This has probably been written about before but i have been thinking about my personal memories of Hilton Park, In no particular order:

The time we played Widnes in the snow, i can see Gary Stradings now with Derek Pyke walking up and down the touch line with a brush in hand. circa 1981

Des Drummond taping the ball to himself against Halifax (i think) in his own 20 and taping it in the wrong place and after beating the whole team, some of them twice bringing it back for a scrum. Circa 1980.

Whitehaven scrum half Arnie Walker being sent off and seeing that John Woods had lined up the goal kick ready went to kick the ball over the stand, over for JW just beating him to the ball to keep it safe. circa 1981

Beating Keighley 92-2, thought we were going to get the magic 100. circa 1985.

Playing Australia as defending champions and getting hammered 44-4 (ish) 1982

Beating St.Helens with Denis Ramsdale's last game in charge. Phil Johnson kicking a goal off the main stand touch line. circa 1993.

Playing against Wi&^n as they started full time and getting beat 35-0 (ish) I think it was Ian Schubert's first game. circa 1987.

Salford in the Challenge Cup in the mud on BBC. Circa 2002.

Being robbed of a point against Hull in Super League because of a wrong decision by Steve Gason. Again against London & Wakefield. Circa 2005.

Hammering Leeds, last match of the season under the great Peter Smethurst. circa 1986.

Andy Goodway running scared of Tony Cottrell the whole match against Wi%^n. circa 1988.

The ill fated matches with David Stephenson & Peter Brown & Gary Van Bellan & Milton Huddart (except Hull away in the CC).

Beating Widnes on a Wednesday night the year they were unstoppable. 1988

Parading the Championship trophy around the ground, last match of the 1981-82 season.

Losing to Castleford in the challenge cup when i though we would have gone all the way. 1981-82

Same year as above drawing 1-1 with Warrington in the play off (then getting beat at Wig&* in the replay) 1981-81

Watching a GB - France under 19's and GB scoring after about 8 seconds. Circa 1980

Again Woody in action against France for the GB under 24's. circa. 1981.

Hope this brings back some happy times for others.

The Des Drummond one was V Barrow 81/82 (its on the DVD

)
The Phil Johnson goal was in 87 V Saints (thats on the other one

)

Many of the above.....

Graham Steadman playing for Cas and single handedly beating us by about 24. Probably the best individual performance I have ever seen.

Alan Platt playing for Hunslet one midweek game and doing the same.

Losing to Carlisle in the Lancs Cup, about 83.

Giving a gobful of abuse to Robin Whitfield at half time as he went down the tunnel at half time and him stopping, staring at me in shock, and telling me to wash my mouth out. I was about 14.



Watching Mal Maninga during the 86 Aussie tour training at HP. He was bigger than the scoreboard. If not bigger.

Playing (either Runcorn or Chorley) in front of about 600, circa 98.

Chris Johnson scoring a touchline conversion in the last seconds to secure a 24-24 draw against Cas. Circa 87.

Scoring for Leigh Rangers at the Railway End, in a curtain raiser

watching peter smethursts debut for the "A" team with 2,000 others

colin tyrer kicking the conversion from the touchline to give the pies a draw in 1968

hull qf of the cc in '71.......after that you just knew



numerous barnstorming tries by joe walsh

wilf briggs and that AMAZING sidestep

being one of the 451 in the lowest EVER crowd v hull fc december 1974

one of the best ever team effort tries, against wakey, april '81


the invincible aussies, '82......even if it was their second string



willie richardson running riot for carlisle several times in the '90's, when he was older than stanley genes grandad



giving the money back i took at half time for my mates g/f tickets in 2001 after the widnes play off game

Adam Bristow scoring in the last minutes against Whitehaven(think it was in the cup) was a great moment

Was that not Paul (Nev) Norman? Turls scored the try before him. With four minutes left and trailing by 9 it looked over, then came those two tries and the crowd went delerious!

Definitely Paul Norman. Didn't 'Haven scored what appeared to be a clinching try in the 75th minute, or summat as late as that?

Final try was scored smack bang in front of us at the Chaddy End, watch the DVD and you'll see one of the moderators on here jump on the pitch

Forgot about that match, certainly was a classic.

my mistake. it was a great moment i dont know how ive managed to get Bristow in there

Bristow was the Salford try on TV, God we missed Adam when he went.

Sgt Major Eric Clay sending Dave Chissnall off and Dave standing to attention and saluting him Classic

standing at the railway end with the pit behind me watching woody and co under dimly lit floodlights. classic

then swapping 'ends' at half time to stand at the DUVA BAKERY end, those were the days

seeing Alex Murphy in a night game on his return from holiday in south africa,what an athlete.
Bev Risman gliding over HP turf
Pete Botha and Jim Humble Jimmy Leadbetter the first overseas players I actually spoke to
Micky Martin putting boston under the benches that used to surround the pitch
Gordon Lewis putting the fear of god into his opposite number

Tommy Graineys blistering pace


our 1980/81 threequarter line

I was only telling our Dave the other night about the 'benches around the pitch' but couldn't for the life of me remember what we called the position (clean replies only please

)

was it called the paddock ?

the paddock was next to the old tunnel, in between the two dug outs now.

