if memory serves right, I think Ricky Lulham married one of our cheerleaders

Like a Boss...

Photo taken in the last year of my exile in a land far, far away where rugby league was unheard of and getting the results for matches was nigh on impossible.



The year (or two?) after this on my return I was courted by Huddersfield at Fartown for sponsorship to pay for Mr Schofields appointment as player coach.



I shudder at the thought of how THAT could have turned out.

IIRC Ricky Lulham was from Wauchope in NSW. He may have been one of those Aussies that turned up in England on spec, or maybe he was recommended by one of Leeds' former players (Ted Verrenkamp seemed to do a bit of scouting for a time).

Ricky Lulham came over to play for Leeds the season before the mass invasion of '84. He made his Leeds debut in an 'A' team game at Headingley watched by a crowd of over 1,000 (unheard of in those days) who had turned out to witness four Antipodean newcomers. Trevor Clark was on the bench with Lulham at stand-off - the other two were Mark and Richard Laurie.



Richard Laurie was a centre who never made it into the Leeds 1st grade side but the other three all did along with Leeds' other overseas signings (their first since the ban was lifted) Steve Martin, Terry Webb and Dean Bell.



1983/84 was also the first season for the cheerleaders - who were all sacked after six outings as the club decided it was getting too cold .... much to their disgust. In the end the club backed down after the YEP canvassed the opinions of the fans (allegedly). Earlier it was recalled that Lulham returned home with one of them, I remember that also.

Was Norman Francis also playing that evening? His 'fan club' usually added 100 or so extra to an attendance at Friday night 'A' team fixtures.



NOOOORRRMAN! NOOOORRRMAN!

Was the Auckland tour match Schofield's debut? Seem to remember him scoring a couple of tries against them, one an intercept.

Yes, that was Schofield's debut. Scored a couple of tries and got stretchered off in what was a pretty brutal match. Those Auckland boys weren't here to make friends.



[urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc1BelPg_NQ[/url

thanks for that

Games versus Auckland back in the 80s and early 90s on GB tours always seemed to get rather heated. I’ve a DVD of the 1990 tour where the match vs Auckland ends up in a running battle. One scrap starts on our 20m line and ends up on theirs. Every tackle would be penalised nowadays yet for the most part they don’t even get a reaction from the offended party.



For all the faux disgust shown by the commentators the crowd loved it.



There’s also a clip on youtube of a big origin punch up in the early 90s where Darrell Eastlake commentating says “nothing wrong with that, two blokes having a go!” as Bella and Harragon knock seven bells out of each other.



Bring back the biff etc.

Was the 1990 tour the one where Roy Powell played some part in all 15 games?

Pretty sure he figured in all the tests. Not sure about the others. We put in some forgetable performances in the midweek games but we had such greats as Sean Irwin, Ian Smales and Roger Simpson lining up for GB in those.