If you think Bailey is more of a "dirty lover" than ANY Rugby League forward of the 80s, let alone Karl Fairbank, then you're watching the game wrong.

By the way, from the original photograph, Mike Lamb used to teach me geography and PE. A good man, died very young, sadly.

Ryan Bailey has been mentioned a couple of times but really he would have been eaten alive by the likes for Konkrete, Len Casey, Geoff Grayshon etc etc. No room (or protection) for the cheap shot merchants in those days.

That "spanking" was the first RL game I ever went to. I remember it well. . . .

Albert Fearnley walking down the touchline to the dug out with two bottles of Websters in his hand.

Lord Peter of Fox looking . . . . . as the Great man can only look

Bitten on day one. Converted to The Greatest Game for life.

John Newlove would be Paul's Dad.

Non of the above were dirty; just men of their time who played the game as it was - and of course as with so many of the blokes with 'reputations' who played back then, they were every bit as much sinned against as they were sinners themselves. Not suggesting it was the wild west...but there were similarities!!

It's very rare the real hard men actually threw many punches, or forearms. I don't think I ever saw Kevin Ward throw one.

That's spot on, imo. There never was any need to throw punches to make your point in RL, and still isn't..."it was hard but fair, ref"..

Jimmy Thompso, now there was a hard man! Very rarely started anything, but sure knew how to finish it if neccesary. You didn't take liberties if Jimmy was playing. Having said that I remember all our front row getting sent off at Warrington. Nicholas clenched his fist and Jimmy didn't wait to see what he was going to do with it, and down he went. Can't think who the third one to go was. Jimmy and Nobby were two, I think it might have been Van Bellen

I think that was just one of those games where sense and reason seem to be left in t' "donnin' oil". Selwyn (Ian Van B) was probably the most amiable bloke to to step onto a rugby field (well, for a prop..) and to imagine the sort of provocation required to make him 'lose it' beggars belief, to be honest. It was one nasty game was that, bettered (if that's the right word) only by the famous walk off at HKR.

Of course the wonderful rlhttps://www.rugbyleagueheritageproject.comrl has a surfeit of wonderful images, but as we slide into winter and vote for the best Bulls winger, I was just browsing and reminded of the Northern days of winter rugby and Lamb and Redfearn. Found this brilliantly evocative image of a flying Lamb scoring in the snowhttps://www.rugbyleagueheritageproject.com/imagedetail.asp?id

Bit rose tinted, that. Kev Ward is probably an exception but of course players like Fairbank and Skerrett were dirty as well as hard and they wouldn't last a minute in today's game as they would be suspended literally all the time. And as for Dennis Hartley and Rocky Turner and the like from the previous generation, well...

But I have no doubt at all that both Konkrete and Kel would have been stars in any era.

Some great pics. I never knew Neil Fox played with us in the 69 season. www.rugbyleagueheritageproject.c ... sp?id=1258 This stood out for me. Hines looking at Fisher's arm and knowing what's coming.

Some great pics. I never knew Neil Fox played with us in the 69 season. www.rugbyleagueheritageproject.c ... sp?id=1258 This stood out for me. Hines looking at Fisher's arm and knowing what's coming.

They were all softies compared to Frank Foster