Wasn't too bad at halftime though!

I was in the paddock posse for years, along with Joanne Callotte & Joe Public.

3rd of April 1984 venue, Headingly Leeds. Leeds 18 v Leigh 24
All 24 points scored by John Woods, you obvoiusly missed a treat!



P.S. not at Leigh though!

When did the digital scoreboard get ripped out ??!!

...and their first string, sitting next to our family in C stand and signing autographs....!

Johnny Woods engineering a late try from nothing to put himself within a conversion of breaking the club points record... then hitting the post with the last kick of the game and missing out by one... Ronnie Duane got injured in that game for Wire, and missed the Ozzie tour...

...taking Leeds apart as the last game of Peter Smethurst's reign as coach, Beasant and Westhead being brilliant as we scored 51 points (in the days of three point tries)

...Eric Chisnall setting up the win over HKR in 82, that gave us the title-shot against already-relegated Whitehaven...

....Hull fans fighting each other in the shadow of the mill, which all stopped when a brilliant game started (ending in a draw... was either 81/2 or 82/3 season)...

..full time being called with Halliwell on his way to his 50th try of the season... the ball wasn't dead, but the referee ended the game anyway...

...watching the colts against wigan... sean hodgekiss' nose got broken from a punch in the scrum... the scrum collapsed and he came up from hooker looking like Mike Gatting after the West Indies tour...

...playing for colts against Cas with blisters from a new pair of boots. We got stuffed. Then, with the A team lads also having played, and all the first team coaching staff in the main stand bar, my dad picking me up after a church fete dressed as a clown. Thanks, Dad....

...bumping into AJM carrying the Lancashire cup behind the main stand, sometime in spring 1982...

..and listening to him b0llock the lads at half time, from behind the dressing room at the scoreboard end of the main stand...

...Andy Collier, already a first-teamer, borrowing my comb after a colts game...

...running in endless tries in the second division record breaking season...

...walking up through the stairs in the middle of B stand, and coming out into the atmosphere of a night match, like walking onto the stage at the London Palladium..

..the smell of pipe tobacco in the stand...

...meeting Eddie Waring, climbing down from a commentary gantry near the scoreboard...

...the stargate!! And beating London in Superleague...

...green wooden bench seats in the main stand...

...the die-hard blonde lad, such a committed fan my wire-supporting ex bro-in-law christened him 'Leigh lad' as the epitome of the passion and deidcation that our supporters have... this may be you, WOLRAB... he used to sit at the top of C stand, with a dapper fella with a Branson-eqqsue tidybeard, and he never ever missed a match... now he's a strapping six-foot-plus bloke, but he was always at games from when he was a kid...

...always bumping into Kath (never knew her surname), a fabulously one-eyed middle aged Leyth lass... also saw her in the queues at Wembley in 1982... she was telling everyone who'd listen 'It'l be Leigh and Wigan next year, mark my words...' The only bit that seemed unlikely, then, was Wigan making it to Wembley...

..my dad running the line against someone (Cas, I think, but not sure), when John Kerr had his jaw broken and my dad missed it (he was unsighted by players, but from high above in the stand, we saw it clearly..

...beating Saints in a humdinger as the last match of the season (possibly the year we went down and Des and Woody broke limbs)... I think it ended 36-30, there was never more than a couple of tries in it, and another mate's dad, Dave Knight, was the touchjudge..

...the disabled toilet sign which someone had graffitied 'Brian Potter' onto...

...buying old programmes from the old shop at the glebe street end....

...being able to see The Victoria, the traffic lights on Kirkhall lane, and Rivvy Pike in the distance, from our season-ticket seats in C stand...

...the Dark, Satanic Mill and the Pit winding gear at parsonage...

...those old scaffolding-tube crash barriers...

...Brian shouting '' 'erf time draw tickets, cmon the more we sell the more we pay out' "

...winning the half time draw in our 'first last match' against whitehaven...

...looking out for uncle Mick at the back of the Tommy Sale stand... beerbottle glasses, a sling on his arm in recent years, rheumy eyes and a hilarious sarcastic wit (Culcheth? it's not a village, it's an urban sprawl...)

..cousin Phil (his brother, but younger, hence cousin and not uncle!)... last seen in the queue at the last game, but another of those people you don't really keep in touch with, just bump into at weddings, funerals and the occasional rugby match..

...looking out for my best mate Phil, who sat exactly opposite us in the TS stand when we were in the main stand.

...and so, so much more.

Of all the places in the world, I was happiest and most at home at Hilton Park. If there is a heaven, it will be Hilton Park, in the main stand, just before kickoff at a night match... AJM is the coach, the ground is full, and the team is Hogan, Drummond, Bilsbury, Donlan, Fox, Woods, Green, Wilkinson, Tabern, Cooke, Martyn, Potter and Pinner [I know! But this isn't real, remember........ Steve Grimshaw and Roy Howarth on the bench... Phil Johnson, Tony Cottrell and Derek Pyke are promising youngsters.... Phil Clarke is a Leyth supporting teenager... Stevo is 12,000 miles away, and Wigan, our cup-match opponents are in division 2 and expecting a thrashing....

Bog off Joe 'thas made me screyk'

"We dont sell 'um outside just inside!"