Jimmy Birts was the fullback that Maurice Bamford signed from his previous club Halifax to replace George Fairburn, for about £20000

He was utter utter garbage for Wigan

really really bad

Legendarily bad.

That's definitely my memory of it. I recall the players being caked in mud as the pitch was like a ploughed field, and the 'stadium' - even now I laugh when I used that word - was half-dereclict. It looked like a screne from amateur RL, the attendance was dreadful and the performance from both teams was pathetic.

I remember thinking at the time that we were about as far from what I remembed in my schoolboy days - Boston, Ashton, massive crowds at massive fixtures - as it was possible to be.

I was thoroughly depressed on my way home. I didn't know if the club had any future at all. My old dad could barely speak. He reckoned the game was up for Wigan as well.

i've just watched all 8 clips on the sharing site we can't mention and what a superb game that must have been to see live, i wonder if nathan browns 'enforcers' would stand up to the wigan pack that day?

No disrespect, mate, but that Wigan pack wouldn't have stood up to anyone. Huddersfield were total crap back then, and, with the exeception of George Fairbairn, so were Wigan.

The fact that they could fight was an improvement on the team that got relegated the year before, but they wouldn't have lasted two minutes against the Wigan pack of today.

[iShudder.[/i

I had to make a deal with myself that I was supporting the lads on the pitch in cherry and white and not the gobby, arrogant barsteward of a shouty coach who cheated us rotten at Wembley in '66. Not that he wasn't an absolutely excellent player in his day (I say, through gritted teeth).

I don't wish to permanently play devil's advocate today, but, though Murph was a thorn in the side for Wiganers for much of his playing and coaching career, quite a few credit him with being the spark that began our revival.

I remember an interview with Shaun Edwards, in which he fulsomely praised the likes of Graham Lowe and John Monie, but said that Alex Murphy was the first coach he played under for whom losing was "not an option". For the first time in ages, the idea was reintroduced into the Wigan dressing room that anything less than being the best was unacceptable. Murphy's Wigan team were the only side in Britain who came close to beating the Aussie 'Untouchables' of 1982.

I'd agree with that, factually, Cruncher, but I never could and still can't stand the man. Pure personal prejudice, I'm afraid. Sorry.

I'd back you up on this Cruncher. he transformed the attitude at the time. Though his methods might look dated now, at the time he was a motivator supreme and the catalyst for the 1983 JPS win that was the forerunner to the later run of trophies. I still recall Anthony H. Wilsons piece on Granada Reports prior to the 1984 Cup Final - 'Alex Murphy has not just woken a sleeping giant at Wigan - he's kicked it out of bed!'

Going off those clips that Tony Johnson for Huddersfield looked a handful. Seemed to me that Wigan stopped him using the old philosophy that they can't run without their heads, which caused all the aggro. That's going off a few 40-second clips though. Some shocking play-the-balls going on as well. Rogues would have had a field day!

We sold Fairbairn for a world record fee and bought about 5 or 6 players with the money, most of whom(i think) went on to win the JPS 83. I always associated the sale of Fairbairn as the first seed towards greatness. (even though selling Fairbairn at the time would not have seemed that way!)

Have a butcher of this 8 Clips to watch. Please view them all; it is priceless. viewtopic.php?f=26&t=471700

Have a butcher of this 8 Clips to watch. Please view them all; it is priceless. viewtopic.php?f=26&t=471700

Watched it last week, brutal.

Wigan signed the Huddersfield coach, Bamford, at the end of that season because Huddersfield were so ferocious (but so were Wigan).

Was there any specific reason why Tony Johnson was "roughly treated" ?

Probably cause it was 1981 and he was 'different'.

Sad but true.

Shocking stuff he looked like a classy player too

That clip where he is on the floor after a tackle and a Wigan player looks like he is trying to pull his head off

He must of been hard as nails to withstand that!

The lad in the clips - Tony Johnson , was the bloke who got me interested in RL , he spoke 'fondly' about his experience in that game !!!