Fame at last as proud Edwards reveals what made Wigan great

The former Wigan and Great Britain scrum-half, 49, was added along with the legendary Albert Goldthorpe, the Hunslet great who made his debut in 1888 and was one of the sport’s original stars.

The Hall of Fame was established in 1988 to commemorate the finest ever players in British rugby league.

There was, originally, a permanent display commemorating its initial nine inductees – including Alex Murphy, Billy Boston, Jonty Parkin and Gus Risman – at the Bentley Arms pub near Rothwell in Leeds.

Edwards, saluted at the International Series and Hall of Fame Dinner in Salford last night, told The Yorkshire Post: “I remember when it was first set up and looking around the place at all the great players who were inaugurated.

“I looked on with real admiration and then thought if I push myself hard enough maybe one day, you never know, maybe I’ll be up there, too?

“That day’s come now and I am really proud.”

As the most decorated player in the sport’s history having won 36 winners medals while part of the famous Wigan team that dominated an entire era, the addition of Edwards along with Goldthorpe now takes the Hall of Fame’s number to 25.

Malcolm Reilly, the Castleford hero and Edwards’s former international coach, was inducted last year with Willie Horne while in 2013 Edwards’s Wigan colleague Martin Offiah and Great Britain team-mate Garry Schofield were enrolled along with Lewis Jones and Mick Sullivan.

Edwards, who starred with Wigan from 1983 to 1997 before brief spells at London Broncos and Bradford Bulls, switched to rugby union after his retirement from playing.

He has won honours there as a coach at Wasps and, of course, as part of the Wales side that has claimed three Six Nations and featured at the recent World Cup.

On his rugby league career, he continued: “I’ve won 36 medals and that’s not including the two (Great Britain) series victories over New Zealand.

“People say I played in a really good team and it was at Wigan.

“But the tough thing was keeping your place in that side.

“I remember Andy Gregory once saying to me the reason we’re so good is everyone is fighting for their place; we were almost driven by fear of not winning, or of not getting a new contract.”

Alongside the likes of Gregory, Offiah, the incomparable Ellery Hanley – inducted into the Hall of Fame himself in 2005 – and Joe Lydon, Wigan ran riot, Edwards playing in every round of the Challenge Cup as they incredulously won it eight years on the trot from 1988 to 1995.

He lifted the league title eight times, was Man of Steel in 1990, captained his country, scoring 15 tries in 36 Tests for Great Britain.

Edwards’s spell playing in Yorkshire was, of course, only a brief one.

He moved to Odsal from London in 1998, joining the then Super League champions who were being led by Australia coach Matthew Elliott and had the likes of Robbie Paul, Graeme Bradley and Paul Medley in their playing ranks.

But the sting at Bradford only lasted a few months and he was soon returning to the capital although he has nothing but positive praise for his former club.

“I played 10 games for Bradford and things started off really well,” he recalled.

“It was one of the best run clubs at the time - they’d just won the championship, were well coached and off the field were excellent, too.

“But one simple thing was I was really missing my son.

That’s the whole reason I left Bradford and went back to London Broncos.

“I didn’t really realise how much I’d missed him until I got down there.

“But now I’ve had a long 18 year relationship with him and he’s my best mate.”

Meanwhile, Goldthorpe’s story is an incredible one, too, full of remarkable feats.

In a playing career spanning more than 20 years, he made his debut for Hunslet at the age of 16 in 1888 before retiring in 1910 having scored more than 1500 points in 659 games.

Most famously, in the 1907-08 season, half-back Goldthorpe led the Hunslet side that scooped all four domestic trophies at the time – the Yorkshire Cup, the Yorkshire League Trophy, the Challenge Cup and the Championship Trophy.

He was one of five brothers, four of whom all at one point played together at Hunslet, and was a star of his time.

However, for well over 40 years, Goldthorpe gave faithful service to the Hunslet club not only as a player but later as a committee man and secretary-manager.

Now, fully 73 years after his death in 1942 aged 72, his feats have been noted officially by the sport.

Criteria for Hall of Fame eligibility states players must have been retired for at least five years and also have played at least ten years within the British game.

RFL chief executive Nigel Wood said: “The Rugby League Hall of Fame includes 23 magnificent legends of our sport and the list now includes two more outstanding players.

“In a year where we are celebrating the sport’s 120th anniversary with five of the game’s legends immortalised in the Rugby League Statue at Wembley Stadium, it’s fantastic that those celebrations can be extended with the induction of two worthy inductees into the Hall of Fame.”

Rugby League Cares chairman Terry Flanagan added: “It’s always an absolute privilege to host a brilliant event that is the Rugby League Hall of Fame Induction dinner.

“Albert Goldthorpe and Shaun Edwards are two very worthy additions to the Hall of Fame and it’s great that we can celebrate their careers in this way.”