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Neil Fox (rugby league)
Encyclopedia
Neil Fox MBE
(born 4 May 1939 in Sharlston, West Yorkshire
) is an English
former rugby league
footballer and player-coach of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A goal-kicking , he is one of the most prominent figures in the history of the sport because he holds the all-time points record, scoring 6,220 points during his career. The brother of fellow rugby league players, Peter and Don Fox
, Neil played for Yorkshire sides such as; Wakefield Trinity
(twice), Bradford Northern
(twice), Hull KR
, York
, Bramley
and Huddersfield
.
Neil Fox was selected for Yorkshire County XIII whilst at Wakefield Trinity
during the 1958/59 and 1959/60 seasons.
Neil Fox played Left-, i.e. number 4, and scored twenty points (two tries
and seven goals) in Wakefield Trinity’s 38-5 victory over Hull F.C. in the 1959–60 Challenge Cup
final at Wembley Stadium on 14 May 1960, setting a new record for most points in a Challenge Cup Final. This feat was equalled by Iestyn Harris
(1-try and 8-goals) in Leeds Rhinos
' victory over the London Broncos in the 1999 Challenge Cup
Final.
Neil Fox played Left-, i.e. number 4, and scored two tries
and two goals in Wakefield Trinity
’s 16-10 victory over Huddersfield
in the 1960–61 Yorkshire Cup
final at Headingley Stadium, Leeds
on 29 October 1960.
Fox scored a try and three goals in the 12-6 victory over Huddersfield
in the 1961–62 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 12 May 1962, and was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy
for his man-of-the-match performance. He scored five goals in the 25-10 victory over Wigan
in the 1962–63 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 11 May 1963.
Neil Fox played Left-, i.e. number 4, and scored three goals in the 21-9 victory over St. Helens in the 1966-67 Rugby Football League Championship final at Station Road, Swinton on 10 May 1967, scored a try and two goals the 17-10 victory over Hull in the 1967-68 Rugby Football League Championship final at Headingley Stadium on 4 May 1968.
Neil Fox and Alex Murphy
are the only British rugby league footballers to have had two Testimonial match
es. Neil Fox’s were both at Wakefield Trinity in 1966, and 1979. Alex Murphy’s were at St Helens in 1965, and at Warrington
in 1976.
Circa-1968 Neil Fox owned a Turf accountant's business in Goldthorpe
. He was player - coach of Underbank Rangers
and achieved a Holliday Cup and promotion double in 1981/82.
Fox retired with the record for most points scored in Anglo-Australian test match history until overtaken by Mal Meninga
in 1992.
He was inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame
in 1989. On 30 August 2005 Fox, along with former rugby league greats Billy Boston
and Mick Sullivan
, opened the Rugby League Heritage Centre
.
Arriva Yorkshire
honoured 13 rugby league footballers on Thursday 20 August 2009, at a ceremony at The Jungle
, the home of the Castleford Tigers
. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of Rugby League World
. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster
MBE
, Neil Fox MBE
, Albert Goldthorpe
, Alan Hardisty
, Stan Kielty
, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward
MBE
, Malcolm Reilly
, Garry Schofield
, Keith Senior
, David Topliss
, Dave Valentine
, and Adrian Vowles
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 4 May 1939 in Sharlston, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
former rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
footballer and player-coach of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A goal-kicking , he is one of the most prominent figures in the history of the sport because he holds the all-time points record, scoring 6,220 points during his career. The brother of fellow rugby league players, Peter and Don Fox
Don Fox
Don Fox was an English rugby league footballer of the 1950s and '60s for Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity. He is the brother of Peter and Neil Fox, and together they formed one of the legendary rugby league families...
, Neil played for Yorkshire sides such as; Wakefield Trinity
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
(twice), Bradford Northern
Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
(twice), Hull KR
Hull Kingston Rovers
Hull Kingston Rovers or Hull KR is an English professional rugby league football club based in Hull, England. The club formed in 1882 and currently competes in Super League, having won promotion from National League One in 2006...
, York
York City Knights
York City Knights Rugby League Club is a British professional rugby league club hailing from York. They play at the Huntington Stadium, situated to the north of York city centre...
