Alan Hunte
Personal information
Full nameAlan Christopher Hunte[1]
Born (1970-07-11) 11 July 1970 (age 53)
Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Playing information
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight14 st 4 lb (91 kg)
Rugby league
PositionWing, Centre, Fullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1989 Wakefield Trinity 2 1 0 0 4
1989–97 St Helens 244 189 0 0 756
1998 Hull F.C. 24 13 0 0 52
1999–01 Warrington Wolves 91 56 0 0 224
2002–03 Salford City Reds 53 41 2 0 168
Total 414 300 2 0 1204
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1992–97 Great Britain 15 7 0 0 28
1992 England 1 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
Position?
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2000 Pontypridd RFC 5 3 0 0 15
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2013 Salford City Reds 8 2 1 5 25
Source: [2][3][4][5]

Alan Christopher Hunte (born 11 July 1970) is an English former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played between 1989 and 2003. He played rugby league (RL) at representative level for Great Britain, and at club level for Wakefield Trinity (Heritage № 1009), St. Helens, Hull FC, Warrington Wolves and Salford City Reds as a three-quarter,[2] and club level rugby union (RU) for Pontypridd RFC.

Background

Alan Hunte was born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.

Playing career

Hunte started his rugby league career with Eastmoor, and was selected for the BARLA Young Lions tour of Australia in 1989.[6] He signed amateur forms with Wakefield Trinity during the 1988–89 season, making his debut for the club in January 1989, but chose to sign for St Helens two months later.[7] He scored two tries on his debut for St Helens on 1 March 1989 in a 58–12 win against Oldham.[8] He was not eligible to play for Saints in the 1989 Challenge Cup final due to being cup-tied, having played for Wakefield in an earlier round of the cup.[9]

Hunte played right wing in St. Helens' 4–5 defeat by Wigan in the 1992 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1992–93 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens, on Sunday 18 October 1992.[10]

In 1996, Hunte was a substitute in their 1996 Challenge Cup final victory over Bradford Bulls.

Hunte, together with Anthony Sullivan was the 1997 St Helens season's top try scorer.

In November 1997, Hull signed Hunte, along with his St Helens teammates Steve Prescott and Simon Booth, for a combined fee of £350,000.[11]

Hunte later moved to Warrington Wolves and Salford City Reds.

Hunte also switched codes to Rugby Union, joining Pontypridd RFC in 2000 in a blaze of publicity. Hunte's career at Pontypridd was short lived, however, as he struggled to come to grips with the vagaries of the Union code.[12]

International career

Hunte was selected to go on the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, and would play for the Lions in the 1992 Rugby League World Cup final at Wembley in October, though unfortunately it was his dropped ball which led to débuting Australian centre Steve Renouf scoring the only (and winning) try of the match.

In the 1997 post season, Hunte was selected to play for Great Britain on the wing in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Australia.[3][4] His speed was shown in the third test when he ran down Aussie speedster Andrew Ettingshausen over a 70m run after giving him a 10m start.

Coaching career

Hunte currently works within the coaching setup at Salford Red Devils as Head of Youth Development.

He took over as caretaker head coach in 2013 when Phil Veivers was sacked.

References

  1. ^ "Birth details at freebmd.org.uk". freebmd.org.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Player Summary: Alan Hunte". Rugby League Records. Rugby League Record Keepers Club. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  6. ^ "Young Lions beaten again". The Guardian. London. 29 July 1989. p. 19. ProQuest 186885909.
  7. ^ "Test plans for Wembley". Manchester Evening News Pink. 4 March 1989. p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ Fitzpatrick, Paul (2 March 1989). "Hunte steals triumph from Aussie masters". The Guardian. London. p. 15. ProQuest 187029101.
  9. ^ "Rugby League Heroes: Alan Hunte". Total Rugby League. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  10. ^ "1992–1993 Lancashire Cup Final". wigan.rlfans.com. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Rugby League: Hull sign up Hunte, Prescott and Booth". The Independent. 26 November 1997. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Profile at ponty.net". ponty.net. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2018.

External links

St Helens RLFC squad – 1996 Challenge Cup Final winners
Great Britain squad – 1992 Tour
Great Britain squad – 1996 Tour
Salford Red Devils coaches
Super League Dream Team – 1997
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