Moomintroll Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 My dad gave me a copy of the 1982-83 Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook recently (for some reason he had two). It contained a 1981-82 season review which made for interesting reading: Professional clubs now totalled 33, with Cardiff City making their debut (in front of a 10,000 home crowd) and Carlisle finishing second in Division Two at their first attempt. Carlisle's Mick Morgan took the Trumann 1982 Man of Steel award (I carnt speyk...). Heart of Midlothian and Charlton Athletic football clubs expressed an interest in setting up RL sides, whilst a feasibility study was carried out at Preston North End for the same purpose. Hull FC looked into leaving The Boulevard to groundshare with Hull City at Boothferry Park. The International Board reaffirmed transfer restrictions between Britain and Australia. Shirt sponsorship made the headlines after Hull KR pulled out of a deal with Rank Xerox after an unspecified row lead to the RFL becoming involved. Leeds announced a three-year deal with Scottish Newcastle shortly after. (I'm assuming this was a new thing since none of the clubs at that time seemed to carry a sponsor). There was a bidding war between St Helens and Wigan to sign Rochdale's Henderson Gill. The Hornets also announced plans to develop a multisport venue at the Athletic Grounds with Rochdale AFC. RU players were targeted by League clubs, with international and county players regularly being approached. Most offers to have been turned down, including a 19-year-old Rory Underwood of Middlesbrough RUFC, who knocked back advances from HKR. A group of York businessmen planned a 250,000 pound takeover of the city's RL club. Swinton proposed that the 5-yard rule be amended to 10 yards. Station Road saw an attendance of 10,000+ for a Challenge Cup semi-final fixture. In slightly more bizarre news: Workington Town suspected a spy in the camp was providing dossiers on team lineups and tactics to opposing teams. Huddersfield banned Graham Swales for 6 months for taking Huyton coach Geoff Fletcher's wig from the dressing room Leigh 'sacked' their supporters club (no further information given) Bradford Northern staged a 56th minute walkout after 6 players (4 from Northern) were sent-off in a fixture against HKR. Heavy punishments were handed down to the players involved, including Northern's captain Jeff Grayshon. Minä rakastan rugbyliigaa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moomintroll Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 Feel free to elaborate on any of the stories above. Some were completely new to me! Minä rakastan rugbyliigaa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 On the face of it, there was a bit more optimism around then. 2 warning points Non-Political Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indomitable Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 I am sure the optimism was more in the writers minds than was actually happening. Cardiff Blue Dragons had a marvellous start with a 10k attendance , then it all slowly declined, and after the following season they moved to Bridgend. Once again a favourable start, but badly under resourced, plus no players from the north would come to Wales, and playing results went rapidly downhill. All the so called planning and feasibility plans were very much pipe dreams, and could you really believe a £250 thousand sum would ever be raised by York business men? Bids for Welsh union players was not going to be any better than they were earning in union. Mind you a certain Jonathon Davies would soon be entering the big money stakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futtocks Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Huddersfield banned Graham Swales for 6 months for taking Huyton coach Geoff Fletcher's wig from the dressing room This story definitely needs more detail! Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. Ralph Waldo Emerson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnh1 Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 I was at Cardiff's first game against Salford (my team). My overriding memory of that was when a player was injured and the trainer went on the field to attend to the injured player, the Cardiff fans were aghast that a trainer could enter the field of play without the game being stopped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longboard Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 This story definitely needs more detail! Graham Swale was carpeted for stealing the Huyton coach's rug. Graham was a somewhat volatile character, given to perpetrating some good natured violence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave T Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Interesting reading this summary, thabks for posting. If people have other years it could be an interesting thread. Not sure if the history thread that was knocking around did this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonM Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Interesting reading this summary, thabks for posting. If people have other years it could be an interesting thread. Not sure if the history thread that was knocking around did this? I've got this one and several others. There was a section which listed all the games in the season with a crowd over 10,000. There weren't enough of them to fill a page. A few random attendance stats - Wigan got a crowd of 3478 for their opening league fixture, but more 17 000 for a cup game against Widnes. The two Wigan/Saints derby games both got 7000 odd, while the new year's day derby at Warrington was watched by a crowd of 3669. Fulham v Wigan at Craven Cottage had a higher crowd than Wigan v Fulham at Central Park. Leeds v Wigan at Headingley was watched by 4487. Geoff Fletcher took his wig off before entering the playing field and was chairman as well as coach at this point and was absolutely livid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartholemew Smythe Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 It was a good year I remember Leyth winning the Lancs Cup and the Slalom Lager title,happy days We`re on a road to Nowhere....................