Want a scrum half ? Just shout down the Pit !

[Blue Pike]

Started watching Fev in the early 70s and have witnessed fantastic scrum halves plying their trade.Seen the likes iof Derrick Fox,Dale Fennel ,Tex and many others producing standout performances .I believe thst most of you will say Nashy was the best but having only seen him play a couple of games before his record transfer to Salford I firmly believe (even though hes my uncle) Phil Butler (in my era) is the best scrum half ever to wear the blue and white jersey.Keen to hear other peoples thoughts on this. 

[Robin Evans]

I got 2 seasons watching nashy when Cadging lifts with family friends who were wigan fans but enjoyed their rugby or going to fev on the quiet and not telling me mam by saving my school dinner money and pocket money for the game.

We've had some decent 7s but nobody since then has been that standard.... IMO.

[oldrover]

Phil was a good player, i liked him, but you're a bit wide of the mark there.

[Blue Pike]

Look its all about oppinions and in my eyes in the games I have witnessed ,Phil was excepuonal towards the wins Fev produced and I inderstand everyone has a favourite scrum half but by you saying WIDE OF THE MARK seems a bit if an unfair gulf to me .

[oldrover]

28 minutes ago, Blue Pike said:

Look its all about oppinions and in my eyes in the games I have witnessed ,Phil was excepuonal towards the wins Fev produced and I inderstand everyone has a favourite scrum half but by you saying WIDE OF THE MARK seems a bit if an unfair gulf to me .

i;m sorry ifwhat i put upset you, i know you can only comment on the players you've seen, and as i say, i liked Phil, but i can go farther back , and obviousley have seen a lot more players. when you say best to wear the Fev shirt, then you have to include the likes of Don Fox, Alan Marchant, Carl Dooler, Reg Dunning, Peter Banner, Tex Hudson, Steve Nash, Deryck Fox etc. as i say Phil was a good player with a good rugby brain and that little bit of devilment in him. ( it's not everyone who would kick Mal Reilly up the backside). that's a heck of a list of good scrum halves tho.

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Phil Butler was a really good player, a bit unlucky with injuries as I recall. He played an important role in what was the best Rovers team of all time.

It's no reflection on him to say that Nashy was in a different class. He was a genuine world-class scrum half, a regular in the Great Britain team at a time when we had some fine half backs (he kept the great Roger Millward out of the team on plenty of occasions). I've been lucky enough to watch Vince Farrar, Jimmy Thompson, Charlie Stone, Keith Bridges, Pete Smith, John and Paul Newlove, Deryck Fox and Brendon Tuuta amongst many Rovers greats, but I'd still say Nashy was the best Fev player I have seen in my lifetime.

 

 

[Blue Pike]

1 hour ago, oldrover said:

i;m sorry ifwhat i put upset you, i know you can only comment on the players you've seen, and as i say, i liked Phil, but i can go farther back , and obviousley have seen a lot more players. when you say best to wear the Fev shirt, then you have to include the likes of Don Fox, Alan Marchant, Carl Dooler, Reg Dunning, Peter Banner, Tex Hudson, Steve Nash, Deryck Fox etc. as i say Phil was a good player with a good rugby brain and that little bit of devilment in him. ( it's not everyone who would kick Mal Reilly up the backside). that's a heck of a list of good scrum halves tho.

 

No probs ,like your posts. Fev winning 22. 12. H/t. Hope they keep it up

[gingdong]

Phil is a good mate of mine and had he not got injured in the 76 semi at half time we would of won the double

[Bazzer]

Barry Holland.

Best scrum half at Fev. Don Fox. Brains skill and a will to win.

[Steve Slater]

16 hours ago, Blue Pike said:

Started watching Fev in the early 70s and have witnessed fantastic scrum halves plying their trade.Seen the likes iof Derrick Fox,Dale Fennel ,Tex and many others producing standout performances .I believe thst most of you will say Nashy was the best but having only seen him play a couple of games before his record transfer to Salford I firmly believe (even though hes my uncle) Phil Butler (in my era) is the best scrum half ever to wear the blue and white jersey.Keen to hear other peoples thoughts on this. 

I'm slightly biased like you BP, I played with Phil in the juniors at Fev and loved him to bits, and followed his career with keen interest. I admire him more than most in that he didn't get picked up as a junior and had to make his name in Open-Age with the "Jube". My measure of a good scrum half is how well the team is playing and the '75-'76 team IMO was the best Fev side ever, until Phil's injury in the semi. After that he was never the same because his shoulder kept popping out. That team was coached by a fantastic ex international scrum half in Tommy Smales, who I believed used to work at Sharlston Pit in his early days.

As far as your statement about shouting down the pit shaft, I think they mainly got their scrum halves from Sharlston and their props from Ackton Hall. One of Eddie Waring's famous catch phrases when he came to Fev was "Send us up a prop forrard!" when he used to refer to Ackton Hall and where Fev used to get their big forwards from.

As far as being the best though: Phil, Carl Dooler and Don Fox were my favourites but you have to concede that Nashy was the best, even the best in the world in his prime.

[Seal]

I started watching Rovers in 1960 and Steve Nash is my all time favourite great as the other mentioned were.