Tears and laughter as Leeds Rhinos say farewell to legendary ex-player and coach Syd Hynes
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Leeds-born Hynes died in hospital in Perth, Australia, last week, aged 80. A one-club man, he played 366 times for the Loiners and coached the team in seven major finals, winning them all.
The 1,000th player to appear for Leeds, he was inducted into Rhinos’ Hall of Fame in 2019. At international level, he played four times for England, won 13 Great Britain caps and played in the last Lions team to win an Ashes series, in 1970.
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Former teammates, players he coached, family members, ex-opponents and fans gathered in the Howard Suite at AMT Headingley to share memories of Hynes, who made his playing debut in 1965 and resigned as coach in 1981.
Among the speakers was Ian Brooke, a member of the Wakefield Trinity team which lost to Leeds, including Hynes, in the famous 1968 Watersplash Challenge Cup final at Wembley. Brook recalled: “The tougher the game was, the better he liked it. He loved the rough stuff; it was hard to play against Syd, he was such a strong character.
“He was always talking, saying ‘when you get the ball this is what I am going to do to you’. I enjoyed playing against him, because I knew you had to be playing well if you were up against Syd.”
Alan Smith played alongside Hynes for Leeds and Great Britain and was coached by him at the Loiners. He said: “What a character, he was a lovely man. As a coach, he spoke it how it was.
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“He knew what you could do and he expected that from you. If you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t be playing.”
David Ward followed in Hynes’ footsteps by captaining Leeds and later coaching the club. He remembered: “As a coach, Syd pressed all the right buttons for me. I wanted to train every day [when Hynes was in charge], it was a happy place and we were far beyond our times in those days.
“The rehab they do now, we were doing that in the early 1970s on Sunday mornings. It was a good family club and by making me captain, Syd made my game.”
Among the anecdotes was one told by Hynes himself in a filmed interview with the club. He revealed in his playing days he used to smoke two cigarettes at half time. He said: “There was an old chap in a wheelchair at the bottom of the ramp [from the changing rooms]. If I hadn’t finished the second one, I used to leave it with him.”
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Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington was signed as a player by Hynes in the late-1970s and spoke to him five days before he died. “He said he’d had a good life,” Hetherington reported. “I wished him well and he asked to send his best wishes to all his friends at Leeds.”
Past players who accepted an invitation to the service were: Alan Smith, Brian Harrison, David Ward, Ian Brooke, David Heselwood, Neil Hague, Gary Spencer, Steve Pitchford, Robin Dewhurst, Drew Broatch, Phil Holmes, Neil Lean, Barry Seabourne, Phil Cookson, Graham Eccles, Paul Pickup and Garry Schofield.
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