In a league of his own: The Brian Lockwood Story
By Phil Hodgson
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Brian Lockwood is indisputably one of the finest rugby league players, indeed sportsmen, of the last 60 years. Superb skills as a ball-playing forward, with the rugby intelligence to make maximum use of his talents – and, crucially, of those of the men around him – helped him famously create the vital try for Mike Stephenson against Australia that played a huge part in Great Britain winning the World Cup in 1972.
While not perhaps blessed with the natural speed to outpace all-comers over the length of a rugby league pitch, he was certainly fast enough over the important first 10 metres, creating countless scoring opportunities for team-mates in the international arena with Great Britain and England, for Yorkshire, and at club level.
His domestic career included over 10 years with his hometown club Castleford, followed by stints at Australian outfits Canterbury-Bankstown and Balmain and, back in England, with Wakefield Trinity, Hull KR, Oldham and Widnes. Rock solid in defence, he could more than hold his own in the hard-bitten physical era of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
Brian Lockwood, a member of a famous rugby league family, entered the Guinness Book of Records as, at the time, the only player to have appeared at Wembley on six occasions, where he never lost. He lifted the Challenge Cup twice with Castleford, helped topple Australia in the first test in 1973, and returned to the Twin Towers in 1980, where he won the Lance Todd Trophy as man-of-the-match for his display in Hull KR’s victory over Hull FC, before going back to the stadium in 1981 and 1982 with Widnes – the cup kings.
After hanging up his boots, he coached down under with Maryborough and, in Yorkshire, at Batley and Huddersfield while continuing to build up a series of successful public houses – all the while acquiring many hilarious anecdotes – with his wife Anne and supportive family.
In a League of his own – The Brian Lockwood Story is a vivid account of a special man and family in what was a special era for British rugby league – attributes fully recognised by England coach Shaun Wane, who has called on him to pass on insights to his squad as part of the bid to bring the World Cup back to these shores for the first time since that famous day in 1972.