Recently at
Southlands Retirement Apartments, we welcomed members of the
Leeds Rhinos Players Association (LRPA) to the location for a meeting with a certain Southlands apartment owner – one who also happens to be a Rugby League legend, no less.
A player for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, who was also inducted into the Leeds Rhinos Hall of Fame in 2022 for his achievements with the Leeds club, Southlands resident Bob Haigh had a long and illustrious career playing rugby that spanned 18 years.
Bob began his first team club career in 1962 aged just 18, playing at second-row for Wakefield Trinity. For Trinity, he would go on to see a Yorkshire Cup win against Leeds in 1964 and two Championship wins, in 1967 and 1968, while making a total of 250 appearances for the club.
In 1970, Bob moved to Leeds, where he played until 1977. At Leeds, Bob made 167 appearances, and scored a total of 93 tries for a team that in 1970 won both the Yorkshire Cup and the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy, and which in 1973 took home the John Player Trophy. Bob was also part of a Leeds team that went to Wembley for the Challenge Cup Final in two consecutive years, in 1971 and 1972, while Bob in 1970/71 personally set what was at the time a world record of 40 tries in a single Rugby League season.
In 1977, Bob moved to Bradford Northern, where he would end his playing career two years later, though not before winning the White Rose Trophy (for being named man of the match in the 1978 Yorkshire Cup Final) and the Harry Sunderland Trophy (for being named man of the match in the 1978 Championship Final). Following his retirement from playing, Bob briefly returned to Wakefield Trinity in 1984 to coach the team.
For the Southlands LRPA meeting, Bob welcomed to the Apartments former Leeds Rhinos players Barrie McDermott and Colin Maskill; former Leeds Rhinos player and current Leeds Rhinos CEO Jamie Jones-Buchanan; and the LRPA’s Tim Lawson, a Leeds Rhinos historian.
About the meeting, Bob’s sister Joan said: “It was a wonderful day for Bob meeting with the Players Association and getting to spend the afternoon and reminisce with other former Leeds players. Thank you so much to the LRPA for arranging the meetup, and thank you to the Westward Care staff who organised the day, you were amazing.”