Hornets fans crown their Greatest Thirteen

A packed main lounge at Spotland Stadium witnessed the induction of the greatest Hornets 13 of all time on Thursday evening.

The feast of nostalgia took all of the guests on a fantastic trip down memory as memories of tries, tackles and brawls recounted first hand by the numerous ex-players present on the night from across the ages.

The compere, former Hornets Chairman and lifelong supporter Jim Stringer, gave his own memories from down the years and the effervescent Ray Myers also added his unique spin to an evening that will be forever remembered by those present.

The 'Greatest Thirteen' features players from across the ages, internationals, stalwarts and points machines all feature but it perhaps those that just missed out that show the true depth of the club's history.

The team features five props and no wingers, so it was never a 'Dream Team' - what the Greatest Thirteen does show is the type of Hornets players that leave a mark on the Hornets fans.

Hornets CEO Ryan Bradley said: "Jim [Stringer], Julie [Clarke] and Neil [Bruckshaw] have done a fantastic job collating the votes and researching the history of all of the players concerned and credit must go to them and the rest of the heritage committee.

"We knew when we first received the Heritage Lottery Fund Grant to kick start the work on our heritage that we had a fantastic, rich history and nights like tonight re-inforce that.

"Listening to Tony Gourley, Graham Starkey and Alan Hodkinson tell their stories really brings back good memories and to then have the family of Walter Gowers tell people how Hornets had a lasting impact on their family is superb.

"Soon it will be Crook, Cookson and English in their telling their stories and the role of the club and heritage committee is to ensure they have the platform to do that."

The team spans across time, with the likes of Walter Gowers, who debuted in 1922, through to the modern day stalwarts of Paul Crook, Wayne English and John Cookson, who will celebrate a ten year testimonial in 2016.

Giant Fijian Apasai Toga, dual code international Malcolm Price and numerous GB tourists and club stalwarts complete a fantastic line up of fans favourites from across the years.

The club has produced a special edition 2016 Calendar featuring all of the Greatest Thirteen as well as the 2016 fixtures, priced at £10 - contact the club to order yours.

The line up is as follows:

1. Alan Hodkinson

Debut 16/11/1969 versus Warrington, away.
Played 10 seasons with Hornets - eight of them as club captain.

Born in Leigh, joined Hornets from Salford as a 19-year-old, he went on to become an outstandingly loyal servant to the club.

As hard as they come, his superb defensive qualities earned him a place on Great Britain's World Cup tour to Australia, where he was the back-bone of the midweek team, and was unfortunate not to be picked for the test side.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• Hard Tackling Prop, never took a backward step - excellent leader on the park
• Strong, uncompromising, a winner
• Always gave 100% and never took a backward step
• A leader and inspiration when the game was as tough as ever"

2. Norman Short

Debut 13/12/1952 versus Widnes, away.
Played 13 seasons.

A centre signed from Leigh junior football in 1952.

A tremendously loyal servant to the club through the 50s and into the 60s. With 331 appearances and 79 tries to his name he's still spoken of with hushed reverence.

He was described understatedly by the Manchester Evening News as a centre with pace to spare and an eye for the try line. Not a bad tackler, either."

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• A lifelong Hornet
• A stalwart who never let the team down
• A genius of his generation

Short scored two tries in the third round tie against York to get Hornets to the Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan in 1958

3. Paul Crook

Debut 23/2/2010 versus Featherstone Rovers, away.
Played six seasons to date.

Crook enjoyed a brief Super League spell with Widnes before playing at Doncaster under Ellery Hanley.

Since joining Hornets in 2010, he's played 143 games, scoring 56 tries, 514 goals and 11 drop goals, amassing 1,263 points - that's an average of nine points per game, a point every eight minutes and 48 seconds.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• A consistent performer, a leader and a gent
• A standout player who was integral in orchestrating our success in 2013, leading us to promotion and our first silverware since 1922"

Inducted as a Hero of Hornets in 2014 - and now one of the All-Time XIII - it's the Ginger General.

4. Malcolm Price 

Debut 6/8/1966 versus York, away.
Played two seasons.

Not many Hornets' players have scored for Great Britain in the last 50 years, but this Welsh dual-code international did, against France in 1968.

Born in Pontypool, Price gained international RU recognition playing for his home town club. Between 1959 and 1962 he won nine caps for Wales RU and a further five caps for the British and Irish Lions. He was described by Andrew Bennet in his book 'Welsh Rugby Heroes' as 'the answer to the nation's prayers' ahead of the RU Lions 1959 tour.

He didn't go, he chose League, signing for Oldham.

