The Challenge Cup Final of May ‘68

Is etched in my memory from that fateful date

Affording the chance for the Good to be Great

For some though the memory mocks

None more so than Wakey’s Don Fox.

 

For those unfamiliar this was the scene

The climax of which was the best ever seen

An epic Cup Final contested between

West Yorkshire’s top pedigree breeds

The pride of Wakefield and Leeds.

 

But it bucketed stair rods that May afternoon

The pitch being waterlogged carnage was strewn

And neither were Trinity or Leeds immune

Which made for a game full of errors

That forever would give Fox the terrors.

 

For most of the game Wakey held Leeds at bay

Then Leeds got a try;  “We were cheated” they’d say;

A penalty too with just seconds to play

“Controversial” wasn’t the word!

Through decades the charge has been heard.

 

With scarcely no time for the match to restart

The Gods of the Weather would now play their part

As over the waterlogged pitch Hirst would dart

As though it was almost bone dry

To score a miraculous try.

 

An easy conversion would settle the game

Whoever would kick it would reap the acclaim

For ever in Wakefield they’d hallow his name

For such opportunity knocks

But once for the legend, Don Fox.

 

But the Gods of the Weather had not had their say

And wanted more fun in that mud and the spray

As Fox took his kick they sliced it away;

His sobs could be heard all around.

As Fox slumped in tears to the ground

 

The “Watersplash Final” played on cabbage patch

Remembered for plans the Gods chose to hatch;

Ironically, Fox was the Man of the Match

Though that never would ease the shocks

When nightmares awakened Don Fox.

 

Don Fox lived his life till 2008

Some 40 years on from that fateful date;

Despite his achievements it’s been his cruel fate

To relive in the mud and the rain

A lifetime of one second’s pain.