I REMEMBER it like it was yesterday…
August 21, 1983, Hull 22 Warrington 22 at The Boulevard – and a professional debut for one Garry Schofield.
Can it really be 40 years ago to this very day? It seems amazing that I’ve been involved for so long as a player, coach, pundit and, of course, League Express columnist.
It was quite a baptism, because I was up against Ronnie ‘Rhino’ Duane, who’d been in the professional game a bit longer and, to be fair, he gave me a bit of a runaround.
The same thing happened against the likes of Hull KR (Gary Prohm), Widnes (Eric Hughes) and St Helens (Roy Haggerty), and all in all, it was a pretty steep learning curve.
But I was prepared for it, partly because my dad had warned me what might happen, and I kept in my head one of his pieces of advice, and one of the best I’ve ever had: “Always respect your opponent, but never worry about them – make them worry about you.”
In those early days, did I think I would have the playing career I did? Perhaps not, but I was confident in my own ability, and with a little help, especially from the likes of Harry Jepson, when I was coming through at Hunslet Parkside, my first Hull coach Arthur Bunting and one of my great mentors David Topliss, I slowly but surely got to grips with things.
I worked with some great players and coaches – the best four were Arthur, Mal Reilly and David Ward at Leeds (Mal was also in charge of Great Britain when I played for the Lions, of course) and Frank Stanton at Balmain.
I also worked with some indifferent players and coaches – and excuse the language, some right ba****ds!
But that’s all part of the game, I guess.
The eye of the Tigers
THE big Wakefield-Castleford crunch clash reminded me of a blind date in which one of those involved is really into and the other just doesn’t want to be there.
While nothing is done and dusted in terms of the drop, there was plenty riding on the result, and Castleford embraced the situation, whereas Wakefield looked like they weren’t up for it at all.
The influence Danny Ward has already had at Castleford was clear to see, because his team played with confidence and moved the ball better than at any time in a previously torrid season.
Greg Eden stole the headlines with his hat-trick in the 28-12 win, but it was an impressive all-round team performance, and now they are firmly in the driving seat in the bid for Super League survival, with a two-point advantage over their neighbours with five games to go.
How each team responds this weekend will be interesting.
Castleford host St Helens, and with home advantage and the crowd urging them on, I fancy them to win by seven.
Wakefield are at Salford, and with the Red Devils boosted by beating Huddersfield convincingly, I think they’ll triumph over Trinity by ten.
Friday’s other game is a Challenge Cup Final repeat at Craven Park, and while Hull KR will want revenge, I reckon Leigh’s powerful pack will drive them to an eight-point victory.
On Saturday, I’m going Hull by 14 at home to Warrington and Catalans by 16 against Wigan in France, while on Sunday, I see Leeds winning at Huddersfield by golden point.
Finn heading for Fax
HALIFAX were a fair old force in the game in the early days of my career.
They were promoted from the old Second Division at the end of my first season at Hull, 1983-84, and went on to enjoy a proper purple patch under Aussie driving force Chris Anderson, winning the title in 1985-86 and the Challenge Cup the season after.
They also got to Wembley in 1987-88, and 35 years on, returned earlier this month to win the 1895 Cup.
It’s 20 years since they played in Super League, and with a new board and a decent stadium at The Shay, they’re looking to get back there at some stage under the new IMG system.
They play some decent stuff under current coach Simon Grix, and I think the club has made a great appointment to succeed him next season in Liam Finn.
Perhaps I’m a bit biased as a former halfback, but I really liked Liam as a player.
He wasn’t the fastest (and he’ll know what I mean after we had a joke about him missing out on a try for Wakefield one Magic Weekend), but whatever club he was at, and there were a fair few at different levels, he usually had the knack of stabilising the side, and as well as being a good kicker, he was a great organiser and had that ability to read a game.
He’s carried that into his coaching career, and has done a good job in getting Dewsbury back to the Championship at the first time of asking.
I know the chairman Mark Sawyer, and he’ll be both delighted and relieved to have got out of League One, but sorry to have lost Liam to Halifax, who are themselves losing Grixy to another job somewhere in Super League, with Hull being mentioned.
They’re both Halifax lads who have played for the club, and I wish Liam, a good, young British coach, all the best in his step up.
My tribute to Parky
I’D LIKE to add my own tribute to the thousands which have poured in for Sir Michael Parkinson, who has sadly died aged 88.
It goes without saying that he was the king of the television interviewers, with so many huge names appearing on his shows over the years.
But he was also a huge sports fan, and knowledgeable about far more than just cricket (it’s been well chronicled how much he would have loved to have played for Yorkshire, having opened the batting for his hometown club Barnsley alongside Dickie Bird).
The RFL has commented on the high regard in which Parky held our sport, and how he liked to attend big matches (I recall seeing him at Challenge Cup Finals, and what a shame that we can’t attract as many guests of that high calibre these days).
I can vouch for that, having met the great man three times, all of them at golf tournaments which he put his name to and helped organise.
I’m proud to say that the team I was in actually won one of them, at Pannal near Harrogate, back in 1990, when if memory serves, it was a Lord’s Taverners-backed event.
There were some real big hitters, both from the worlds of show business and sport, present (Ronnie Corbett and Kenny Dalglish stick in my mind), and it was great to be in their presence.
Parky went out of his way to make me feel at ease and introduce me to many of them, and I could tell from our conversation that he took more than a passing interest in Rugby League.
What a great bloke, who said things as they are, and what a great loss.