, Bramley
Bramley Buffaloes
Bramley Buffaloes is a rugby league club from the Bramley area of West Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Previously known simply as Bramley RLFC, the club is a famous name in rugby league, having existed prior to the formation of the Northern Union in 1895...
and Huddersfield
Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
.
Neil Fox was selected for Yorkshire County XIII whilst at Wakefield Trinity
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
during the 1958/59 and 1959/60 seasons.
Neil Fox played Left-, i.e. number 4, and scored twenty points (two tries
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
and seven goals) in Wakefield Trinity’s 38-5 victory over Hull F.C. in the 1959–60 Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
final at Wembley Stadium on 14 May 1960, setting a new record for most points in a Challenge Cup Final. This feat was equalled by Iestyn Harris
Iestyn Harris
Iestyn Rhys Harris is a Welsh former rugby league footballer, who is currently the assistant coach at Wigan Warriors. Harris is a former Man of Steel winner and has also represented Wales on numerous occasions at both codes of rugby...
(1-try and 8-goals) in Leeds Rhinos
Leeds Rhinos
Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
' victory over the London Broncos in the 1999 Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
Final.
Neil Fox played Left-, i.e. number 4, and scored two tries
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
and two goals in Wakefield Trinity
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
’s 16-10 victory over Huddersfield
Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
in the 1960–61 Yorkshire Cup
Rugby league county cups
Historically, British rugby league clubs competed for the Lancashire Cup and the Yorkshire Cup, known collectively as the county cups. The leading rugby clubs in Yorkshire had played in a cup competition for several years prior to the schism of 1895...
final at Headingley Stadium, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
on 29 October 1960.
Fox scored a try and three goals in the 12-6 victory over Huddersfield
Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
in the 1961–62 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 12 May 1962, and was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy
Lance Todd Trophy
The Lance Todd Trophy is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in rugby league football's Challenge Cup Final.The trophy was introduced in 1946, in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in a road accident during the Second World War...
for his man-of-the-match performance. He scored five goals in the 25-10 victory over Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
in the 1962–63 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 11 May 1963.
Neil Fox played Left-, i.e. number 4, and scored three goals in the 21-9 victory over St. Helens in the 1966-67 Rugby Football League Championship final at Station Road, Swinton on 10 May 1967, scored a try and two goals the 17-10 victory over Hull in the 1967-68 Rugby Football League Championship final at Headingley Stadium on 4 May 1968.
Neil Fox and Alex Murphy
Alex Murphy (rugby league)
Alex J. Murphy OBE is an English former professional rugby league footballer and coach of the mid to late 20th century...
are the only British rugby league footballers to have had two Testimonial match
Testimonial match
A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, notably football and especially in the United Kingdom, where a club puts on a match in honour of a player for service to the club....
es. Neil Fox’s were both at Wakefield Trinity in 1966, and 1979. Alex Murphy’s were at St Helens in 1965, and at Warrington
Warrington Wolves
Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....
in 1976.
Circa-1968 Neil Fox owned a Turf accountant's business in Goldthorpe
Goldthorpe
Goldthorpe is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England. Anciently a small medieval farming village, Goldthorpe is recorded in the Domesday Book and was under the Manor of Bolton upon Dearne which was once owned by Roger de Busli.Goldthorpe railway station...
. He was player - coach of Underbank Rangers
Huddersfield Underbank Rangers
Huddersfield Underbank Rangers are a rugby league team based in Holmfirth near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They play in the National Division of the Rugby League Conference. The club also competes as Underbank Rangers in division 4 of the Pennine League. They also have an Underbank Rangers A...
and achieved a Holliday Cup and promotion double in 1981/82.
Fox retired with the record for most points scored in Anglo-Australian test match history until overtaken by Mal Meninga
Mal Meninga
Malcolm Norman Meninga AM is an Australian former rugby league test captain and current coach of Queensland's State of Origin team. As a player he was a legendary goal-kicking centre, counted amongst the finest footballers of the 20th century...
in 1992.
