Wasn't he once an art enthusiast, obtaining rare artistry etc?

Not sure about that. I heard he was enthuiastic about obtaining things in his younger days. Honestly, he's a really nice guy.

I've heard tales of him being a genuinely nice guy with young fans and such.

No sarcasm.

I thought he had every right to refuse to deal with the media after the way they dealt with him early in his career.

How did they deal with him?

I recall his media stance and recall it was because he felt harshly treated early in his career but I don't know the specifics.

All quips aside, I drink with some blokes who are in the property trade and they allege all sorts of things.

Obviously one can't go into too much detail and for the fact that that's their version, I'm sure Hanley has another.

In my adult life I've only chatted with Hanley once, man to man. And he was a dude. It was in a scruffy little club in Wakefield (Buzz, I believe its shut these days) at about 2 am!! He was just wandering around, with a huge body-guard following his every move. We did a 'stop-and-chat', he bought me a beer, I returned the favour. Chatted about rugby, life and random stuff for about 30 minutes, then he wandered off. Hope he could find what he was looking for. (

)

A bloke I know is from Rochdale. That's right close to Burnley isn't it? Might ask him to say ice.

Whats brown and rhymes with Snoop?














Dr. Dre

thought he didnt drink?

How does he stay alive???

IIRC he had a bottle. Wise choice, I never trust the draught in a dodgy sh*thole.

www.itv.com/Entertainment/realit ... fault.html hmmm: Quote “I will not be worried about what they say…” he declares. “I am used to being verbally abused by 40 000 people every single week, so to hear one person say something they are not happy about, whether it’s your skating or whatever, will not bother me in the slightest.”'"

www.itv.com/Entertainment/realit ... fault.html hmmm: Quote “I will not be worried about what they say…” he declares. “I am used to being verbally abused by 40 000 people every single week, so to hear one person say something they are not happy about, whether it’s your skating or whatever, will not bother me in the slightest.”'"

Suddenly he's turned into Schoie!!!

That was what always seemed to be said about him yes but I never had the privilege of meeting him back then. I now do have his autograph though

I met him at the Golden Boot gig in Leeds a few years back ... As the only other British Winner of the Golden Boot, they thought it fitting to get him to give it to Farrell.

Suffice to say, Ropy Francis and I told Hanley in no uncertain terms that the current recipient of the award (at that time) 'wasn't fit to lace Hanley's boots'

Seemed a good bloke at the time (from what I can remember)

and like some of the other posters, I've heard stories of him going out of his way to help people.

Could he really have given up Doncaster to take up this gig or is it just one of those things that he was offered, by way of being a decent athlete, well known in the North and of such an age to be still fit enough, yet retired from playing, to still be 'available' to put up a decent show ?

IIRC, didn't Offiah do the dance contest thing a few years back ?

He ticks all the boxes.

They have an ice rink in Bradford and one of their professional ice dancers based in Bradford (Frankie Whats-er-face) so if one of their victims, erm, applicants lives near Bradford then its not going to do his chances any harm.

one of the best songs heard was @ wigan by their fans walking out of the ground singing

'henderson gill goes round the outside , round the outside & hanley goes through the window ' .

they didn't sing allegedly at the end.

I was a kid at the height of Ellery's stardom and I can catagorically state that he was perfectly happy to sign autographs!!

Regardless of other alleged failings Hanley was the in my view the greatest British RL player of his generation.
To score 40 tries as forward for us as he did at the end of his career was a truly remarkable feat.
What I can never know is what it must been like to grow up in the 70s as a black teenager when programmes such as Love thy Neighbour were gaining massive TV ratings?

I to was a kid at the height of Ellery's stardom, and I had an autograph, but I had to work for it!!

He used to come out of the players tunnel on the cricket side, and "power walk" to his Mitsubishi Shogun, where as every other player would sign autographs for the kids and be friendly enough he was the opposite.

I recall Schoie having a Shogun, cruising round Rothwell and Middleton, giving it the big 'I Am'.

Fair enough, he was at one point.

He tried a similar act in the Black Bull, a few Friday nights ago. Bruce Forsythe impressions thrown in for good measure as well. A truely depressing fall from grace.

I met Ellery as a kid numerous times, hanging around the players entrance for hours after a match if needs be, and he always signed aotographs and chatted to kids. He was often a bit 'odd' - not quite straightforward - saying cliche stuff like 'stay in school' and 'be good for your mum'. Sounds funny now but I always thought there was something about him that meant if you didn't do what he said, he'd come and get you! - As far as I was concerned at the time, Hanley was the closest thing to a megastar I could imagine and I made sure I did what he said. He might have his faults but I bumped into Andy Greg a few years ago and let's just say, all the respect I had for him as a kid (as much as we grew up knowing what he was like) was shattered in an instant.

If nothing else, it'll make it bearable gettin to see Hanley make a tit of himself when you're inevitably forced to watch the dross by the missus anyway!

One of the finest players ever seen on rugby field.

He was wise enough to invest his money during his playing days - unlike some of his peer group - although his solicitor did do a runner with it and Sean Edwards' too? good job the legal indemnity scheme is in place.

It seems as he only plays tennis these days so why not get a few grand for what could be a few short weeks of work?

Not as dumb as some would have you believe

Looks hilarious. Only watching it for him mind...

Even though its only a mention, atleast it gets rugby league a bit of national publicity for the right reasons.

Holly

far too camp for words

"A Beautiful sport"