I vaguely remember Bill playing for Trinity being only very young but everybody who saw he him play say what a skilful player he was then I have just seen this on total rl forums..
rlhttp://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php/topic/214229-bill-ashursthow-many-games-would-this-warrent-today/rl
jeeessssussss! thats what I call a head case..

remember watching bill well..when he wasn't injured or resting at the request of the rfl!

Or visiting a specialist in Middlesbrough.

Remember once when he did Mumby with some ball skills that was more magic circle than rl. When he sold a dummy most of the crowd took it as well. On his day one of the finest, without doubt. Ashurst took plenty shots as well as giving them.

Bill lived in Crofton I remember he got his face smashed by Wigan I think just prior to the Cup Final in 1978. Was a massive signing at the time. I understand he is a born again christian now.

Spent a week in Paris with Bill back in 1981. Off the field he was a very funny, kind and gentle giant with everybody. On the field he was a hard man playing a hard mans game, just like a lot of other players at that time.

I remember that trip well, Bill was indeed the father figure on that trip and held sway in the local bars while us young kids enjoyed a bier! I was just 16 and because Bill had a good relationship with Andrew he spent a fair bit of time making sure I was looked after.

One particular barman was too scared to shut the bar while Bill was in and we a few late nights in his place.

On the field he was peerless at times with a slight of hand that any ball playing forward in the games history would be proud of. His kicking game was pinpoint often uncanny and his physical stature meant he could mix it with anyone including the likes of big Jim Mills.

When BA got a broken cheek bone it was an 'off the ball' elbow from the Wigan forward Steve Breheney (sp), I seem to recall he only got a couple of matches from the RFL. Magnificent skills had BA. I remember one particular game against Bradford (could be the same as mentioned above), when attacking on their 25 he threw out 3 dummies, chipped over the defence the ball bouncing up into his midriff, he then went on to round the fullback and under the sticks.
Another time was away at Featherstone when he was player-coach and we fielded a very young and inexperienced side which included Hopkinson at prop (he went into the police force mounted section and then had heart problems at a young age). Bill led that team round the field that day, he was on one leg because of his knee injury that ended his career, but he wouldn't give up and I seem to recall him being involved in every play, coaching and telling players where to run and line up etc. I can't recall one player dominating a game so much as BA that day - I think we lost, he ran out of steam.

he did and the cock and crown was his local, he tried to entice me back to the club after I broke my ankle in the colts,

I wish I had listened to him now

had some great nights though at the bar

I remember the signing of Bill very well.. he signed at the same time as John Burke and made his home debut agaist Warrington (I think John Suitcliffe the 6ft 4 inch winger/ policeman scored 2 tries that day) ... then we played HKR away and the game was famous for both Ashurst and Burke being sent off and Andy Fletcher picking up a loose ball (a lost ball as HKR attempted to score a try) and running the legnth of the field to score at the other end of the pitch, it would have been one of Fletch's first few games.... I believe Ashurst was also dismissed in the following game then both he and Burke (who had the worst reputation in RL at the time) settled in to perhaps the best Trinity team that I have had the pleasure of watching. Ashurst signed with an existing crutiate ligament injury, and played far too few games for the club, coach Bill Kirkbride took a huge risk by playing him in the 1979 cup final after only one game in the previous 3 or 4 months. I have the 79 cup final on dvd and the guy is just so immobile its sad!

during the first half of the 1978/79 season he played some sublime football along with Dave Topliss, Keith Smith and Alan McCurrie who had signed early in the season from Whitehaven along with Brian Juliffe and Steve Diamond from Welsh rugby union... Diamond and another welsh guy named Adrian Barwood were signed after a newspaper release advertising trials to play for Trinity... all in all I think the club invited 5 or 6 players to try out... another played against Cas in the first home game of the season, he played very well but chose not to make the move). We beat Cas the Widnes at home (a fantastic 8-0 win) the lost at St Helens... then came the home game against Ashurst's old club Wigan and the infamous tackle on Bill... trinity lost the game and Ashurst looked like he had been victim of a street mugging.

So do I! It was meant to be a Rugby tour including 2 or 3 matches but they all got cancelled!
We ended up with forty 16 - 18 year olds and some so called adults having the week of there lives, with stories that I still enjoy telling today.
Colin Maskills toothbrush being used to clean up BA, trips down Pigalle with BA trying to negotiate a bulk discount, Liverpool fans arriving for the European Cup Final at the Parc des Prince, the night in the cafe bar that ended with the armed military police attending and Alan Box (brother of Harold) coming down in the lift naked after having a drinking competition with the coach driver.

Remember Maskie coming into the hotel, eyes wide as dinner plates, shouting come round the corner and see this,

Pigalle

That try still sticks in my mind 30 years later. When he signed it was a record £18,000.