Dignified Johnson fulfils his promise to Ilkley

Life after England began in the humble and picturesque surroundings of Ilkley for Martin Johnson on Saturday.

As the guessing game as to who would succeed him as England manager continued – with Yorkshireman Jim Mallinder reiterating his desire to take the post – Johnson dropped in via helicopter to take in a Yorkshire One fixture between Ilkley and Scarborough.

The 41-year-old was a special guest at the official opening of Ilkley’s new £1.8m main stand.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We painted a ‘H’ on the first-team pitch and he just dropped in,” said Ilkley’s rugby operations manager Tom Gillon.

Johnson spent five hours at Stacks Field, just three days after publicly calling time on his three-and-a-half year reign as England manager.

The World Cup-winning captain spent much of his time signing autographs and chatting rugby with the 1,000 spectators – an attendance more than six times the club’s average.

Given the trauma of the last few days, the very public fallout from his resignation and England’s dire World Cup, his appearance was greatly received by all at the club.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He told us on the day that he was always going to come, regardless of what had gone before,” said Gillon. “So it was absolutely brilliant for us.

“Ironically, Martin kickstarted our fundraising campiagn for the new stand back in 2008, just a week before he was appointed as England manager.

“He was the guest at a fundraising dinner that raised a lot of money towards the stand.”

In total, Ilkley raised £900,000 towards the cost of the stand through a series of local events.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The other half came from grants from the Rugby Football Union, Sport England, Ilkley Parish Council and Bradford Council.

Johnson’s link with the club is through a personal friendship and discussions about his guest appearance yesterday began in the summer, before Johnson headed to New Zealand with England.

Ilkley defeated Scarborough 24-0 on Saturday to move up to fifth in Yorkshire One, with Gillon citing ‘consolidation’ as the principle aim of the side this year.

Mallinder’s goal is bolder. On Friday night, following a second successive defeat for Northampton in the Heineken Cup, the Saints’ Halifax-born director of rugby had his first chance to speak about the England vacancy since Johnson’s departure.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 45-year-old former Old Crossleyans and Roundhay player is widely regarded as the leading candidate, having guided the Saints from the second division to last season’s Heineken Cup final in just three years.

Nick Mallett and Graham Henry, two options with international coaching experience, appear to have ruled themselves out of contention.

Mallinder initially expressed his interest in the England job three weeks ago, while Johnson was still deciding whether to continue.

And on Friday he reiterated his desire to be considered for the job of coaching England into the 2015 World Cup on home soil, while adding that there had been no official contact with Northampton from the RFU.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mallinder commented: “I said a few weeks ago that everybody strives to be the best they can and coaching the national side is a massive honour.

“I have said previously that it is (a role that interests me).

“There have been no questions asked and at this moment I am very happy and I think I have got a really important job to do, getting this side (Northampton) back up and winning rugby matches.”

Related topics: