Leeds Rhinos reveal the 30 finest players to have graced Headingley

That is why Leeds Rhinos, who set themselves the target as part of their latest impressive heritage project, eventually extended the list to 30.

Even that was not easy. But what a list it is…

From Ellery Hanley, Wally Lewis, Harold Wagstaff and, of course, Kevin Sinfield, to Peter Sterling, Tom Van Vollenhoven, Brian Bevan, Roger Millward and Gus Risman, it essentially amounts to a veritable feast of some of the greatest players to have ever played rugby league.

The 30 greats – chosen by a panel of experienced and knowledgeable representatives including former players, coaches, administrators and officials – are now forever depicted in the tunnel at Headingley as the final part of a wonderful heritage jigsaw which was officially unveiled earlier this week.

Some of them were there to witness it first hand: legendary Leeds and Great Britain stand-off Lewis Jones – now 90 years old – plus his fellow Welshman and former Lions colleague, the prolific Billy Boston as well as the sport’s record points scorer Neil Fox of Wakefield Trinity fame and Castleford and Manly icon Martin Reilly.

Of a more recent vintage, Martin ‘Chariots’ Offiah, the free-scoring winger who played under Reilly for Great Britain, and Rhinos colossus and ex-England captain Jamie Peacock were also in attendance at the illustrious gathering.

Modern-day players will now line up alongside the legends as they await to stride out onto the Headingley turf during the 2022 campaign.

It completes a fascinating walkway through the tunnel area which Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington hopes will eventually become part of a stadium tour for all to see.

It was in 2019 that Rhinos completed the £45m re-development of the North Stand at Headingley which included three new sets of changing rooms, new male and female officials changing areas and modern medical facilities.

Since then an ongoing programme has seen artwork within the tunnel area continually developed to leave an eye-catching and informative odyssey of not only the great players to have featured there but the great games, too.

The ‘home’ area of the tunnel is focused solely on the glittering past of the Leeds club itself dating back to 1890 when it was first formed and began playing at Headingley.

In total, 130 players are celebrated, ten per position in the team, on a series of light box features that the current squad pass on their way towards the pitch at each game along with a special display honouring the golden generation of players – Sinfield, Peacock, Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow et al – in the modern era.

Surrounding these images are a list of every player who has played for the club since 1890 along with images and details of every trophy won by the mens and womens teams.

The main tunnel area between the home and away dressing rooms is a timeline that stretches from 1890 to the modern day highlighting historic domestic and international games hosted at Headingley along with historic events in the sport and around the globe to put events at the stadium in context of what is happening in the wider world.

The panel assembled to decide on the 30 greatest players to step out at Headingley was a cross-section of personalities from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and France. It included former Rhinos coach Brian McClennan and the current one – Richard Agar – plus ex-Great Britain chiefs Brian Noble and Phil Larder as well as 1972 World Cup winner Mike Stephenson.

Leeds Heritage committee member and former referee Bernard Shooman plus former RFL chief executive Nigel Wood, St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus and South Sydney general manager Shane Richardson were also involved along with longstanding fans from overseas – Johnny Wilkinson, Thomas Keneally OA and Sir Peter “Mad Butcher” Leitch - and various members of the rugby league media.

In all, 75 former players received votes and given the closeness of scoring, it was decided to increase the final list from 20 to 30. In addition, four notable rugby league pioneers who all had a connection with Headingley will be featured separately.

Albert Baskerville, who led the All Golds from New Zealand in 1907 when Headingley staged the First Test; Jean Galia, who brought the first group of rugby players from France to be coached by the Leeds players at Headingley; Eddie Waring, who was the Leeds general manager in the 1940s and a nationally-known commentator; and Roy Francis, a groundbreaking coach at Headingley throughout the 1960s.

Hetherington is rightly delighted with the finished look and says it is an ideal way of “showcasing Headingley’s very rich heritage” as such a unique rugby league ground.

He added: “We always knew the centrepiece would be the two walls leading down to the pitch and it was finally decided that should feature the game’s most legendary iconic players who have played at Headingley.

“That in itself is interesting because when you look at the iconic players every one of them has played at Headingley; this is the only ground in the world that can lay claim to hosting all of the game’s legendary players as other grounds have not housed Test matches, internationals and Cup finals like this one.

“The likes of Fartown, Central Park, Station Road are all long gone. To actually come up with just a few was a pretty tough task and I’ve learned over the years there’s some jobs you need to do yourself and some you need to delegate.

“I knew this would create plenty of debate and argument so we needed some proper experts to create this group of legendary players and that’s when we put together the panel to formulate the 30.”