Alan Hardisty - Rugby League Hero
Alan Hardisty was one of the stars of rugby league during the 1960’s and the 1970’s. In two tours ‘down under’ with Great Britain, Australians considered him to be one of the best stand-off’s the world of rugby had ever seen. He formed one of the great half-back partnerships with Keith Hepworth, and is also known in his own right as a try scorer and king of the interception.
When Bradford College’s Ian Brown, happened to stumble across a suitcase full of Alan Hardisty’s photographic memorabilia, he knew the great British legend’s story needed to be told. Ian explained: “It started with photos in a suitcase. Alan’s mum brought a suitcase round to Mick and Paul’s. They’re Alan Hardisty nephews. We’ve grown up together… we’ve been friends since school.” The suitcase contained memorabilia from Alan’s career playing for Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos, including: medals, caps and scrapbooks from years of playing in England, Australia, France and New Zealand. Ian continued: “I was amazed at what was inside… it would have been criminal not to turn all the information into a book, or display the contents for others to enjoy. I couldn’t understand why this hadn’t been done before? That’s when we decided to approaching Alan to ask if he’d agree for us to write a book about his life story. Alan agreed.”
Ian explained: “Mick and I did all the research and Paul wrote it. It’s from different people’s perspectives, not just Alan’s. In Rugby League terms we’ve interviewed some really famous names, such as the great Australian Johnny Raper, British legends Malcolm Reilly O.B.E, and Alex Murphy O.B.E. We got the late Freddie Trueman O.B.E to do the foreword. He was England’s greatest fast bowler that arguably we’ve ever had.”