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What is rugby league’s greatest/most famous moment? Don Fox’s missed kick?


DC77

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42 minutes ago, DC77 said:

Just watched the kick again. It’s a straight run up to the ball. No bleedin wonder Fox missed it. It’s harder to hit straight with a straight on kick, and also more susceptible to slicing the ball/making a poor connection.

Mentioned the Flower punch. Difference with Cantona though is that’s all he is know for. Cantona was arguably the most famous sportsman in the country when he kicked the fan. The “seagulls” press conference is probably his stand out moment of all.

Other scandalous moments, Zidane headbutting the Italian in the 2006 World Cup final would be in such a list (as would his winning volley in the Champions League final).

Agree that Cantona was ace but outside of football its this incident that made him famous to non football fans.

Its also this moment that led to being harrassed by reports for the famous seagulls interview

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39 minutes ago, DC77 said:

Just watched the kick again. It’s a straight run up to the ball. No bleedin wonder Fox missed it. It’s harder to hit straight with a straight on kick, and also more susceptible to slicing the ball/making a poor connection.

Don Fox was good enough to kick goals for Great Britain in a test match against Australia and kicked about 600 in his professional career.

But if only he'd had your words of wisdom and experience, eh?

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2 hours ago, Colin James said:

Your average Joe Public under the age of 50 has never heard of Don Fox. It might be iconic for RL fans of a certain vintage but in the wider public consciousness I'd argue it's way down the list.

The opening post states that the Don Fox moment was ranked 99 in a list of the top 100 iconic sporting moments so you won't have many people to argue with.  I think the point is that "your average Joe Public", with no mention of age, sees this as the top RL moment.  Not surprising when it's rolled out by the BBC so regularly.  For me it's comparable to Geoff Hurst's last goal and they think it's all over.

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

 

 

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1 hour ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

The opening post states that the Don Fox moment was ranked 99 in a list of the top 100 iconic sporting moments so you won't have many people to argue with.  I think the point is that "your average Joe Public", with no mention of age, sees this as the top RL moment.  Not surprising when it's rolled out by the BBC so regularly.  For me it's comparable to Geoff Hurst's last goal and they think it's all over.

The poll was 20 years ago and has little relevance today. I doubt it would make the top 100 if the poll were repeated today.

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31 minutes ago, Colin James said:

The poll was 20 years ago and has little relevance today. I doubt it would make the top 100 if the poll were repeated today.

The match had enough relevance for the BBC to produce that Watersplash Final documentary just a couple of years back so who knows?  

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

 

 

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The queen handing the Challenge Cup to Mal Dixon in 1967 is iconic, not least because there is a subtext there enhancing the image of Rugby League and its place in sport.

The Challenge Cup has long been iconic; the sport itself is iconic. The photographic, video, and narrative history of the game is packed with iconic images: from wingers in flight at Wembley, to the Australian tourists leaving the tunnel to enter the field, to bloodied and exhausted warriors, to Sunday morning park games with five spectators, to the Grand Final winners celebration, to crowds streaming from the streets into the ground, to Thursday night training under rickety floodlights on practice pitches, to ...

There’s a fantastic wealth of iconic moments, an enormous amount to celebrate and highlight, which should not be wasted.

Subtext is important: having a clear understanding of what the game is, and was, and can be, and where it fits, and will fit, in the sporting landscape, is essential to explaining and enhancing any image.

 

No apologies for this, and I can be annoying over it, but:

attempt to sanitise the game, reject where it came from, regard the lower clubs as an embarrassment and the history as distracting, creates an activity which can be lost in a morass of other modern entertainment endeavours, and the images mean less, and the iconic moments become harder to find. 

And will lead even further to a diminishing game, constantly struggling to  retain its visibility.

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1 hour ago, Cerulean said:

No apologies for this, and I can be annoying over it, but:

attempt to sanitise the game, reject where it came from, regard the lower clubs as an embarrassment and the history as distracting, creates an activity which can be lost in a morass of other modern entertainment endeavours, and the images mean less, and the iconic moments become harder to find. 

And will lead even further to a diminishing game, constantly struggling to  retain its visibility.

I'm wary of what you mean by "sanitising" but apart from that I totally agree with all the above. Rugby League's history is inspiring and heroic. We should embrace what it is and who we are so much more than we do. You can be proud of where you come from without being burdened by it. 

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4 hours ago, M j M said:

I'm wary of what you mean by "sanitising" ...

Eddie Hemmings (a valuable part of Super League, an excellent commentator, an enormous enthusiast of the game) worked hard to promote Super League as a new sport with a new name and a new ethos, and rarely mentioned the history of the game, and the layers of the game below and outside of Super League, and even avoided the label of Rugby League. It was his job and he did it excellently.

Less excusable, in my eyes, are those who promote the belief that the lower clubs - and therefore much of the game’s heritage - are an embarrassment, and the sport would look so much better without them. There are a number on this forum: they are, of course, entitled to an opinion, and they may be correct.

