76 replies to this topic

[keighley]

Have you got the link for the Keighley semi?

Sorry, Lobby, my computer skills don't rise to that level. It is posted on the Keighley forum on RL fans and I think it might be from You Tube.

[keighley]

Stuart Gallacher was a Welsh international second row who initially signed for Bradford Northern, then moved to Keighley. In those days players were part-time and he was offered a job with Associated Weavers, a major carpet manufacturer. However, he was a bright capable bloke who did well for the company and rose up the management tree; my then mother-in-law worked with him and really liked him.

When AW got Thatchered,he went back to Llanelli and opened a carpet dealership. He was Chairman of Llanelli Scarlets for several years, retiring in 2009.


With regard to the game in question, was Terry O'Brien playing? He was a centre signed directly by Keighley from Welsh RU and played for the club for many years. He was a manager at Lucas Electronics in the town when I met him in the 1990's; a genuine nice bloke.

I remember Terry O'Brien but I think he was at Keighley in the 1960's . He signed for us from Cross Keys RU, I believe.

[redditchbulldog]

John Burke if i remember rightly playing for keithley got sent off against Batley and got summat like an 8 match ban and on his return game which was incidentally against Batley again and got sent off yet again

[keighley]

John Burke if i remember rightly playing for keithley got sent off against Batley and got summat like an 8 match ban and on his return game which was incidentally against Batley again and got sent off yet again

That sounds right, he was a real character. Had a touch of the red mist syndome.

[southstand loiner]

John Burke if i remember rightly playing for keithley got sent off against Batley and got summat like an 8 match ban and on his return game which was incidentally against Batley again and got sent off yet again

a great old fashioned prop who i enjoyed watching.

he lives in wakefield and is not in such good health im afraid

[trakl]

Easy to find.

Thanks for the link.

The things I enjoyed about that would include: The Lionel Messi-like ability of the players to half-volley the ball with the back of the heel at the play-the-ball and - with the ball bobbling end-over-end - the fact that there was barely ever a resultant knock-on.

The general speed of the play-the-ball - compare and contrast with the funereal speed of the play-the-ball in the matches involving England, Wales and France recently.

The contest too in this area provided a little variety.

The scrums looked ridiculous - but seemed perhaps a little less redundant than they are now.

I liked how both teams employed some inventive moves along the back-line and - even if one or two seemed somewhat telegraphed - the handling was deft and skilful.

I loved how the referee's gestures were so exaggerated and pantomimic - although nothing by comparison with my favourite ref of all-time, John Holdsworth.

The players, naturally, were something other than chiselled in today's fashion but many seemed just as quick and agile and tough as the players of today. The balding, Saints right-wing - short, sharp, nimble - was in delightful contrast to the Keighley left-wing whose fearless, cannonball running was bettered only by the commentary's revelation that he was a rag-and-bone-man!

The commentary was not great. It seemed to be disjointed and lacking in fluency - at variance with the game itself.

The setting of the Leeds Road ground was, to these southern eyes, glorious...

[Trojan]

a great old fashioned prop who i enjoyed watching.

he lives in wakefield and is not in such good health im afraid

But I don't think it's the same Burke who played for Keighley that day. John Burke played in the Wakey 1979 Wembley side, went on the '79 Lions Tour and then promptly retired for no apparent reason.

[Trojan]

But I don't think it's the same Burke who played for Keighley that day. John Burke played in the Wakey 1979 Wembley side, went on the '79 Lions Tour and then promptly retired for no apparent reason.

Sorry to quote myself but having seen the video, I now believe it is the John Burke who played at Wakey - but I'm sure there was another player called Burke who played for Keighley around this time.

[jannerboyuk]

Thanks for the link.

The things I enjoyed about that would include: The Lionel Messi-like ability of the players to half-volley the ball with the back of the heel at the play-the-ball and - with the ball bobbling end-over-end - the fact that there was barely ever a resultant knock-on.

The general speed of the play-the-ball - compare and contrast with the funereal speed of the play-the-ball in the matches involving England, Wales and France recently.

