RL Sonja Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Very sad news today that one of the greatest ever rugby league players has passed on. Few who know the story will ever forget Swinton 1963 and his impact on it. Vale. "There has never been a Challenge Cup semifinal of 65,000 either individually or combined" - Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 2 hours ago, RL Sonja said: Very sad news today that one of the greatest ever rugby league players has passed on. Few who know the story will ever forget Swinton 1963 and his impact on it. Vale. I read about it on Wikipedia. Thanks for highlighting it, a very interesting story and sad he has died. I take it for granted Australia will beat them now, yet that was the first series win for 50 years and the biggest margin of victory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RL Sonja Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 https://www.facebook.com/RLREPLAYED/videos/1963-gb-v-australia-2nd-test/10200650052882528/ Highlights from the Swinton match, 2nd Test, 1963. Raper's ability shines brightly. "There has never been a Challenge Cup semifinal of 65,000 either individually or combined" - Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cw25 Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Sad news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Sadler Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 8 hours ago, RL Sonja said: Very sad news today that one of the greatest ever rugby league players has passed on. Few who know the story will ever forget Swinton 1963 and his impact on it. Vale. Very sorry to hear this. I only met him once but he treated me as though I were one of his oldest friends. A great player and a great guy. My condolences to his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Lofter Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Saw this on tourism site, completely unrelated to sport, : "Magnificent player and a genuine champion...probably in the top three or so that have played Rugby League ever. I saw him play only a few times when I was young but was just amazed by how much of a match winner and also an absolute workhorse with endless energy that he was. In Australian Rugby League we have a concept of Immortals, this concept is above the Hall of Fame and Teams of the Century, and Johnny Raper was one of the original Immortals. We had 4 original Immortals, and it was added to over the years and now stands at 13 I think (one of them is an imposter ,I believe). It is ironic that 6 or 7 Immortals are now dead." Wiki entry : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immortals_(rugby_league) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastLondonMike Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Sad news. One of the original ARL Immortals and one of the games greats. Newham Dockers - Champions 2013. Rugby League For East London. 100% Cockney Rugby League!Twitter: @NewhamDockersRL - Get following! www.newhamdockers.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RL Sonja Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 22 hours ago, Niels said: I read about it on Wikipedia. Thanks for highlighting it, a very interesting story and sad he has died. I take it for granted Australia will beat them now, yet that was the first series win for 50 years and the biggest margin of victory? Australasia won the Ashes in 1911-12, in England, including New Zealand players (four on tour). Australia first won the Ashes in England in 1963. England (however styled) won the Ashes in England in 1908-09, 1921-22, 1929-30, 1933-34, 1937-38, 1948-49, 1952-53, 1956-57, and 1959-60. 1963 2nd Test is still the highest score and biggest win in the Ashes. The obvious messages are that the strength of the British club game informed the strength of their Test side and international rugby league wasn’t sacrificed on the scheduling scrap heap. "There has never been a Challenge Cup semifinal of 65,000 either individually or combined" - Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonty58 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 On 09/02/2022 at 22:58, Pigeon Lofter said: Saw this on tourism site, completely unrelated to sport, : "Magnificent player and a genuine champion...probably in the top three or so that have played Rugby League ever. I saw him play only a few times when I was young but was just amazed by how much of a match winner and also an absolute workhorse with endless energy that he was. In Australian Rugby League we have a concept of Immortals, this concept is above the Hall of Fame and Teams of the Century, and Johnny Raper was one of the original Immortals. We had 4 original Immortals, and it was added to over the years and now stands at 13 I think (one of them is an imposter ,I believe). It is ironic that 6 or 7 Immortals are now dead." Wiki entry : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immortals_(rugby_league) You have made me curious, which one do you have down as the imposter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Lofter Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 On 11/02/2022 at 12:17, Jonty58 said: You have made me curious, which one do you have down as the imposter? Well, I was quoting a third party who contributed to a discussion on another (non-sport) forum but seeing as you asked, I messaged him (He's an Aussie RL fan) and this is his reply. The opinion isn't mine, I know little about the Immortals and don't have a view on it. Anyway, the reply : "Hello mate...I have played and supported RL since 1964 and have seen many great, good, above average players. I think I am a fair judge of players but I do not think that Andrew Johns is a worthy Immortal. He was certainly a great player who achieved a lot in the game but I really put Billy Smith and even Tommy Raudonikis above Johns. He was only a mainstay in the Test teams for 4 or 5 years, dominated only a few series and the same in the Origin games...he was magnificent in the 2005 Origin series...but he was mostly a player coming off the bench on a lot of occasions. Billy Smith dominated for about 15 years in an era where footballers were thinking footballers, where RL was a game of evasion and collision, not just like collision as it is today, and there were some really great halves back then. Johns was in an era where he and maybe 1 or 2 others were thinking players surrounded by big programmed beasts.I assume you are from the UK and there were some truly great players that I saw from there as well that would be the equal if not better than Johns...especially Roger Millward, Steve Nash and Tommy Bishop." So, in his opinion, Andrew Johns is the imposter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonty58 Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 9 hours ago, Pigeon Lofter said: Well, I was quoting a third party who contributed to a discussion on another (non-sport) forum but seeing as you asked, I messaged him (He's an Aussie RL fan) and this is his reply. The opinion isn't mine, I know little about the Immortals and don't have a view on it. Anyway, the reply : "Hello mate...I have played and supported RL since 1964 and have seen many great, good, above average players. I think I am a fair judge of players but I do not think that Andrew Johns is a worthy Immortal. He was certainly a great player who achieved a lot in the game but I really put Billy Smith and even Tommy Raudonikis above Johns. He was only a mainstay in the Test teams for 4 or 5 years, dominated only a few series and the same in the Origin games...he was magnificent in the 2005 Origin series...but he was mostly a player coming off the bench on a lot of occasions. Billy Smith dominated for about 15 years in an era where footballers were thinking footballers, where RL was a game of evasion and collision, not just like collision as it is today, and there were some really great halves back then. Johns was in an era where he and maybe 1 or 2 others were thinking players surrounded by big programmed beasts.I assume you are from the UK and there were some truly great players that I saw from there as well that would be the equal if not better than Johns...especially Roger Millward, Steve Nash and Tommy Bishop." So, in his opinion, Andrew Johns is the imposter. Ok. He has been one of the better players to play our game. Not sure what the immortal recognition requires to make the grade to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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