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21 hours ago, yipyee said:

Agree that Cantona was ace but outside of football its this incident that made him famous to non football fans.

Its also this moment that led to being harrassed by reports for the famous seagulls interview

Wouldn’t agree the kick made him “famous outside non football fans”. He’d have been known to any follower of sport in Britain, and as arguably the biggest sporting individual in the country (which he probably was at the time) he’d also have been known to joe public. Eric Cantona, Manchester United talisman, he was a household name before he stuck his boot in a fan.

If a run of the mill player (let’s say Iain Dowie) had kicked a fan, it would have made the back pages of the following days newspaper and he’d have been banned. That’s it. Cantona doing it was a whole other ball game. It was because it was Cantona that made it all the more shocking. 

Ben Flower for instance. He isn’t known. The name Ben Flower wouldn’t be known by joe public. He could walk down any street (outside a RL town, and perhaps even in a RL town bar Wigan) and nobody would bat an eyelid. So the act (however shocking) in itself isn’t enough, it’s who is doing it that really elevates it.

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21 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

Don Fox was good enough to kick goals for Great Britain in a test match against Australia and kicked about 600 in his professional career.

But if only he'd had your words of wisdom and experience, eh?

I was thinking the very same as I was typing. 😆 

It is harder though. In fact I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone kick a ball on the ground with a straight run like that in any sport. 

 

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4 minutes ago, DC77 said:

I was thinking the very same as I was typing. 😆 

It is harder though. In fact I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone kick a ball on the ground with a straight run like that in any sport. 

 

That's how the ball was kicked then.

I think Mal Meninga was the last major proponent of the style but it was largely gone by the 80s.

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1 hour ago, Cerulean said:

Eddie Hemmings (a valuable part of Super League, an excellent commentator, an enormous enthusiast of the game) worked hard to promote Super League as a new sport with a new name and a new ethos, and rarely mentioned the history of the game, and the layers of the game below and outside of Super League, and even avoided the label of Rugby League. It was his job and he did it excellently.

Less excusable, in my eyes, are those who promote the belief that the lower clubs - and therefore much of the game’s heritage - are an embarrassment, and the sport would look so much better without them. There are a number on this forum: they are, of course, entitled to an opinion, and they may be correct.

OK I was worried that by sanatising you meant on the field of play.

I agree then, the sport needs to lean harder into its proud history, at the very least have an annual heritage round which would be so easy and so rewarding.

Our's an incredible story, the sport itself the product of one of the last great 19th century social uprisings, kept strong for decades by the communities which gave it birth and still strong today.

Northernness and (forgive me Steve Price fans) resilience is integral to its identity in the UK. We should never try to deny or pretend these things aren't true, they are facts and strengths and don't affect who we can be in the future.

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46 minutes ago, DC77 said:

I was thinking the very same as I was typing. 😆 

It is harder though. In fact I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone kick a ball on the ground with a straight run like that in any sport. 

 

Can't find a picture, but back then you could get boots which had a flat front edge, made specifically for the straight on kickers. Long ago, in a distant galaxy, I had a pair myself.

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1 hour ago, M j M said:

OK I was worried that by sanatising you meant on the field of play.

I agree then, the sport needs to lean harder into its proud history, at the very least have an annual heritage round which would be so easy and so rewarding.

Our's an incredible story, the sport itself the product of one of the last great 19th century social uprisings, kept strong for decades by the communities which gave it birth and still strong today.

Northernness and (forgive me Steve Price fans) resilience is integral to its identity in the UK. We should never try to deny or pretend these things aren't true, they are facts and strengths and don't affect who we can be in the future.

Probably (of those that I’m aware of anyway) the best creation story in sport. It’s laughable that RU tried to portray it as lacking integrity for years when it was integrity personfied. “Hey, we believe we should be getting paid for what we do”...I mean the cheek of these upstarts. 

38 minutes ago, Cerulean said:

Can't find a picture, but back then you could get boots which had a flat front edge, made specifically for the straight on kickers. Long ago, in a distant galaxy, I had a pair myself.

Amazing. Never seen anything like it. 

Been kicking a ball (round one) for years and the only straight run up hit would be a toe-poke (Romario was the king at this...he’d be running with the ball towards goal and then with little back-lift would toe-poke the ball, catching the goalkeeper flat footed). 

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On 23/09/2021 at 14:10, Cerulean said:

Can't find a picture, but back then you could get boots which had a flat front edge, made specifically for the straight on kickers. Long ago, in a distant galaxy, I had a pair myself.

All kickers used to be straight on in those days. Maybe David Watkins was the first round the corner kicker. Cyril Kellett who jointly holds the record at Wembley with 8 successful conversions in the 1973 Final was a straight on toe end kicker. 

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On 23/09/2021 at 14:46, DC77 said:

 

Amazing. Never seen anything like it. 

