Leeds Rhinos Foundation are supporting our partner organisation Black Health Initiative Leeds to promote the campaign ‘Cancer does not discriminate’ during Black History Month.
To raise awareness particularly of Prostate cancer within the Black Minority Ethnic communities of Leeds we will be releasing articles throughout October which celebrate the diversity of Leeds based rugby players from past to present.
Our fourth article taken from the 'Leeds Rugby League Football Club 100 Greats' by Phil Caplan & Peter Smith discusses a Kind, quiet and unassuming Roy Powell who was described as articulate and a real gentleman.
‘Some of the toughest men in sport shed real tears when Roy Powell was laid to rest on a bitterly cold, grey day in January 1999. Great Britain captains and coaches rubbed shoulders with ordinary fans as mourners packed the church for Powell’s sudden death, at the tragically early age of thirty-three, robbed rugby league not only of a fine player, but also one of its nicest and most popular men.
Contradicting the sayings, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, no one had a bad word to say about the much-travelled former Great Britain ace. Stereotypical rugby league forwards are big, thick and nasty. Powell fitted the first criteria, but he was also articulate and a real gentleman. Peter Fox, who coached him at Leeds and was responsible for his move to Odsal, delivered a tribute at the funeral and later summarised Powell’s unique qualities: ‘He was a smashing lad who would do anything for anybody. On the field he would forage forever. Whenever you needed him, he was there. He was a fantastic worker, but he could also release the ball, which was something he developed later in his career. He would have made a good coach because he never lost his temper. I used to play hell with him, telling him that if he had a fraction of my aggression he’d have been a world beater, but it just wasn’t him.’
In a career which included spells at Leeds, Bradford, Featherstone, Batley and Rochdale, the gentle giant became one of the sport’s most well liked figures, not only among the fans, but also in the eyes of his fellow professionals. Kind, quiet and unassuming, Powell would always be the first player to sign an autograph or attend a charity event. On tour with Great Britain, while other players were checking into the hotel or seeking out the bar, Powell would be back at the team coach, helping unload the bags. Powell saw Great Britain’s players as ambassadors for his country and his sport, both on the field and off it, and he filled the role perfectly.
As a player, Powell was totally appreciated by his fellow professionals, but sometimes underrated by fans and press. A common view of Powell is that he was a great workhorse, willing to drive the ball up and tackle all day, but lacking in the finer skills. In fact, Powell as one of the best players of his generation; he would not have earned 19 Great Britain caps if he had been anything less. Powell certainly wasn’t a creative genius, but his ball-handling skills were better than he was given credit for and no one could doubt his claims to be one of the best British tacklers of the 1980’s or 90’s. Powell, whose genial nature was sometimes a disadvantage to a forward in the toughest game, earned his Great Britain jerseys on merit. His international appearances came at a time when the Lions were getting back on par with the Aussies and he remains one of a select few players to boast home and away victories against every other major international side. His finest hour as a Lion came in 1988, when he helped Great Britain to their first Test win over Australia in a decade. Two years later, he was a vital member of the home pack in an epic triumph over the Aussies a Wembley.
Powell’s international achievements made up for a lack of silverware at club level, with only a 1989 Yorkshire Cup Winner’s medal with Leeds and a Trans-Pennine Trophy final triumph for Batley a decade later to show for fifteen seasons in the professional game. In a chilling portent, Batley’s historic win over Oldham was held up for twenty minutes after Powell collapsed on the pitch. A product of the St John Fisher amateur stable in Dewsbury, Powell was a member of Leeds’ premiership winning Colts side in 1983/84 and a stalwart of the first team throughout the second half of the decade. It was an era of some poor Leeds sides and the relied heavily on Powell’s tackling in the forwards, coupled with Garry Schofield’s inspiration in he backs. In most games, one or other was virtually guaranteed the man of the match award.
His finest performance in a Leeds jersey came in the 1988 John Player Trophy final, when he took on St Helens on his own, but had to settle for a loser’s medal in a heart breaking one point defeat. Bradford paid £80,000 for Powell in 1992, a move which shocked many Leeds fans, and it was money well spent. He became a firm favourite at Odsal before moving on to Featherstone and the Batley. He had just joined Rochdale as player/ assistant-coach when he collapsed and died during a pre-season training session. All of rugby league mourned’