The contest too in this area provided a little variety.

The scrums looked ridiculous - but seemed perhaps a little less redundant than they are now.

I liked how both teams employed some inventive moves along the back-line and - even if one or two seemed somewhat telegraphed - the handling was deft and skilful.

I loved how the referee's gestures were so exaggerated and pantomimic - although nothing by comparison with my favourite ref of all-time, John Holdsworth.

The players, naturally, were something other than chiselled in today's fashion but many seemed just as quick and agile and tough as the players of today. The balding, Saints right-wing - short, sharp, nimble - was in delightful contrast to the Keighley left-wing whose fearless, cannonball running was bettered only by the commentary's revelation that he was a rag-and-bone-man!

The commentary was not great. It seemed to be disjointed and lacking in fluency - at variance with the game itself.

The setting of the Leeds Road ground was, to these southern eyes, glorious...

agree with all of that, reminded me that overall I'm still not a fan of the ten metre rule but then I like nice dour, defensive rugby decided by one or two scores (as long as the team that scores most tries wins I'm not bothered about seeing 'you score, we score' rugby league)

[HOLYMOLY]

Stuart Gallacher was a Welsh international second row who initially signed for Bradford Northern, then moved to Keighley. In those days players were part-time and he was offered a job with Associated Weavers, a major carpet manufacturer. However, he was a bright capable bloke who did well for the company and rose up the management tree; my then mother-in-law worked with him and really liked him.

When AW got Thatchered,he went back to Llanelli and opened a carpet dealership. He was Chairman of Llanelli Scarlets for several years, retiring in 2009.


With regard to the game in question, was Terry O'Brien playing? He was a centre signed directly by Keighley from Welsh RU and played for the club for many years. He was a manager at Lucas Electronics in the town when I met him in the 1990's; a genuine nice bloke.

Terry O,Brien stands close to me every home game.Still looks fit as a butchers dog.Unfortunatly I never saw him play but the old codgers around me speak highly of him.

[keighley]

Thanks for the link.

The things I enjoyed about that would include: The Lionel Messi-like ability of the players to half-volley the ball with the back of the heel at the play-the-ball and - with the ball bobbling end-over-end - the fact that there was barely ever a resultant knock-on.

The general speed of the play-the-ball - compare and contrast with the funereal speed of the play-the-ball in the matches involving England, Wales and France recently.

The contest too in this area provided a little variety.

The scrums looked ridiculous - but seemed perhaps a little less redundant than they are now.

I liked how both teams employed some inventive moves along the back-line and - even if one or two seemed somewhat telegraphed - the handling was deft and skilful.

I loved how the referee's gestures were so exaggerated and pantomimic - although nothing by comparison with my favourite ref of all-time, John Holdsworth.

The players, naturally, were something other than chiselled in today's fashion but many seemed just as quick and agile and tough as the players of today. The balding, Saints right-wing - short, sharp, nimble - was in delightful contrast to the Keighley left-wing whose fearless, cannonball running was bettered only by the commentary's revelation that he was a rag-and-bone-man!

The commentary was not great. It seemed to be disjointed and lacking in fluency - at variance with the game itself.

The setting of the Leeds Road ground was, to these southern eyes, glorious...

I also thank the poster for the link.

The play the ball mess that we have today was created by the Australians, whose highly skilled and attention to detail coaches, came up with all the dodges, hands on, pulling the leg of the tackled player, the wrestling technique stuff and, as you say, greatly slowed down the game as a result which is exactly what they wanted to happen. It has gotten so bad that they had to introduce the second ref concept to police all the shananigans in that area.

Another thing that struck me was that they took more risks in moving the ball and so there were a lot more turnovers.

The scrums were ridiculous but important. Karalius, at hooker for Saints, was a top class hooker in the true sense of the word, i.e. getting the ball back from the scrum and that monotony of possession he provided greatley aided the Saints to put prolonged pressure on Keighey, even though, to my biased mind, Keighley looked the better team when actually in possession.