Been kicking a ball (round one) for years and the only straight run up hit would be a toe-poke (Romario was the king at this...he’d be running with the ball towards goal and then with little back-lift would toe-poke the ball, catching the goalkeeper flat footed)

Back in the day there were boots that were made just for rugby with a hard toe cap

1970-Vintage-Adidas-Flanker-Leather-Rugb
1970-Vintage-Adidas-Flanker-Leather-Rugb
 
  1. Round the corner kicks predominately came in when players ditched rugby boots and started wearing football boots
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On 23/09/2021 at 07:07, Cerulean said:

No apologies for this, and I can be annoying over it, but:

attempt to sanitise the game, reject where it came from, regard the lower clubs as an embarrassment and the history as distracting, creates an activity which can be lost in a morass of other modern entertainment endeavours

 

No apology needed mate! I completely agree, the game should not be sanitised. 

For example, the CC semi final in 2000 has to be one of the most iconic RL moments for a lot of people. Hull v Leeds... The Rhinos won it and the drunken Hull mob went berserk. Police horses on the pitch, goalposts torn down (injuring a steward) and the Hull yobs attacking anything that moved.  

Sure... It wasn't The Open, or Wimbledon, or the Olympics, but it was broadcast nationwide on BBC, and to a lot of people that IS their only experience of Rugby League. A gritty, northern sport followed by folk who they have absolutely nothing in common with. Perhaps we need to embrace that 'edginess' a bit. Sports like football have completely lost that, and perhaps RL could fill the void. We need to stop this 'sanitising' as you say. 20 years now since this iconic moment:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/rugby_league/692098.stm

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15 minutes ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

No apology needed mate! I completely agree, the game should not be sanitised. 

For example, the CC semi final in 2000 has to be one of the most iconic RL moments for a lot of people. Hull v Leeds... The Rhinos won it and the drunken Hull mob went berserk. Police horses on the pitch, goalposts torn down (injuring a steward) and the Hull yobs attacking anything that moved.  

Sure... It wasn't The Open, or Wimbledon, or the Olympics, but it was broadcast nationwide on BBC, and to a lot of people that IS their only experience of Rugby League. A gritty, northern sport followed by folk who they have absolutely nothing in common with. Perhaps we need to embrace that 'edginess' a bit. Sports like football have completely lost that, and perhaps RL could fill the void. We need to stop this 'sanitising' as you say. 20 years now since this iconic moment:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/rugby_league/692098.stm

I remember it was referred to at the time as a typical Celtic v Rangers league game but with less hate...

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1 hour ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

No apology needed mate! I completely agree, the game should not be sanitised. 

For example, the CC semi final in 2000 has to be one of the most iconic RL moments for a lot of people. Hull v Leeds... The Rhinos won it and the drunken Hull mob went berserk. Police horses on the pitch, goalposts torn down (injuring a steward) and the Hull yobs attacking anything that moved.  

Sure... It wasn't The Open, or Wimbledon, or the Olympics, but it was broadcast nationwide on BBC, and to a lot of people that IS their only experience of Rugby League. A gritty, northern sport followed by folk who they have absolutely nothing in common with. Perhaps we need to embrace that 'edginess' a bit. Sports like football have completely lost that, and perhaps RL could fill the void. We need to stop this 'sanitising' as you say. 20 years now since this iconic moment:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/rugby_league/692098.stm

My point, as you well know, was about also remebering and celebrating iconic moments before and outside Super Legue. Your point evades me, though I do find something disturbing in the subtext of animosity within your sarcasm.

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17 minutes ago, Cerulean said:

My point, as you well know, was about also remebering and celebrating iconic moments before and outside Super Legue. Your point evades me, though I do find something disturbing in the subtext of animosity within your sarcasm.

Ignoring the resident trolls/non RL fans is probably the best route to go down.

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2 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

No apology needed mate! I completely agree, the game should not be sanitised. 

For example, the CC semi final in 2000 has to be one of the most iconic RL moments for a lot of people. Hull v Leeds... The Rhinos won it and the drunken Hull mob went berserk. Police horses on the pitch, goalposts torn down (injuring a steward) and the Hull yobs attacking anything that moved.  

Sure... It wasn't The Open, or Wimbledon, or the Olympics, but it was broadcast nationwide on BBC, and to a lot of people that IS their only experience of Rugby League. A gritty, northern sport followed by folk who they have absolutely nothing in common with. Perhaps we need to embrace that 'edginess' a bit. Sports like football have completely lost that, and perhaps RL could fill the void. We need to stop this 'sanitising' as you say. 20 years now since this iconic moment:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/rugby_league/692098.stm

Football has lost edginess? Eh?

Fans don’t sit together mate. Segregated. Away fans leave after home fans are gone.

It was only three months ago Man Utd vs Liverpool was postponed after United fans invaded the pitch. 

The rugby codes in sharp contrast are full of bonhomie.

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39 minutes ago, Cerulean said:

My point, as you well know, was about also remebering and celebrating iconic moments before and outside Super Legue. Your point evades me, though I do find something disturbing in the subtext of animosity within your sarcasm.

Ahh, missed his sarcasm (didn’t read what he was responding to).

Do see your point about RL embracing its roots/past. 

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