play for England twice, against Wales and Australia.
In the 1910 final, Huddersfield beat Batley 21-0.
Kitchin’s last season was in 1912/13, when the side won the League Championship, the Yorkshire League and the Challenge Cup.
