I POSTED THIS A COUIPLE OF YEARS AGO - NOWT CHANGES
funnily enough, I was doing a feature on this for the next 4FS fanzine - but it never went any further as we failed to publish!
Bear with me on the length of this post, as it includes some unique perspective on players deemed 'hall of famers' prior to 1973.
The problem with this type of voting is that recent players get a disproportionate amount of votes, because people vote on who they've witnessed - how do these players compare with the real greats of yesteryear? I've tried to be realistic and apply my own experiences with those of history.
I reviewed the book ‘100 Years Of Rugby – The History Of Wakefield Trinity Football Club – 1873–1973’ by J.C. Lindley with ‘personal recollections’ by D. W. Armitage. Where there was a 'Hall Of Fame' listed from the first 100 years of the clubs history - with details on why each player was included.
So – to start with, here’s the original Hall Of Fame as selected by Lindley & Armitage in 1973. Listed by their common position and year of debut:
Coach:
Ken Traill (195icon_cool.gif
Full Back:
Jimmy Metcalfe (1897), Charlie Pollard (1919), Frank Mortimer (1951),
Gerry Round (195icon_cool.gif, Gary Cooper (1966)
Wing:
Richard. ‘Dicky’ Lockwood (1895), Ted Bateson (1925), Stanley Smith (1927),
Freddie Smart (1930), Dennis Boocker (1947), Fred Smith (1955), Berwyn Jones (1964)
Centre:
C.E. ‘Teddy’ Bartram (187icon_cool.gif, Harry Hayley (circa 187icon_cool.gif, Tommy Poynton (early 1900’s),
Billy Batten (1924), Ernest Pollard (1927), Billy Stott (1944), Don Froggett (194icon_cool.gif,
Neil Fox (1955), Ian Brooke (1961)
Stand Off:
Herbert. Hutchinson (1880), Ron Rylance (1941), Harold Poynton (195icon_cool.gif,
David Topliss (196icon_cool.gif
Scrum Half:
Tommy Newbould (early 1900’s), Jonathan ‘Jonty’ Parkin (1913),
Herbert Goodfellow (1932), Keith Holliday (1952), Ray Owen (1964)
Hooker:
Sam Lee (1937), Len Marson (1939)
Prop:
Jack Wilkinson (1959), Don Fox (1965), David Jeanes (1967)
Second Row:
A.K. Crossland (1905), Bill Horton (1924), Mick Exley (192icon_cool.gif, Harry Wilkinson (1929),
Harry Murphy (1937), Don Robinson (1950), Don Vines (195icon_cool.gif, Bob Haigh (1962)
Loose Forward:
Herbert Kershaw (1905), Len Bratley (1937), Derek Turner (1959)
Based on a pro-rata basis, that meant we should expect a further 16 players to be included since 1973 - and my choice for those 16 were, based on the same criteria for the first 47 - as follows:
Andy Fletcher, Keith Smith, Andy Mason, Gareth Ellis, Wally Lewis, Nigel Wright, Mike Lampkowski, Brad Davis, David March, Trevor Skerrett, Johnny Thompson, Nigel Bell, Michael Jackson, David Solomona, Ray Price and Willie Poching.
And so – the $6,000,000 question – Trinity’s greatest side selected from the 63 Hall Of Famer’s – a tough one, but based on reading up on the centurions, having seen the last 35 years and trying to strike a balance between history and personal experience – I would go with:
Full Back: Gerry Round
Wings: Fred Smith and Berwyn Jones
Centres: Billy Batten and Neil Fox
Stand Off: David Topliss
Scrum Half: Jonty Parkin
Props: Jack Wilkinson and Trevor Skerrett
Hooker: Len Marson
Second Rows: Don Vines and David Solomona
Loose Forward: Rocky Turner
Coach: Ken Traill
