The man many people believe was the greatest British rugby league player of all time, was named captain of Great Britain in 1988 having scored a remarkable 12 tries for Great Britain in 1984. To the long list of Wigan legends who grace the Rugby Leagues Hall of Fame Jim Sullivan, Eric Ashton, Boston, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah, Mick Sullivan, Shaun Edwards add the name Andy Gregory. He ended his club career with 483 tries in 1463 matches. No list of great captains would be complete without the only man to captain two World Cup winning sides. The plan is for further players to be added every two years, with the intention of establishing a Wheelchair Rugby League Hall of Fame when appropriate. Many of our sports greatest ever players have skippered the Lions and achieved superb success for the national team. 3845473, VAT No. Great Britain Rugby League Lions v Tonga Invitational XIII. Turner played in an era of great loose-forwards, including Vince Karalius and Johnny Whiteley. Paul Sampson. The team is governed by the Rugby Football League, and is a full member of the RLIF and RLEF. Alex Murphy is considered as one of the greatest half-backs to have ever played the English game, a reputation he built up during spells at St. Helens, Leigh and Warrington. Fiji will begin their Vancouver 7s campaign against Kenya at 7.52am Saturday, they will then play Uruguay at 2.16pm Saturday and face Great Britain at 8.42am Sunday in their last pool match. He played at representative level for Wales and Other Nationalities, and at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers, Oldham (Heritage 548), and Doncaster (Heritage 142), as a second-row, i.e. After joining Salford from Welsh Rugby Union in 1967 at the age of 25,David Watkinswent on to play 466 games as a Rugby League player, including over 400 for Salford, 22 for Wales and 13 for Great Britain. This progressed from two replacements initially, to four, a rule which remains in the present day. 5 - by Danny Wilson (Swinton) v Hunslet (John Player Special Trophy) - 6 November 1983 Peter Wood (Runcorn Highfield) v Batley (League) - 21 October 1984 Paul Bishop (Warrington) at Wigan (Premiership Trophy semi-final) - 11 May 1986 Lee Briers (Warrington Wolves) at Halifax Blue Sox (Super League) - 25 May 2002, 29 - by Lyn Hallett (Cardiff City) - 1983-84, 97 - by Norman Turley (Warrington, Runcorn Highfield, Swinton, Blackpool Borough, Rochdale Hornets, Barrow, Workington Town, Trafford Borough, Whitehaven) - 1980-1991, 56 - (4t, 20g) by Chris Thorman (York City Knights) v Northumbria University (Carnegie Challenge Cup 3rd Round) - 6 March 2011, 496 - (36t, 194g) by Lewis Jones (Leeds) - 1956-57, 6,220 - (358t, 2,575g, 4 dg) by Neil Fox (Wakefield Trinity, Bradford Northern, Hull Kingston Rovers, York, Bramley, Huddersfield) 1955-56 to 1979-80. For inspirational leaders, Brad Fittler should be written at the very top of the list. Johnny Whiteley is considered by many to be the greatest Hull-born player of all time. World Book Day 2017: Harry Potter (Image: Edyta Stachniuk). Part of the Great Britain squad which won the Rugby League World Cup in . A prolific winger, he became a St Helens legend, making 409 appearances and scoring 392 tries. In 2014, the award was renamed after former England playerSteve Prescott, aftera petition with over 12,000 signatures was sent to theRugby Football League, calling for the award to be renamed in Prescott's honour. He skippered Great Britain superbly in the famous Rorkes Drift match that year as Britain battled on when down to 11 men. The #RLNewEra begins. On the international stage, his 33 test appearances produced 26 tries, with only Mick Sullivan and Garry Schofield ahead of him on the GB chart, plus a further 6 tries in 5 appearances for England. Buck made his debut for Leeds against Wigan at Headingley Stadium on Saturday November 5th, 1921. The run consisted of 67 Division Two, 3 Challenge Cup-ties, 3 Regal Trophy, and 2 Lancashire Cup. Myler made 24 appearances for Great Britain and was the last Great Britain captain to lift the Ashes. Follow us on Twitter Hemel and Oxford would go on to make the play offs that year, with the All Golds finishing bottom. Find Great Britain Rugby League Captain stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. James Graham captain of Great Britain looks for a gap during the International Rugby League Test match between the Great Britain Lions and Mate Ma'a. *Due to the cancellation of the 2020 Betfred Women's Super League season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no Woman of Steel was awarded. Great Britain and France dominated the competition, eventually contesting the final. Ticketing: [email protected]|0844 856 1113 (Calls will cost 7p per minute plus your phone companys access charge) GameDay Support: [email protected], The Rugby Football League Ltd, Gate 13, Rowsley Street, Etihad Campus, Manchester, England, M11 3FF. He has 51 England caps and 2 Lions caps. Douglas enjoyed great sporting success in Rugby League and Wrestling, while he was also World War I veteran. He went on to become one of the best known figures in English rugby, both before and after the split, and he was one of the most widely-respected talents in the game at the time of the Northern Union's formation in 1895. Whiteley then coached the Great Britain squad that toured Australia in 1970 the last to win the Ashes in Australia. The scrum-half made his name on the Lions' tour of Australia in 1958 aged just 19. In a 13-year career at Wigan,Andy Farrellwon six Championships and four Challenge Cups and was regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation. The Rugby League World Cup is held in Europe. But a move to Hull KR in 1966 proved fruitful, where he became one of Rovers' all-time greats. Edwards enjoyed a trophy-laden career with his hometown club Wigan winning the Challenge Cup for eight consecutive years as well three World Club Championships, eight Championship titles and the Man of Steel award in 1990. 