This classy centre signed for Hornets in 1966, resurrecting his career after serious injury: he ruptured his spleen playing for Oldham against Hornets.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• A fast sleek winger
• One of a limited band of players to play for league and union Lions
• A classy centre and great servant who coached and promoted rugby league at amateur level in the town. 

Price won two caps for Great Britain (RL) while at Hornets, playing twice against Australia in 1967.

5. Teddy Cahill 

Debut 10/12/1949 versus Liverpool South, away.
Played 11 seasons.
Hornet's captain.

Whilst at Hornets, Edward 'Teddy' Cahill played for England and toured Australia with Great Britain

He won England caps in 1953 against Wales, France and other nationalities.

He was selected to tour Australia with GB in March 1954; at the time, the first Hornet to be selected for the national side since 1928, but was forced to return home early because of a knee injury.

He also played for the GB Lions against France in the same year.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• Playing above his weight every week
• Piercing, side-stepping, swerving runs electrified the crowds
• No Hornets player consistently provided more thrills

6. John Cookson 

Debut 14/3/2008 versus Salford City Reds.
Played seven seasons.

Recently awarded a testimonial for 2016 after 10 years' service to the game, Cookson has played seven of those in a Hornets jersey.

After signing for Leigh from Adlington Juniors, he first came to Hornets for a loan spell. He went on to become the first player to reach 100 appearances for the supporter-owned Hornets.

He's currently played 130 games and scored 27 tries, including one in the Grand Final at Leigh in 2013.

He has been described by voting Hornets fans as:

• Has pride in the badge.
• Mr 100% - always.
• Honest, direct and always gives his all.

7. Apisai Toga

Debut 15/2/1964 versus Workington Town, home.
Played four seasons

There aren't many players who have left Hornets to go and play top flight football in Australia, but Toga did.

Born in Nadi, Fiji he signed for Hornets in 1964, going on to play in Hornets' 16-5 defeat by Warrington in the 1965 Lancashire Cup final at Knowsley Road, by which time he'd pretty much terrorised the game in England with his pace, power and sheer style.

His reputation reached as far as the all-conquering St George club in Sydney and, for a huge £2,000 transfer fee in 1968, he became the first Fijian to play in the NSWRL competition.

He was joined by brother, Inosai in 1969.

In 1973 he contracted tetanus poisoning after cutting his foot whilst diving and on 27 January 1973 he collapsed in pre-season training at Carss Park, in Kogarah, dying later the same day at St George Hospital.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• Great player and a gentleman.
• A true rugby league hero.
• Massive in every sense - a genuine international-class player.

A hero on both sides of the world. The one and only Apisai Toga.

8. Wayne English 

Debut 8/2/2010 versus Oldham away.
Played six season to date.

Rochdale born and bred. Played for Swinton Lions for ten years having signed from Kirkholt WMC and was inducted as a Hero of Hornets in 2013.

Has played 137 games and scored 57 tries. That's a try every for 190 minutes he's played in a Hornets shirt (every 2.4 games) .

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• A team player who has shown complete loyalty to club and team and to his supporters
• Respected everywhere - says a lot about him as a player and a person.
• He gets where gas can't.

9. Graham Starkey 

Debut 22/8/1964 versus Salford home.
Played five seasons.

Teacher Graham Starkey has the rare achievement of having played for and coached Hornets, in two separate spells.

In a career that included Hornets, Wigan and Huddersfield, he went on to become a respected rugby league coach - the pinnacle of a long career being appointed assistant coach to the GB team in 1982.

Another lethal goal-kicker, in the 1966-67 season he broke Walter Gowers' longstanding club goal-kicking record.

Indeed, after Oldham finished next to bottom of the league in 1969/70, they looked at what Starkey had achieved at Hornets and took him to Watersheddings as player-coach.

He went on to coach Wigan in the 1973/74 season, returning to coach Hornets from October 1974 for 13 months.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• A clever, thoughtful player who represented Hornets with pride.
• A great player, great coach, and a great sports teacher.

Described by Sky Sports' Phil Clarke as a 'visionary' because of his innovative views on coaching and development of the sport, he is known to several generations of players in Rochdale as 'Sir'!

10. Chris Churm 

Debut 4/4/1994 versus London Crusaders, away.
Played five seasons.

Churm gained international honours with the GB University Lions before going on to play in Chris Deakin's all-conquering Oldham St Anne's side of the early 90s.

He made his Hornets debut in a 28-10 away win at London Crusaders at the end of the 1993/94 season and went on to prove himself a real point's machine.

