Right John. Leigh introduced the £50 weekly prize draw to pay for him Boonzaier and a guy who I think was named Moodie.

Moodie's debut was in a reserve game (A team in them days) and over 4000 turned up.

Think it was that £50 draw time that the Tommy Sale stand was converted to part seating.

My mam won it once and we actually had steak that week instead of lobby. Was a first in our house. I still prefer lobby.

No you can't, you can only opt to drop kick penalties.

And Joe Hoskings?

You never saw Ledgard play



,how old are you

,as for the BEST its Stuart Ferguson ,no doubt look at his record and the distances he shot from.

Botha was good ,only played for one season ,what about Wally Tallis, kicking in bare feet



,or Laurie Gilfedder,or Joe Coan,still no doubt Fergy.

I did' when he played his last game at HP. He kicked two goals for Dewsbury and we won 37-4. Jimmy Humble debuted in that match but he was a trialist and in the programme he was named as Harrison. HT was 31-4.

What year was that?you must be older than you look





.

Didn't Humble get four tries in that game?

Frank doesnt know difference between an Easter Egg and a Rugby Ball



.

He did Alan.

I shall ignore that young puppy Mr Caroli until Monday when I shall expect an apology.

Franky if im wrong a drink is yours , but i know how old you are and i dont think you saw Ledgard play ,what year was it?

1958.

Jimmy Ledgard was a brilliant kicker, be it penalty, conversion, drop goal or out of hand. He was also a superb catcher of a ball. Remember that this was in the days of the old leather "casy". Ask Tommy Sale! I saw him play all of his home Leigh games and as a kid he was my all time hero! Having said that, in the modern game Nanyn and Tirley would take some beating.

So you were 22 years old Frank

.

It was unsurprisingly the year I passed my 11 plus. Younger viewers of my column I shall explain if you ask when you see me.

Franky you went to Pennington ,do you remember Mr Fletcher the Headmaster?I was talking to his Daughter in the bar after the match.

I do he was a smasher. When I was 5 he told my my mam I was a genius.

He knew what he was talking about didn't he ?

What you also saw with the old heavy ball was the fullbacks playing driveback.
The fullbacks would kick to one another with all the other 24 players trapped off side.
The first fullback to make a mistake lost a huge amount of ground. never saw Ledgard loose one. A kicking skill sadly lost in the modern game. Find 10 metres to touch these days is met by huge applause. The thing about Ferguson was if a penalty was given by the opposition anywhere in their own half, Ferguson kick the goal. This kept the petty niggling and and lying on in the modern game when playing against Leigh down to a mimimum, or the scoreboard kept ticking over.

Rugby union?

Ken Fletcher was also a director at Leigh as well as being head at Pennington. Yes, I went there too! They couldn't possibly realise the heights I would aspire to at the time - Editor of 'The Centurion - now there's one for the school to brag about, eh?

You are not that old Frank as it was 59-60 season, Jan 1960 when he scored 4 tries, the same season as we thrashed Australia 18-17. You also passed the 11+ in 1960.

I took the 11 plus when I was 9 John ps I know you copied off me at school in exams

OK you are right about the year but I know you have gone back through your old programmes you are so thorough.

See you soon mate.

I'll never forget Turley's touchline conversion against Swinton in the strongest gale and rain I've seen at Hilton Park with a player holding the ball on the tee. A great moment.

Rugby Yawnion nay not so. there was for more variation on those days, far better than 5 tackles and aerial ping pong. Went to a sportsman dinner the other month, in his speech the guest speaker talked of various sports then lay on the table face down arms stretched wide after about 10 seconds without moving he turned his head to the audience and shout in a very loud voice ''MOOOVE'' souper league, the place was rolling over laughing.

You a Pennington man to Alan

i loved the place ,old boys also Tony Cottrell ,and Allan Rowley,not a bad rugby team .