Name Alan Hunte | Height 1.88 m | |
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In memoriam of paul alan hunter
Alan Christopher Hunte (born 11 July 1970) is an English professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played between 1989 and 2003. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, he played rugby league (RL) at representative level for Great Britain, and at club level for Wakefield Trinity, St. Helens, Hull, Warrington Wolves and Salford City Reds as a three-quarter, and playing rugby union (RU) at club level for Pontypridd RFC. Hunte is regarded as one of the fastest British wingers of his era, generally regarded as being second only in speed over 100m to Martin Offiah.
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Playing 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 debuting Australian centre Steve Renouf scoring the only (and winning) try of the match. He played for St Helens from the interchange bench in their 1996 Challenge Cup Final victory over Bradford Bulls.
Hunte played right wing, i.e. number 2, 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.
Hull paid £250,000 for Alan Hunte when he moved from St Helens in 1997 as part of a deal that also included Steve Prescott and Simon Booth, based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £430,400 in 2013.
Hunte, together with Anthony Sullivan was the 1997 St Helens season's top try scorer.
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. 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.
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.
Post playing
Hunte currently works within the coaching setup at Salford Red Devils as Head of Youth Development.
Genealogical information
Alan Hunte is the son of the rugby league footballer of the 1960s, and 1970s for Wakefield Trinity, Micheal B. Hunte, and Vera Hunte (née Holloway) (birth registered during January→March 1943 (age 73–74) in Pontefract district), whose marriage was registered during January→March 1969 in Pontefract district, and he is the older brother of Alison Justine Hunte (birth registered during January→March 1973 (age 43–44) in Wakefield district).