Leeds Rhinos nostalgia: how Cliff Lyons became a Headingley legend and Tina Turner's favourite player

Fans arriving at Headingley for the visit of Salford on January 22, 1989, were shocked to see import Cliff Lyons named as Leeds’ substitute back, with local hero Dave Creasser donning the number six jersey for the first time that season. The tactic backfired and by the time the Australian joined the action, Leeds were 16-0 down.

Lyons’ introduction, replacing Carl Gibson, transformed the game and the Loiners staged a stunning fightback. Tries by Andrew Ettingshausen, John Bentley and David Stephenson, who also kicked three goals, snatched an 18-16 win in front of a crowd of 10,135.

That was no surprise to Leeds supporters, who gave Lyons cult status during two spells at Headingley. A magician with ball in hand and ferocious tackler, Lyons, now 62, began his senior career with North Sydney Bears in 1985. He joined Manly the following year, playing at loose-forward in his first season there and went on to become one of the club’s finest servants.

He was man of the match in the 1987 Grand Final, the Australian competition’s player of the year in 1990 and 1994 and won a second Premiership in 1996. After retiring at the end of 1998, Lyons made a brief playing comeback during the following season. That took him to a club record 309 appearances for Manly. He played on into his 40s with Central Coast club Umina and then moved into coaching. He also played six times for New South Wales and was capped a similar number of times by Australia.

Lyons’ first spell with Leeds was in the 1985-86 campaign when he scored 16 tries - jointly topping the club’s list, alongside Tony Currie - in 29 appearances. He had a stint with Gary Hetherington’s Sheffield Eagles in 1986-87 - enabling him to complete a ban picked up in Australia without missing any games for Many - and returned to Leeds in 1988-89.

He starred in the Loiners’ Yorkshire Cup triumph against Castleford at Elland Road and touched down eight times in 24 games, starting all but the one against Salford. But as well as he played, Lyons’ second stint at Leeds is most famous for a bizarre collaboration with megastar singer Tina Turner.

The Australian Rugby League persuaded Turner to feature in a commercial to promote the sport, but she was available for one day only, in London, in January, 1989. Initially, she was told she would be filming with the sport’s ‘best-looking player’ at the time, Leeds’ Aussie import Andrew Ettingshausen.

Unfortunately for Ettingshausen, he couldn’t make it, so Lyons was called up as a last-minute replacement. Allegedly, Turner’s joking response when he and Gavin Miller, an Australian who was playing for Hull KR, turned up for the shoot was “if these are the good-looking ones, I’d hate to see the ugly ones”. The ‘What You Get Is What You See’ promotion became world famous and took rugby league to new heights of popularity, guaranteeing Lyons an unexpected place in the code’s folklore.