The other thing about contested scrums was that when, in the last two minutes, Keighley were despeartely trying to get the point or points to win the game, Jefferson expertly found touch 25 yards out from the Saints line. The chance here was, beacuse if was a contested scrum that Keighley might actually win it and then put pressure on Saints from close to the Saints goal or, alternatvely, that they would win a penalty, a la RU, for a scrum offence and Jefferson would kick the winning goal. Neither of those two scenarios happpened but there was the chance. This simply would not happen on todays game and the removal of options like that is a little criticism I have of modern RL.

The Saints left wing was Les Jones, a GB international and top talent. The Keighley wing was a journeyman, but, as you say, an interesting contrast.

The commentary was by Eddie Waring and there have been whole threads on his influence on the game. He loved to put in collquial northernisms like rag and bone ban, early bath, and others which I can't recall. The BBC loved him. There is one school of thought that says he was responsible for popularising the game throughout the UK and another who say that it was at the expense of making the whole game a music hall joke and perpetuating the stereotype of the thick northern oik. He certainly missed a lot of the action and his commentary style was definietly unique. He did however have to carry the whole load himself, no analysts, colour men, second commentators in those days.

I don't want to be too pedantic but Leeds Road was Huddersfield Town's old ground. This ground in the video is Fartown, the iconic old home of Huddersfield RLFC.

[trakl]

I also thank the poster for the link.

don't want to be too pedantic but Leeds Road was Huddersfield Town's old ground. This ground in the video is Fartown, the iconic old home of Huddersfield RLFC.

You're not being pedantic, of course I should have said Fartown and not Leeds Road.

[Trojan]

You're not being pedantic, of course I should have said Fartown and not Leeds Road.

Fartown is one ground I never went to, for some reason. The first time I saw Huddersfield at home they had moved to Leeds Road prior to, the McAlpine/Galpharm/John Smiths stadium being available.
On the Burke query, was there a Keighley player called Tony Burke?

[bobbruce]

Fartown is one ground I never went to, for some reason. The first time I saw Huddersfield at home they had moved to Leeds Road prior to, the McAlpine/Galpharm/John Smiths stadium being available.
On the Burke query, was there a Keighley player called Tony Burke?

There was a Tony Burke that played prop for Saints think we got him from Warrington (or he left us for them ). Not sure if he ever played for Keighley though.

[Wolford6]

I played for Bradford University at Fartown in a UAU Cup Final. Liverpool stuffed us.

[dinosore]

There was a Tony Burke that played prop for Saints think we got him from Warrington (or he left us for them ). Not sure if he ever played for Keighley though.

Tony Burke was a Yorkshire lad, i think Saints signed him from Bramley or possibly Batley, when Tony moved to live in Wigan, i worked in the building trade with him for a short time, if i remember correctly his wife was a Wiganer, i do know she died very young from cancer.

[bobbruce]

Tony Burke was a Yorkshire lad, i think Saints signed him from Bramley or possibly Batley, when Tony moved to live in Wigan, i worked in the building trade with him for a short time, if i remember correctly his wife was a Wiganer, i do know she died very young from cancer.

Yeah that's right think it happened while he was still playing.

[southstand loiner]

There was a Tony Burke that played prop for Saints think we got him from Warrington (or he left us for them ). Not sure if he ever played for Keighley though.

it was john burke who played for keighley . he also played for leeds, castleford and great britian and was a real old fashioned forward who i think was sent off 19 times .
a real nice guy off the field but a terror on it ..

[Steve May]

My apologies if this is boring but I thought it just a change of pace from the current issues and arguments on the board.

Not at all - from my perspective it's always good to see footage of the old Fartown ground.

I was just shy of 3 weeks old when this match was played!

[Trojan]

it was john burke who played for keighley . he also played for leeds, castleford and great britian and was a real old fashioned forward who i think was sent off 19 times .
a real nice guy off the field but a terror on it ..

I know that, but I'm sure there was another lad called Burke who was actually from Saint Helens, who played for Keighley at the same time Gary Moorby (a Keighley lad) was playing for Saints. I'm sure I didn't imagine it. (perhaps I did )