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derwent Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 It was a good year I remember Leyth winning the Lancs Cup and the Slalom Lager title,happy days IIRC Leigh clinched the title with a win in their last match away at Whitehaven ? I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebull13 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 IIRC Leigh clinched the title with a win in their last match away at Whitehaven ? That's right.13-4 if i remember correctly, after being behind at half time.Think tries came from Des Drummond, David Dunne and possibly Tommy Martyn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebull13 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 That's right.13-4 if i remember correctly, after being behind at half time.Think tries came from Des Drummond, David Dunne and possibly Tommy Martyn? Apologies. It was Mick Hogan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans82 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 the crowds at cardiff and initially london when they started all prove how hard it is to sustain a league club in a non traditional area . fans flock there initially and then steadily drop off as time goes by . what causes this ? the entertainment value doesn t drop , is it lack of success ( although london got to wembley once ) ,or is it just that the novelty wears off ?.......similar happened at carl;isle , initially played at brunton park home of carlisle utd , then as the crowds dropped had to move to a poor ground just on the edge of the city and eventually folded ( or "merged" with barrow if you like ) .shame is they produced some excellent teams and always played good rugby . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonM Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 the crowds at cardiff and initially london when they started all prove how hard it is to sustain a league club in a non traditional area . fans flock there initially and then steadily drop off as time goes by . what causes this ? the entertainment value doesn t drop , is it lack of success ( although london got to wembley once ) ,or is it just that the novelty wears off ?....... This was Fulham's second season. Would need to check the book, but I think Leigh averaged better crowds than Wigan, Leeds, Warrington or Saints. Those who like to hark back to the past being better than now should remember that most crowds at those clubs for league games were below the 5000 mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audois Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Didn't David Oxley have a big say in lifting morale back then. Arrived in 1975 so took some time to get the game on the front foot again after the worrying 1970s.. He was like a breath of fresh air. One of the best the game ever had? "It involves matters much greater than drafting the new rules...the original and existing games have their own powerful appeal to their players and public and have the sentiments which history inspires" - Harold 'Jersey' Flegg 1933 "Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart." - Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959 Si tu( Remi Casty) devais envoyer un fax au Président Guasch? " Un grand bravo pour ce que vous avez fait,et merci de m 'avoir embarqué dans cette aventure" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind side johnny Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Geoff Fletcher took his wig off before entering the playing field and was chairman as well as coach at this point and was absolutely livid As he was on subsequent occasions when players from other clubs pinched it - I think it became something of a tradition. Sport, amongst other things, is a dream-world offering escape from harsh reality and the disturbing prospect of change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff9of13 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 One thing missing; griff9of13 made his playing debut in 1981. "it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usera Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 This was Fulham's second season. Would need to check the book, but I think Leigh averaged better crowds than Wigan, Leeds, Warrington or Saints. Those who like to hark back to the past being better now should remember that most crowds at those clubs for league games were below the 5000 mark. If I remember correctly the two Hull clubs were way ahead of the pack averaging 13000 for FC and 9000 for Rovers. No other team averaged over 6000 with Leigh averaging about 5800. I might be wrong, but the second division sides had okay crowds as clubs like Swinton, Keighley, Oldham and York had much better attendances than now. The 80-81 season had Fulham, York, Wigan and a well supported Whitehaven promoted with healthy attendances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henage Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 dont think HKR would be 9000 avg might be wrong ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronicler of Chiswick Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Hull - 13190, HKR - 8723 with all other clubs below 6k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobbygobbler Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Hull - 13190, HKR - 8723 with all other clubs below 6k. Leigh was just under 6k but we hadnt had sustained success prior to winning the league in 1982. I think it would have increased much further if we'd kicked on from that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartholemew Smythe Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 IIRC Leigh clinched the title with a win in their last match away at Whitehaven ? Indeed we did, a 13-4 win in a rearranged midweek fixture. We`re on a road to Nowhere....................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derwent Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Indeed we did, a 13-4 win in a rearranged midweek fixture. Yeah I went along to watch it, seem to remember it was 4-1 to Haven at half time before Leigh got on top in second half. I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wollo Wollo Wayoo Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I have a little booklet called the "Arrowfast Express Rugby League Routeway" giving road directions to the old grounds including Huyton and Blackpool Borough. No date on it but it has a picture on the back of a Saints team containing Neil Holding, Eddie Cunningham, Harry Pinner etc and titled Arrowfast Express Trophy. Tried googling it but no joy. Any Saints fans remember this iconic Trophy? This world was never meant for one as beautiful as me. Wakefield Trinity RLFC 2012 - 2014 "The wasted years" 2013, 2014 & 2015 Official Magic Weekend "Whipping Boys" 2017 - The year the dream disappeared under Grix's left foot. 2018 - The FinniChezz Bromance 2019 - The Return of the Prodigal Son Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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