Career
One of five brothers (four of whom at one period played together in the same Hunslet team), Goldthorpe made his first team debut with Hunslet, at fullback, as a 16-year-old in October, 1888. He went on to become one of the best known figures in English rugby, both before and after the split, and he was one of the finest individual talents in the game at the time of the Northern Union"s formation in 1895. He was also a successful cricketer.
Goldthorpe was still playing for Hunslet twenty years after his debut, when in the 1907-1908 season he led the club to unprecedented success, winning all four cups (the Challenge Cup, the Championship, the Yorkshire Cup and the Yorkshire League).
Albert Goldthorpe played stand-off/five-eighth in Hunslet"s 13-3 victory over Halifax in the 1905 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1905-1906 season at Park Avenue, Bradford on Saturday 2 December 1905, and played scrum-half/halfback, and scored 3-drop goals in the 17-0 victory over Halifax in the 1907 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1907-1908 season at Headingley Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 21 December 1907. When he finally retired in 1910, Goldthorpe had scored more goals and points than any player in the game"s history at that time.
After his playing career ended he served on the Hunslet committee until, in 1924, he was appointed as the club"s second full-time secretary-manager, a post he held for seven years. Goldthorpe died in 1942 aged 72.
In 1988 an Australian television movie, The First Kangaroos actor Dennis Waterman"s villainous depiction of Goldthorpe drew formal complaints from Goldthorpe"s granddaughter.
In 2008, the Albert Goldthorpe Medal was created by British rugby league newspaper Rugby Leaguer & League Express to honour the leading players in Super League. On 20 August 2009, transport company Arriva Yorkshire honoured 13 rugby league football players at a ceremony at The Jungle, the home of the Castleford Tigers. A fleet of new buses were named after the "Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team".
The "Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team" is.
Trevor Foster Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire, Neil Fox Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire, Albert Goldthorpe, Alan Hardisty, Stan Kielty, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire, Malcolm Reilly, Garry Schofield, Keith Senior, David Topliss, Dave Valentine, and Adrian Vowles.