General Rugby Leagues Memory Lane

[Trugoy]

In all my years of watching league including the 80s I have never seen anyone as headless as mad jack

There’s been a whole heap of loose units over the years but hard to go past Gordy for straight up loonie eyed aggression.
And one of the best back rowers of all time to boot.

Les Boyd was another, great player but a serial thug who payed for it by basically wiping himself out of the Aussie game through suspensions.

And if we’re talking headless it wouldn’t be right to forget good ol’ Hoppa. (see Les Boyd)

Jacks got a fair ways to go yet haha.

 

[gREVUS]

what about good old Kevin Campion, i swear he used to cut his forehead open himself in half his games and when he didnt i swear he lead with his head in every other tackle.

 

[Worried2Death]

what about good old Kevin Campion, i swear he used to cut his forehead open himself in half his games and when he didnt i swear he lead with his head in every other tackle.

Campo was one of the best for sure, I don't know if we're naming legendary hardmen here or just well known nutjobs.

 

[WA supporter]

What about blind ol' Mark Carroll's lack of self-preservation?

Especailly when he and P Harrigan used to come together

 

[WA supporter]

There’s been a whole heap of loose units over the years but hard to go past Gordy for straight up loonie eyed aggression.
And one of the best back rowers of all time to boot.

Les Boyd was another, great player but a serial thug who payed for it by basically wiping himself out of the Aussie game through suspensions.

And if we’re talking headless it wouldn’t be right to forget good ol’ Hoppa. (see Les Boyd)

Jacks got a fair ways to go yet haha.

I still have nightmares from the ‘95 season when St George played the Warriors at Ericsson. Early minutes of the 2nd half Tallis broke the line 60 metres out down the l/h side and scored. I don’t remember the final score but it wasn’t pretty for us

 

[Worried2Death]

I still have nightmares from the ‘95 season when St George played the Warriors at Ericsson. Early minutes of the 2nd half Tallis broke the line 60 metres out down the l/h side and scored. I don’t remember the final score but it wasn’t pretty for us

Remember it well, he taught us a lesson I've never forgotten. That was the start of our decline.

 

[Miket12]

I still have nightmares from the ‘95 season when St George played the Warriors at Ericsson. Early minutes of the 2nd half Tallis broke the line 60 metres out down the l/h side and scored. I don’t remember the final score but it wasn’t pretty for us

I remember some little hooker running from dummy half. Someone Brown? What’s he doing nowadays?

 

[WA supporter]

I remember some little hooker running from dummy half. Someone Brown? What’s he doing nowadays?

Is that the same bloke G Lowe used to the call the ”Milky Bar Kid”?!

 

[Hardyman's Yugo]

Great article on the first black RL coach In this country, Roy Francis. Probably the first black coach in any sport tbh

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/54695638

For anyone who can access BBC iPlayer the Rugby Codebreakers programme is well worth a watch. It’s about those who chose to leave Wales for the North of England to play RL, many of whom were black (Francis, Billy Boston and others) who knew they would never get picked for Wales.

 

[bruce]

Your posts bring tears to my eyes brother

 

[Hardyman's Yugo]

Your posts bring tears to my eyes brother

I grew up with this stuff. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was younger (oldest grandchild) and my grandfather was Rugby League to his core. He could go back to the game in the 1920’s, although there were no professional Cumbrian clubs until 1945. He knew a lot of big time players through his refereeing. I remember he told me he’d played amateur games alongside a local hero called Billy Little who got Barrow to the cup final in the 1930’s

 

[Hardyman's Yugo]

bruce did you ever see this bloke play in your dotage? Before my time, but I remember him as a coach

 

[Tim burgess]

He is a legend in Hull. I would to have seen him play.

 

[Hardyman's Yugo]

He is a legend in Hull. I would to have seen him play.

He played in a Hull pack that had twin brothers at prop, Bill and Jim Drake. A pretty fearsome pair by all accounts and both internationals I think, born in Harrington in Cumbria so turned out for the county team even though they’d grown up near York.

Part of my childhood indoctrination

 

[Tim burgess]

He played in a Hull pack that had twin brothers at prop, Bill and Jim Drake. A pretty fearsome pair by all accounts and both internationals I think, born in Harrington in Cumbria so turned out for the county team even though they’d grown up near York.

Part of my childhood indoctrination

Ive heard the same about the Drake brothers. I think Mick Scott and Arthur Keegan were in the same era as well. Another couple of Hull FC icons.