I was just thinking what a cracking night it would be for the annual pre-season trip to Mclaren Field for the A.N.Other-fest against Bramley. Would've been around this time of year too!!! Doesn't seem 20 years since John Gallagher was making debut in front of a full house at the Barley Mow!!

Still have my ticket stub from that game.

Gallagher? Meh. Most of the crowd turned out to see Eddie Rombo.

And he still turning out for the Mwamba Club in his native Kenya!

First Rhinos game was the world club challenge game against Adelaide Rams with that Paul Sterling try. One game and I was hooked.

Best import - Marc Glanville, never did the fancy stuff but what a work horse up the middle.

Fave old ground was Wilderspool. No other ground had a snooker club that took a whole side of a stadium and still create an atmosphere.

Another who mentions the atmosphere at that ground.

And it went up a few notches when they opened the bar at the back of the stand. Those were happy drunken days.

[uFirst game attended[/u:
1977 CC Final v Widnes at wembley when leeds won 16-7 and we were inspired by a Lance Todd Trophy performance by Steve Pitchford
my mate had actually painted a banner the night before which read:
"Steve Pitchford The Pocket Battleship"

[uFave All time import[/u:
I loved watching ET's speed and guile

Cliffy Lyons' and how he totally dominated games

and the vastly underated Marc Glanville, he was the major instigator of the "work ethic ethos" that has run throughout our club ever since imo.

But i'll go for Craig Innes as my favourite all time import, his centre play was outstanding, he was a wingers dream, just a shame he wasn't a more prolific try scorer.

[uLong gone away grounds[/u:
I have fond memories of Fartown, i was there in 1979 when Leeds beat Bradford 24-2 in the premiership final, i stood on what must be the steepest terracing ever seen at a rugby league ground, you don't see grounds like this anymore and for this reason this is my favorite

I mostly loved going to the Boulevard, But i can recall a game there in the 80's around xmas time, when it also pi55ed it down all day, and we were constantly spat at by the Hull fans throughout the game

I also was at the semi final at Swinton when Mick Adams' kick came back off the crossbar and into Keiron O'loughlins hands to seal their Wembley appearance at our expense

I loved going to the old Watersheddings ground, i particularly remember one wednesday night game when it was absolutely freezing, you could hear the crunching of the ground as the players ran around the field, i recall Schoey intercepting the ball up the hill and getting caught, i have never been so cold at a rugby game

First game - Leeds vs Wigan in the John Player Trophy 1981. We won 18-12 ish. All I remember is Henderson Gill being seemingly impossible to tackle but mainly running sideways. My first true memory of a game when I actually understood what was going on was when we beat Hull 8-5 at home the same year, with the (near) legendary Mark Massa scoring the winning try. Apparently. It was so foggy I couldn't see anything from our seats in the North Stand.

Favourite import - torn between the elegance of ET and the guile, class (and sometimes sheer bonkersness) of Cliff Lyons. Today I'll go for Cliff, still the only player I've ever seen actually put the ball on the ground before the tryline so someone else could pick it up to score (albeit against Keighley when we won by 60+). It was a great treat after moving to Australia to see those two still playing in the NRL (just).

Favourite old away ground - Fartown as we won two consecutive John Player semis there (IIRC) - against Widnes in 82-83 and Leigh the following year.

Roy Powell debuted there too

Bramley celebrated their title win with pomagne

the 82 semi final was my 1st , widnes used to be bad for spitting too , the speedway end @ bradford used to be steep banking iirc

When was that?? 83ish???

Not a lot of questions asked but some good memories rekindled so far.



Leeds did play the '82 Kangaroos and lost 4-31. I recall Kerry Bousted turning Andrew Smith inside out for a scorching try.



Roy Powell made his Leeds 1st grade debut 26th October 1983 at Home V Widnes from the bench. It was his only 1st grade appearance that season so it would be around then yes.

of the game v the 82 invincibles i remember the kicking duel between the fullbacks hardly seen since if @ all

First game I saw was a Yorkshire cup game against Wakefield Trinity in 1958/59 season (Neil Fox etc)

Fave All Time Import: Ken Thornett still is to my mind the finest full back Leeds have ever had and possibly Australia too and that includes the fabulous ET and Web

He joined Leeds in 1960 and quickly got the nickname of "the Bucket" because he never once dropped the ball often diving yards to catch it. He was a fearless defender, and fast attacker with a fearsome hand off. Leeds had a move from the scrum where Colin Evans (scrum half) threw the ball to Lewis Jones (stand off) who with soft hands and wrists flipped the ball into the air (the famous "hanging pass"icon_wink.gif the ball appeared to hover until Thornett at great pace took it with different angled runs always splitting the defence. Sometime they would vary the move with Evans doing a "run around" with Jones to gather the "hanging pass and serve Thornett on another thundering run at a different angle

After returning to Australia he came back the followinf season with the touring Kangaroos and was given a new nickname "the mayor" because everywhere he went he was mobbed by Leeds fans asking for his autograph.