In the 1994/95 season he scored 24 tries in 28 games, including a hat-trick against Hull, which earned him the Hornets Supporters' player of the year award.

The following season he weighed in with 13 tries from 20 games, and added three drop goals for good measure.

The creative keystone of Steve Gibson's Hornets side, he played in cup ties against Wigan and St Helen's and stood toe-to-toe with some of the world's best half-backs. His try against Saints to give Hornets the lead in a Challenge Cup tie at Spotland remains a moment of genuine class.

A final total of forty-five tries in 65 appearances is an outstanding strike rate that made him a fans' favourite.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• Massively under-rated, a player of real quality.
• His try against St Helen's is one of the real highlights of 40 years of watching Hornets.

His lethal finishing power earned him the nickname 'The Churminator'.

11. Karl Marriott debut 

1/4/1988 versus Oldham, home.
Played 11 seasons.

Karl, a product of the Mayfield club, was a genuine Rochdale rugby league hero. Having represented the town team at under 16s, 17s and 19s he stepped up to represent Lancashire at both U-17s and U-19s.

He capped an outstanding amateur career when he was chosen for the BARLA Young Lions tour of Australia in the summer of 1989. On the 17 August 1989 he signed for Hornets, having already come off the bench as a triallist in the last game at the Athletic grounds a year earlier.

He made his full debut against Workington on 22 October 1989, scoring a try in a Hornets 50-24 win.

Two weeks later he bagged a hat-trick as Hornets racked up a record 92-0 win over Runcorn Highfield.

In his first season he scored seven tries and was part of the team that gained promotion to the top flight.

With a testimonial in the offing, the unthinkable happened. His sudden death, at the age of just 28, was a bombshell for rugby league in the town.

His coach, Deryck Fox, said of him: "His attitude summed up his love for the club. It's rare that you get a one-club man, but he was one of that rare breed. He was happy to stay here and was Hornets through and through."

He has been described by voting hornets fans as

• Always gave 100%, and loyal too.
• A local lad and a Hornets fan, he embodied everything supporters could wish for in a hero.
• A great lad, very popular with our fans.

At the time he died, Ray Myers described him as: "A son of Rochdale Hornets."

With 165 appearances , 48 tries and one drop goal - Karl Marriott.

12. Walter Gowers 

Debut 30/9/1922 versus St Helen's Recs, home.
Played 13 seasons.

This hero was a sporting phenomenon playing both association football and rugby league professionally. In addition to playing for Hornets, St Helens, Lancashire and Great Britain, he played fullback for Preston North End (in 1926).

Whilst at Hornets he represented Lancashire four times.

He played for Great Britain in the non-test matches on the 1928 Great Britain rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand, scoring 27 conversions.

He had a reputation as a pinpoint goal kicker, scoring a Hornets career 733 goals and 24 drop goals. He also set Rochdale Hornets' most conversions in a season record with 109 conversions in the 1933-34 season. This record stood for 33 years before it was broken by Graham Starkey.

Holds Hornets' most appearances in a career with a record 456 appearances between 1922 and 1946.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• Associated with the club for 24 years - that's loyalty.
• That people still speak of him now shows what an influence he had. That's some legacy.

A true Hero of Hornets, in every sense.

13. David Taylor 

Debut 12/3/1966 versus Doncaster, home.
Played 12 seasons.

Of all the players nominated for the all-time 13, David Taylor had one of the longest careers with Hornets, clocking up 201 appearances in 12 years.

Renowned for his phenomenal work rate, in 1971/72 he played in 31 games scoring tries in Hornets quarter-final and semi-final wins in the Floodlit Trophy (against Widnes and Hull respectively). Those two, part of a career total of 40 tries.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• Loyal club man and hard running centre.
• An unassuming cornerstone of some really good Hornets sides in the late 60s and early 70s"

Coach: Frank Myler

Debut 7/8/1971 versus Barrow away.
Played two seasons - and coached for a further season.

Coach of the all-time Hornets 13, he joined Hornets in May 1971 as player coach just 12 months after captaining Great Britain to an Ashes win in Australia. He remains the last British captain to lift the Ashes trophy in Australia.

During Myler's three year tenure, Hornets reached two finals, the BBC Floodlit Trophy and the Player's No 6 Trophy (won by Bill Holliday's massive last minute drop goal from out of the touchline mud in the semi-final against Leeds). Hornets were defeated in both, by Saints and Warrington respectively.

He left Hornets in October 1974 to replace Vince Karalius at Widnes.

He has been described by voting hornets fans as:

• An inspirational player/coach who and always played expansive entertaining rugby.