He was inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame
Rugby League Hall of Fame
The Rugby League Hall of Fame is an International Hall of Fame that was combined and continually has additions from the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, British Rugby League Hall of Fame, Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII and the...
in 1989. On 30 August 2005 Fox, along with former rugby league greats Billy Boston
Billy Boston
William John "Billy" Boston MBE is a former Wales and Great Britain professional Rugby League World Cup winning footballer. Boston is a member of the Rugby League Hall of Fame, Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and was, along with Shaun Edwards the first to be voted into the Wigan Hall Of Fame...
and Mick Sullivan
Mick Sullivan
Michael "Mick" Sullivan is an English former professional Rugby League World Cup winning footballer of the 1950s and 60s. He holds the record for the most appearances for the Great Britain Lions with 46.Sullivan signed with Huddersfield in 1952 as an 18 year-old right winger...
, opened the Rugby League Heritage Centre
Rugby League Heritage Centre
The Rugby League Heritage Centre is located in the basement of the George Hotel, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is the UK’s only rugby league heritage museum and was the brainchild of BSkyB sports presenter and former Great Britain international Mike Stephenson.It was in the George...
.
Arriva Yorkshire
Arriva Yorkshire
Arriva Yorkshire is a division of Arriva which operates bus services around West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and the southern areas of North Yorkshire in England.-History:Arriva Yorkshire was formed as a combination of mergers of previous...
honoured 13 rugby league footballers on Thursday 20 August 2009, at a ceremony at The Jungle
The Jungle (Wheldon Road)
The Jungle is the former name of Wheldon Road, a stadium in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. This is the home of the Castleford Tigers rugby league team....
, the home of the Castleford Tigers
Castleford Tigers
Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of Rugby League World
Rugby League World
Rugby League World is a dedicated rugby league magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the weekly newspaper Rugby Leaguer & League Express and the annual Gillette Rugby League Yearbook.-History:Rugby League World began...
. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster
Trevor Foster
Trevor J. F. Foster MBE , was a Welsh rugby footballer and coach. He played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Bradford Northern...
MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Neil Fox MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Albert Goldthorpe
Albert Goldthorpe
Albert Goldthorpe was an English rugby footballer from the period around 1895's schism in English rugby, which led to the formation of rugby league football around the turn of the century.One of five brothers , Goldthorpe made his first...
, Alan Hardisty
Alan Hardisty
Alan 'Chuck' Hardisty is an English former professional rugby league footballer of the 1950s, '60s and '70s and coach of the 1970s, who at representative level has played for Great Britain, and Yorkshire, and at club level for Castleford, and Leeds, playing at , i.e...
, Stan Kielty
Stan Kielty
Stan Kielty was an English rugby league footballer. A member of the Halifax Hall of Fame, Stan began his professional career at Wakefield Trinity before signing for Halifax in 1946. He later went on to represent Yorkshire and England, playing at , i.e...
, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward
Roger Millward
Roger Millward MBE is an English former rugby league footballer and coach of the mid to late 20th century. A goal-kicking , he gained a high level of prominence in the sport in England by playing for Hull KR and Castleford, as well as representing Great Britain...
MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Malcolm Reilly
Mal Reilly
Malcolm J. Reilly is an English former rugby league footballer and coach. A Great Britain international representative , Reilly played club football for Castleford Tigers in England and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Australia...
, Garry Schofield
Garry Schofield
Garry E. Schofield OBE is an English retired professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 1990s. At the time of his retirement he was the most-capped Great Britain player of all time along with Mick Sullivan, with 46 appearances. He also won three England caps, making him the highest...
, Keith Senior
Keith Senior
Keith Senior is an English professional rugby league or who most recently played for the Leeds Rhinos in Super League. He has won every honour in the English domestic game. He holds the record for the most Super League appearances & the most Super League tries...
, David Topliss
David Topliss
David Topliss was an English Rugby League World Cup winning footballer and coach. He played and coached with Wakefield Trinity in the late 1970s and early 1980s....
, Dave Valentine
Dave Valentine
David Donald Valentine was a Scottish representative rugby union and Rugby League World Cup winning footballer, a dual-code rugby international of the 1940s and '50s.-Rugby union:...
, and Adrian Vowles
Adrian Vowles
Adrian Vowles is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He played in Australia for several years, gaining State of Origin selection in 1994, but spent the majority of his career in the European Super League...
.