Only a short time at Leeds but he helped them win their first ever Championship in 1961.

Long Gone Grounds Being in Central Park with 40,000 was some experience although we normally lost. Also fond memories of Parkside and the Barley Mow and even Tattersfield where it seemed all the crowd were able to lean on the rail that surrounded the pitch!

first game was the splashdown at wembley not that I remember anything about it as i was about 3 months old. First headingley memories are sitting on the wall with my mate in front of the spiral staircase in the early-mid 70s. Favourite import was probably ET, although Grothe runs him a close second (the 82 Kangaroos were the best team I ever saw at headingley, they were decades ahead of GB in every aspect of their play)

Too many away days to pick one out all of which seem to involve been stood on uncovered terraces and being soaked to the skin and freezing cold, and then defrosting in a steaming up cortina. Winter rugby is fantastic in retrospect bloody freezing at the time though

I was think precisely the same thing when I started this thread there were whispers he was the new offiah and was lighting quick. Seem to remeber there been a decent turnout at McField that day.

There certainly was, Cos he started them



Apparently he said "you've just signed the Worlds best full back, why not sign the worlds best winger"



Was a very good turnout and it was also a very scorching hot day too

Team photo taken prior to Roy Powell's debut (albeit in a pre-season friendly that doesn't count in any official records) at McLaren Field.

The result was 0-48 to Leeds and Roy featured in the YEP match report that said: [i'And Roy Powell, the coloured second-row recruit from St John Fisher, Dewsbury, did not take long to reveal his awesome potential. He has pace, a treemendous physique and a keen eye for a possible opening, as he showed in backing up Wilkinson's burst to score near the end.' [/i

decent crop of 1st teamers in that photo for a friendly unlike the present. And in what year did the yep stop finding the colour of the skin something to mention

ive been delaying this ,but here go'es
my first game was at the Barley Mow about 1955 we used to go to a cinema called the lido on town street for saturday mattenies ,but we saw all these odl blokes in flat caps walking past so we followed them into the ground .It was Bramley v huddersfield recall them all talking about a player called Billy Banks playing for Fartown.
Next week my mates dad was a big leeds fan and he took us to headingley he said i take you to see a really good player called Lewis Jones.
A lot of our mates were older than us who came onto our estate from burley road and kirkstall road etc leeds rl area's and they took us up to games too .
I think my first game at headingley was against Halifax and it was a loss.
I agree about Ken Thornett.
Old grounds Barley Mow ,Parkside etc ,but once again i agree about Central Park it oozed rugby league. I also liked station road and watersheddings

In those days the pre-season friendly (limited to one or perhaps two at the most) probably had more relevance to the plethera of friendlies to be had these days from boxing day onwards to the start of the campaign proper.

That game at Bramley was the first time the teams had played under the new 6th tackle/handover rule. With Holdsworth twice ordering scrum-downs before being reminded of the new rules by the players and the majority of the crowd.



Pass.





One of my favourite shots with the old master passing on some tips to a young future great.

Especially when Pat Mitchell was in the same team!!!


Wonder whatever happened to him?

Suppose i'd better have a go...

1st game I saw was Leeds vs Australia in 94 I believe. Night time game with 22k in. As a 10 year old it was amazing and we had the Wigan team sat in front of us. I remember walking up the cricket stand and then just seeing this floodlit heaven in front of me as we walked into the North stand. Id never seen grass as green as it looked that night.

Not sure on the import front. Lauitiiti runs close but I loved Iro as a kid even though he was only at Leeds for a couple of seasons from when I started watching.

As I have only been a Leeds fan 16 years I suppose Central Park has to be the ground I enjoyed going to thats no longer around.

The first team training with Oulton Raiders in the summer of 86 at Rothwell Sports Centre.

Getting Peter Fox to sign my autograph book. He signed it "All the best, Peter G Fox"

When I asked him what the G stood for he simply smiled and replied


"The Great young un,the Great!"

Classic!

It seems a bit strange that Powell didn't get more chances in 83-84. That game against Widnes was a classic - usual Widnes brutality aimed at Holmes and Webb but somehow we won.