Apologies if this has already been covered else where but has any one else raised an eybrow that all the nominations (listed by the BBC sports page web site) contain no player to have played for a Yorkshire club

Billy Boston - 1952–52 Pontypridd RFC,1953–68 Wigan, 1968–68 Blackpool Borough
Eric Ashton - 1955–69 Wigan
Martin Offiah - 1987–91 Widnes, 1989 Easts Roosters, 1991 St. George,
1992–95 Wigan, 1993 Easts Roosters, 1996–99 London Broncos, 2000–01 Salford City Reds.
Gus Risman - 1929–1946 Salford, 1946–54 Workington Town.
Alex Murphy - 1956–66 St. Helens, 1966–71 Leigh, 1971–75 Warrington.

Am I missing something here or is this just a big Ray French, Jhonny Davies conspiracy.

That Leroy Rivett is not cast in bronze is a disgrace.

For me, it has to be a Wigan player from their run of 8. That is what will be most synonymous with the general public's perception of Rugby league at Wembley.

My thoughts exact OP.

Not to be a bit of a killjoy but the poll was running for a long time, everyone was free to put thier two'penneth in.

I had similar thoughts at first, but then given that this is about RL at Wembley, not RL in general, it's quite hard to argue with the choices. You could, of course, probably make good cases for lots of other players, but there are limits to how many you can reasonably include on a statue.

No Don Fox?

One of the most iconic moments in an iconic final?

The short-list raised a few eyebrows at the time with it's Lancashire and Wigan bias and notable Yorkshire absentees who were on the long list but didn't make the short-list were Neil Fox & Clive Sullivan. Also, IMO Ellery Hanley should have made the long-list but maybe the reason he didn't was political.

That all said a short-list is a short-list and, with the exception of Offiah IMO, they would all have been individuals worthy of the individual (I stress, individual) honour of a statue at Wembley to represent our game and the CC at Wembley. However, when they decided to make this a group statue then I think things changed, and simply going with the short-list as the focus of the group statue is a huge mistake IMO. Now, not having any player who played for a Yorkshire club in a group statue is simply a travesty. The statue is not representative of the game as a whole or do justice to the history of the game at Wembley as it focuses on five British players who played the game in Lancashire mainly (with the exception of Ashton & Cumbria).

I think had they set out saying this was going to be a group statue then I would have looked at five (or more?) individuals from the key areas of the games heritage that had also all made they mark on Rugby League Challenge Cup history at Wembley. So not only British born players that played for Lancashire, Yorkshire & Cumbria clubs but also maybe an Aussie and New Zealand born players, some of whom have had a massive impacts at Wembley & are also important in the history of the game and CC at Wembley.

I am sorry to say that when I walk up Wembley way, the players in this statue do not represent the primary heritage of the element of the game that matters to me most, the game in Yorkshire, the same as it wouldn't represent the game in Lancashire had it been the other way around. I can't say to my Son, you see that Neil Fox in the statue, he is still the World Record points scorer, still the joint record points scorer at a Wembley final, winner of the Lance Todd trophy and three Wembley Finals and was born 10 miles down the road from where you where born! That, I think is a huge shame and missed opportunity for the inclusive history and future of the game!

And the only player to play for that Wigan side in all nine of there final appearances, and the record holder for both appearances and winners medals at Wembley (9) is... Shaun Edwards. However, he wasn't chosen for the short-list for political reasons as well because he now earns his living coaching kick n clap!

Don't fall into 'it was a poll' rubbish. They took the views and the poll into consideration before the selection panel made the final decisions on the short-list, it wasn't just a vote. They equally only took the final short-list poll into consideration when they decided that they really didn't want to choose just one player, so they decided to go with a group representation of all five players. This was the panel bottling it and in the process (IMO), made the whole thing much worse!

Ask the RFL to send you the 'poll' results... bet they won't!

This

To not have a Yorkshire player represented is a travesty - ok if a single player had been selected then fair enough if it was a Lancashire player but to select a group of players that represent Rugby League as a whole and have no Yorkshire representation is appalling IMO.

Nice work.

As well as the above Shaun Edwards also played in all 43 Challenge Cup fixtures (which included one draw) as a permanent fixture during the record breaking run G1 has referenced.

I've no idea how he avoided being short-listed.

I agree.

A celebration of disappointment and misery rather than guts and/or glory? How very rugby league that would have been.

Its what we do best.