1972 - Great Britain 1970 - Australia 1968 - Australia Captained Wigan in the inaugural Super League Grand Final, when they beat Leeds. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); No Eric Ashton? See also Rugby league players, Sports captains. Graham Williams, Peter Lush, David Farrar (November 2009). The first Rugby League tour of the UK by an overseas team took place in 1907 as converted New Zealand Union players, dubbed the 'All Golds,' travelled overseas. Wing Underwood notched 49 tries in 85 Test appearances for his nation - 18 more than the next most . Hanley's glittering five-club career spanned three decades, a trophy-laden spell which saw him voted the greatest British Rugby League player of all time in 2007. Certainly a topical choice given his actions in Leeds recent game against Castleford, but Kevin Sinfield was overwhelmingly our most popular nominee on social media. Huddersfield Giants from February to October 2002 as follows: 19 Northern Ford Premiership, 8 Buddies National Cup, 2 NFP play-offs. In November 1921, the first 1,000 transfer fee was recorded as winger Harold Buck switched from Hunslet to local rivals, Leeds. 43, including 2 draws, by Huddersfield from 1914 to 1919, a period interrupted by World War One.Huddersfield were unbeaten in the last 38 matches of 1914-15. Meanwhile, the value of drop goals was halved to one point, alongside the introduction of sponsors for the first time and official timekeepers. June 20th also hosts the first Super League game ever to be played in Spain, Warrington beating Catalans 24-12. We asked you over the last 48 hours for your suggestions on social media, and here are the six most popular choices! They go on to finish sixth in the table and make the play-offs. Rugby Leagues first black captain could not be excused from this list; largely due to the fact he captained Great Britain to World Cup glory! He was a hooker for the Great Britain, England, Hull F.C. None more so than his astonishing try against Australia in the 1994 Ashes Test clash at Wembley Stadium, where his brilliant low centre of gravity allowed him to dummy before dashing over in the corner. In this weeks edition of Six of the Best, weve polled for you to tell us your outstanding Rugby League leaders from down the years. Wagstaff was known as the Prince of Centres and was certainly a class act for club and country in the position. The Scorpions' first ever competitive game comes against Workington Town on February 28th, 2010. He is also 14th on the Premier League's all-time scorers list, with only a handful of players scoring more in the competition for a single club, suggesting that 1m might have been value for money. Leeds, United Kingdom. During his long association with Warrington, he won two Challenge Cup titles, three Rugby League Championships, six Lancashire League titles and one Lancashire Cup. France staged its first Rugby League match in 1933. 'No White Flag' is Jamie Peacock's keynote / motivational talk about how using skills in the areas of Leadership, Goal Setting, Self Belief, Attitude and Honesty has enabled him to overcome a lack of natural 'sporting' talent and become one of England's best . "The British Rugby League Records Book [Page-8295]". Please note that the numbers below are based on data contained in the RLP database, and may not be accurate. He led the club to Challenge Cup glory in 1971, also winning the Lance Todd Trophy on that occasion, before taking the trophy a third time in 1974 with his final club Warrington. Copyright 2023 - Rugby Football League - All rights reserved. Win percentage: 53.84%. Millward was pivotal as GB the 1970 Ashes Series in Australia, as he produced two brilliant performances to clinch victories in both the second and third Tests. Andy Farrell The 1992 World Cup Final captain was the subject of a record 155,000 transfer to Leeds in 1987 and poached 328 tries in a British career of almost 500 games, racking up 1,731 points in the process. The then 22-year-old also led the 1914/15 Huddersfield side to 'All Four Cups' - the Challenge Cup, Championship Trophy, Yorkshire Cup and Yorkshire League - something only achieved three times in the history of the sport. He passed away in 1985, aged just 42. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions or Great Britain Lions. Another modern-day nominee from our readers that got a lot of votes was Paul Sculthorpe. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Name Caps Debut Last or most recent match Date Opposition Date Opposition Andrew Hogg: 1 25 January 1908 The only winner of three separate Man of Steel awards, he retired with 479 domestic appearances and 396 tries before going on to coach St Helens to Grand Final success in 1999, between spells as coach at Great Britain and Doncaster. Her trailblazing as one of the early leaders of Great Britain Women's Rugby League had additional racial and positional dimensions, she is thought to have been the first black woman to captain a British team when she was co-captain for the 1996 Ashes tour and then in sole charge for a trip to New Zealand two years later, and set new standards of athleticism for a forward in the Women's game. Inducted ahead of the 2000 World Cup, he also represented his native South Africa on the international stage. In 1958 Johnny was a member of the tour squad that retained the Ashes in Australia and four years later was part of the legendary Great Britain squad that beat the Aussies once again Down Under. 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