Hi folks,

obviously new to the board, was wondering if any of you could help me at all. I've been asked to write 1000 words on Tony Banham. There is very little data available from what i can gather.

Do you have, or know where, any is available?

He seems like a cult hero, from some of the stories I have been told from Doncaster fans, from those old enough, I'd love to know basically as much as possible about the guy.

Thanks.

he was on the door at shire horse when i was a young lad going round town, seen him pick a few lads up by the scruff of the neck and lift them off the floor ,a few out of towners who didnt know Tony Tried it on with him but i never heard of any getting the better of him he was one very tough guy and as strong as an ox ,he played for Donny and was on TV once during there losing run i think, he did everything down there ,he was there best player, coach ,trainer ,groundsman ,he would have taken the money to get in as well if he had the time ,i think he kept them going for a number of years ,hope this helps

Cod'ead is your man for this

Tetleys used to put tony in any pubs that needed 'cleaning up'

Starred in 'Another Bloody Sunday' one of the finest RL documentaries ever made. (One of the only ones too!)

I was lucky enough to meet Tony Banham around 20 to 25 years ago. He was the landlord of a pub in Hull called the Gypsyville tavern. My mate was the DJ in the pub at the time. Tony was as wide as he was tall, a huge man with arms as big as my legs. He spoke with a southern accent as i recall. Tony was apparently brought into the Gypsyville tavern by the brewery as at that time the Gipsyville tavern had some well known trouble makers. It was safe to say that after 6 weeks of Tony taking over the pub you could go in the pub for a quiet pint and not be offered drugs or a knocked off video. No one messed with Tony Banham, his size alone deflated any trouble makers. He was, as i remember him a gentle giant until he needed to be otherwise.

Have you approached Doncaster RL. I'm sure they would be only too happy to help with your research.

As Tony was a former Hull FC player I would think Wilf is able to give you some info. Have you tried the Keighley site as he played for them before signing for Hull as a winger would you believe?

That movie in on the video site

Tony made his debut for Hull FC on 29/11/1974 made 21 appearances 7 of these as sub and scored 11 tries.
Hope this is of some help to you.

That's brilliant. Where did you find that, if you dont mind me asking?!

Tony was the coach of Shire Horse (where he was also head doorman) on Ferensway when I started playing open age rugby. He was a huge man with the broadest cockney accent I’d ever heard this side of Watford Gap. I’m also led to believe he also worked as a Gas Rigger at Hull docks.
He would never train himself but flogged us to death. He never had any hang ups about his colour either (I guess that came from working on the doors). In fact I remember a really funny occasion during training when he was giving us a real beasting. One of the lads was out on his feet when Tony told him to do another set of sprints. The lad replied “you f**king b****rd” to which Banham replied “that’s you f**king black b****rd to you son.”
Every Saturday he would start a game telling the rest of the team that he would play the first 20 mins to “soften ‘em up a bit”. Talk about bringing the biff back!! But the problem with that was once he’d gone off the rest of us would feel the backlash! So we held a players meeting before training one night and it was unanimously decided that if Tony wanted to play he a) had to train b) had to play more game time and c) stop beating people up. But the problem then came that no one dare tell him. In the end it fell to the team captain and another one of the lads Ian T (who also worked the doors with Tony) to tell him. Shall we just say he didn’t take it very well? Tony wasn’t going to be dictated to and told us all that it was his way or no way. He walked out on the team that same night and never came back.
Although as rough as they come he was always the perfect gentleman when ladies were about.
I believe he died of a heart attack but apologises if this is not correct.
A great man sadly missed.

From the book Old Faithful A History of Hull Football Club 1865-1987 by Bill Dalton. Glad it was helpful to you

I knew Tony quite well but I can never recall him being relaxed about anyone else mentioning his skin colour.

I remember reffing him in an amateur game at NEGAS down Clough Road. A scrum had broken up and I clearly heard (as did Tony), one of hsi opponents call him a "black b***ard". Tony went for this guy and I stupidly got myself in between them. I faced Banham and told him the guy had called him a "fat b***ard" and even he couldn't deny that fact. Although it seemed to calm him down, I knew it wasn't the end of the matter. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later I heard a scream from behind me, I turned to see Tonay walking away (with an angelic look on his face), from the prone figure of the gobe, who was in no condition to take any further part in the game.

Tony was like most of the other hard men to referee, you just had to work a bit harder and be constantly talking to them.

"Another Bloody Sunday" is in about 6 parts on that famous video sharing website and is well worth watching, especially as Yorkshire TV have no intention of ever screening it again.

i had that once


JOE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !@EHE*(TY@)ERYG)E(_E

would anyone make comparisons between Tony's playing style and a player in today's game? eg. Lauiititi or Paleaaesina?

or was he just totally unique in everything?