Sad news indeed. I never saw him play but it's obvious from the way people talk about him that he was a genuinely great player.

I met Bill through work a few years back. He sat in the kitchen here talking about rugby and relaying stories with his wife and daughter patiently sat next to him clearly hearing them for the 100th time! A genuinely nice bloke but with bags of character. I'll treasure the signed copy of his autobiography that he gave me. RIP Bill

This was the only time I saw Bill play.

Outrageous headbutt for no reason. I suspect he was absolutely knackered and wanted a rest.

RIP

IIRC Goodway had picked him up and dumped him. He took exception and followed him into the defensive line after playing the ball. There was footage knocking about of it at one point.

Would love to see some footage of Bill's playing days - is there any about anywhere? RIP Bill.

Found this clip of him in a scoring movement for Penrith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR-dVMqfTm8

Found this clip of him in a scoring movement for Penrith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR-dVMqfTm8

Unfortunately for me I never got the chance to speak to him.

For me unquestionably would be in my Wigan 13 (who I've seen live) of all time with very little if any pause for thought.
I have posted previously that Ashurst would literally be a world beater in today's game. I have never seen (live) any player kick better from hand. The 40/20 rule was made for him and he'd quite easily make 2 or 3 a game if he played today. I'm not exaggerating his skill in this department due to his death because he was truly that good. When he played for Wigan it was the 4 tackle rule therefore, very often to make decent yardage whilst in possession a good accurate deep kick was a necessity. Bill Ashurst could do that for fun.

For those who never saw him play I'd say he had the footballing skills of Andy Farrell, the offloading game per Gareth Hock, the aggression of Shaun Wane and the kicking skills of Bill Ashurst. What he didn't have like virtually every player of the 70's was excellent physical fitness which I'm certain he would have acquired if coached by today's coaching staff.

A genuine top class player who rarely, if ever, received the plaudits that he really deserved.

Very very sad news indeed. Bill Ashurst was indeed a great player . Unfortunately, he played in the late 60's and 70's when RL was really for the most part in the 'doldrums'. I remember 'Sash' as being the only highlight for Wigan when he played for us back then in that fallow period. He was a very big rawboned forward, who could 'mix it' with anyone on the field and very often did. If there was trouble on the pitch Bill was usually either the cause of it, or was involved in some way. Mind you, RL at that time was vicious and 'stiff arm tackles' were quite common, as was much 'biff'. Forwards had to be tough and sometimes brutal. Bill Ashurst had though some silky skills in his armoury. He was a rangy forward who could shift a bit on the move, coupled with fine ballplaying abilities. As others have mentioned 'Sash' would be made for todays RL with just his kicking skills. 40-20's came long after Bill 'hung up his boots'. He would have kicked opposition teams off the park today and killed them with his kicking abilities. One rather surprising fact that came out in Bills later life was his finding Jesus and God. My old Dad who had been a Wigan fan from the late 1920's laughed when I told him of Bill Ashursts 'conversion' to God, he wouldn't believe me for quite a while. Such was Bill Ashurst's reputation and exploits on the rugby field . One memory I have is Bill's family used to stand regularly by the wall at Central park many years ago shouting about "Our Bill", with their very broad 'Wiggin accents' and they hailing from Ince. Bill had what would now be called a very unfashionable fringe, that hung over his face and eyes when he got up to play the ball. It is indeed a great shame that not much 'video' exists of Bill Ashurst's exploits on the field - perhaps just as well from one vid that was on Youtube which has seemingly been 'pulled' due to the violence that ensued . But that is how old time rugby was played back then. I would put Bill Ashurst into any all time Wigan RLFC team every time. RIP Bill lad , and thanks for the memories.

First met Bill (and his son) around ten years ago when we were lucky enough to be sat on the same table at Flags fundraising event at Springview Cricket Club. I'd obviously heard of his name but never had seen him play (other than the Goodway incident) but he was before my time, heard about his fierce reputation but great skills. My wife was sat by him, she didn't know him from Adam and they spent a while chatting. After we said our goodbyes she told me she'd just met one of the nicest people she'd met in her life, an absolute gentleman. She was quite upset when I told her the news of his passing on Monday "what a lovely man, a real gentleman".

That's what I'll remember.

As.you know, had the pleasure of interviewing him that night on stage
The thing that stood out for me was before the night he couldn't have been more helpful, going through how we were going to do it, setting up all the stories etc and no amount of time taken was too much trouble.
Wouldn't accept a penny

A few months later he held a dinner at the DW and we sold 3 tables of 14 from the lads and lasses who'd attended and jelped the flag event, all because of how helpful he'd been for us.

My favourite Bill story
He was doing some coaching at hindley around 20 years ago so he was early 50s
There was a point were they were discussing drop goals and he was explaining how to do it and one of the young lads (he was about 11 or 12) said "Show us".
Pitch was muddy, he was stood on touchline and he dropped the goal straight through the middle of the sticks, In his Wellies !!!


I saw him but I was only young, maybe 6 or 7, and I have this vision of him chipping over the top and regathering and scoring a try at the club end of Central Park.

My dad, and many of the older guys who I grew up listening too talk about Ashurst/Robinson/Laughton being the best back 3 Wigan have ever had (very lucky to have met and talked to all 3).
Most of them put Bill in their greatest ever team.

When you consider these guys all saw Betts/farrell/Clarke/Goodway/Hanley etc it just shows how good they must have been, and Bill in particular

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/panthe ... 5aumc.html Good article here

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/panthe ... 5aumc.html Good article here

excellent humour from him as below from the article

When immigration officials asked him if had a criminal record, he replied, “Is it still compulsory?”

Haven't been able to post for a while; just got my log-in sorted out. I was so sorry to hear this, I am right on Bill's doorstep here. I only met Bill once (his son is a mate), but what a lovely guy he was. I'm sure the club will recognise hin on Friday.