31 Dec 2024
Remembering those we have lost in 2024
As 2024 draws to a close, we remember all those we have lost throughout the year including our former players and coaches along with our supporters. It has been an emotional year with three of our Hall of Fame members passing away but we remember how they inspired us and the legacy they have all left for us.
George Claughton
Full back or winger George Claughton made his Leeds debut at Castleford on 1st October 1971 gaining heritage number 1044. That would prove to be Claughton's only appearance in blue and amber before a move to Castleford proved a masterstroke.
At Wheldon Road, he played 12 years for Castleford winning the Yorkshire Cup in 1981 at Headingley against Bradford Northern. In total, he made 142 appearances for Castleford before leaving the club at the start of the 1982-83 season.
Lewis Jones
In March club legend player Lewis Jones passed away peacefully in his sleep, aged 92, after a short illness.
Lewis Jones will forever be known as the Golden Boy at Headingley, having moved North from his home in Gorseinon, near Swansea, for a then record fee of £6,000 and wrote his name in the game’s history books in 1952. He captained Leeds to their first ever Championship in 1961, having lifted the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 1957.
Prior to switching codes, he had already made his debut for Wales whilst still a teenager at Twickenham against the old enemy before earning a call up to the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1950.
He played his final game for Leeds on Easter Monday 1964, before moving to Wentworthville, in the Sydney area, as player-coach. Jones returned to Leeds in 1972 to take up an appointment as a Maths Specialist at Silver Royd High School.
In total, he made 385 appearances for Leeds scoring 144 tries, kicking 1,244 goals producing 2,920 points, both of latter were records at the time of his retirement. He was capped 15 times by Great Britain Rugby League including touring in 1954 and playing in the 1957 World Cup in Australia. In Rugby Union, he was awarded ten caps for Wales between 1950 and 1952 and played three Tests on the 1950 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand.
He was inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2013 before being one of the first players inducted into the Leeds Rugby Hall of Fame in 2017. Lewis an inductee into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame Roll of Honour.
Rob Burrow CBE
In June it is with deep sadness that the club announced that former player Rob Burrow CBE had passed away, aged 41.
Rob inspired the entire country with his brave battle against Motor Neurone Disease (MND) since his diagnosis in December 2019. He passed away peacefully at Pinderfields Hospital near his home surrounded by his loving family.
Burrow played his entire career with Leeds Rhinos and won every honour with the club as part of their golden generation. In 2004, he was part of the Leeds team that ended a 32-year wait to win the Championship with victory in the Grand Final. It was the first of eight Grand Final wins for Burrow including winning the Man of the Match award in the 2007 and 2011 Old Trafford showpieces. The 2011 game included his breathtaking try that is still regarded as the greatest Grand Final try ever scored.
In total he made 492 appearances for the club, placing him in fifth in the club’s all-time list of career appearances. He scored 196 tries for a total of 1,103 points. He was capped 15 times by England and played five more tests for Great Britain. He won the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 2014 and 2015 as well as three World Club Challenges and three League Leaders Shields.
Following his MND diagnosis in December 2019, Burrow and his family took the decision to open their doors to show the impact of the disease and raise awareness and funds for the MND community.
Bill Arthur
In July this year, the Rugby League family lost one of his most familiar faces with the passing of Sky Sports commentator, Bill Arthur, who died at the age of 68 after a long battle with prostate cancer. Bill died peacefully surrounded by his family and inspired many with his courageous battle against the disease which he was diagnosed with in 2011. Bill was a much-loved and respected member of the Sky Sports family.
Ken Rollin
Ken joined Leeds in 1965 from Wakefield Trinity where he had become a star at his home town team. Rollin had been out of the game for more than a year before he joined Leeds. He made his debut against Hunslet at Headingley in the Lazenby Cup on 16th August 1965.
In total, he played 151 games for Wakefield, including the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley in 1960 when he scored the fastest ever Wembley try in Trinity’s 38–5 victory over Hull FC. He also featured in a Championship Final for Wakefield when they lost to Wigan in the 1960 Championship Final at Odsal.
Rollin, who worked as a draughtsman and later as a sales director in a printing company after his rugby career. He made 75 starts for Leeds plus three appearances as a substitute and scored 18 tries. He remained a regular at Headingley over the years, particularly when Leeds played Wakefield and was a popular figure at Leeds Players Association events each year.
Keith Hepworth
In November former half back Keith Hepworth passed away, aged 82.
Although tragedy lay behind the need for Leeds to recruit Keith Hepworth - in an effort to fill the huge void left by the critical injury to Mick Shoebottom - it proved to be the shrewdest of acquisitions.
Reunited and dovetailing effortlessly with fellow Castleford capture Alan Hardisty, the international pair brought their instinctive magic to Headingley, battling Hepworth appearing in six major finals in blue and amber. He made his debut on 30th October 1971 against Salford at Headingley earning heritage number 1045 and despite it being towards the end of a triumphant 21-year career, he won the Leeds Player of the Year award in 1973 when the John Player was captured, and again in 1974.
Between 1971 and 1976, Hepworth made 177 appearances scoring 34 tries and five goals for a total of 112 points.
Walter Garside
On 15th November, former Leeds player Walter Garside passed away. Walter played 29 games for Leeds from 1957 to 1960 before joining Bramley. He was a winger and scored 15 tries including two hat tricks, most famously one of them being opposite the legendary Billy Boston against Wigan at Headingley in 1958. Walter carried around with him a newspaper cutting of the fateful day in his wallet as a memento of the occasion.
Syd Hynes
Former player, captain and coach Syd Hynes, passed away aged 80 in December, following a short illness in Perth, Australia, where has lived for many years.
Born and bred in Hunslet, he was as a late developer his chances of signing pro looked gone early in his career. Making his way to Headingley to ask for trials, he played two of his four 'A' team games at No 7 and was promptly signed as a professional in October 1964, three months after celebrating his 21st birthday.
A League Leaders winner on five occasions and Yorkshire Champions on four, of the fourteen Finals Leeds contested, he missed only the 1972 League Championship.
A dream Tour in 1970 with Great Britain saw him score a crucial try in the Sydney test. In June 1975, he became the club’s first player coach, succeeding Roy Francis.
He made 355 appearances for his only club but more success was to follow when he took up the coaching role full time. In May 1977, his side beat Widnes at Wembley to lift the Challenge Cup and they repeated the act a year later in a dramatic win over St Helens. The following year, in 1979, Leeds beat Bradford Northern in the Premiership Final at Fartown. Furthermore, before he resigned in April 1981 he notched up two more Yorkshire Cup successes, over Halifax and Hull Kingston Rovers, to finish with a proud record as player-coach and coach: seven Finals, and never on the losing side. Hynes was inducted into the Leeds Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2019.
Supporters we have lost this year
Thomas Baker
Bob Barker
Tom Bowness
John Brown
Noel Butler
Tracy Louise Bycroft
Chris Clarkson
Brian Dalby
Ann Day
Jack Day
Denise Drurey
Mark Flemming
Len Frobisher
Alastair Gibson
Colin Gill
Gerald Gouland
Geoff Hepper
Christine Hesketh
John Hession
Nick Hynes
Graham Idle
Joyce Johnson
Rayner Johnson
Kenneth Liversidge
Carol Madden
Omar Mehdi
Janine Murphy
John 'Gordon' Parrish
Geoff Ralph
Geoff Robinson
Peter Smart
Colleen Smith
David Storey
David Storr
John Summerscales
Graham Tate
Peter Thaler
Christine Weatherill