Lee Crooks (rugby league)

Lee Crooks
Personal information
Born	(1963-09-18) 18 September 1963
Playing information
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	100.7 kg (15 st 12 lb)
Position	Prop, Second-row
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1980–87	Hull F.C.	220	44	400	0	947
1985–86	Wests (Sydney)	29	3	36	1	85
1987	Balmain Tigers	11	0	7	0	14
1987–90	Leeds
1990–97	Castleford	222	18	596	1	1265
	Total	482	65	1039	2	2311
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
	Yorkshire
1992	England	1	0	4	0	12
1982–94	Great Britain	19	0	17	1	35
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1998–99	Keighley Cougars
	York Wasps
	Total	0	0	0	0
Representative
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
	Serbia
Source: rugbyleagueproject.org englandrl.co.uk

Lee Crooks (born (1963-09-18) 18 September 1963) is an English professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s and '90s, and current coach, playing at representative level for Great Britain, England, and Yorkshire, and at club level for Hull, Western Suburbs Magpies, Balmain Tigers, Leeds, and Castleford, as a Prop, or Second-row, i.e. number 8 or 10, or, 11 or 12, captain of Hull during the 1985–86, and 1986–87 seasons,^[1] and coaching at representative level for Serbia, and at club level for Keighley Cougars, and York Wasps. Lee is the father of current Castleford centre Ben Crooks. ^[2]

Playing career

Club career

Hull

Crooks started his career at Hull, making his début at the age of 17 in 1980, and went on to make 220 appearances for the club.^[3] He also played in three Challenge Cup finals with the club, including Hull's 14-14 draw with Widnes in the 1982 Challenge Cup final during the 1981–82 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 1 May 1982 (and the 18-9 victory over Widnes in the replay at Elland Road, Leeds on Wednesday 19 May 1982), the 14-12 defeat by Featherstone Rovers in the 1983 Challenge Cup final during the 1982–83 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 7 May 1983, and was captain in Hull's 24-28 defeat by Wigan in the 1985 Challenge Cup final during the 1984–85 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 4 May 1985.

Crooks played Right-Second-row, i.e. number 12, and scored 2-conversions and 2-drop goals in Hull's 18-7 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1982 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1982–83 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Saturday 2 October 1982, played Right-Second-row in the 13-2 victory over Castleford in the 1983 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1983–84 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Saturday 15 October 1983, played Right-Prop, i.e. number 10, in the 29-12 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1984 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1984–85 season at Boothferry Park, Kingston upon Hull on Saturday 27 October 1984, and played Right-Second-row, and scored 4-conversions in the 24-31 defeat by Castleford in the 1986 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1986–87 season at Headingley Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 11 October 1986.

Crooks played Right-Second-row, i.e. number 12, and scored 4-conversions in Hull's 12-4 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1981–82 John Player Trophy final during the 1981–82 season at Headingley Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 23 January 1982, and played Left-Second-row, i.e. number 11, in the 0-12 defeat by Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1984–85 John Player Special Trophy final during the 1984–85 season at Boothferry Park, Kingston upon Hull on Saturday 26 January 1985.

Leeds

In June 1987, Crooks was sold to Leeds for a world record transfer fee of £150,000 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £518,900 in 2014).^[4]

Crooks played Right-Prop, i.e. number 10, in Leeds' 33-12 victory over Castleford in the 1988 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1988–89 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Sunday 16 October 1988.

Castleford

Crooks played in Castleford's 12-28 defeat by Wigan in the 1992 Challenge Cup final during the 1991–92 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 2 May 1992.^[5]

Crooks played Left-Prop, i.e. number 8, scored a conversion, and was captain in Castleford's 11-8 victory over Wakefield Trinity in the 1990 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1990–91 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Sunday 23 September 1990, and played, and was captain in the 28-6 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1991 Yorkshire Cup final during the 1991–92 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Sunday 20 October 1991.

He also played in Castleford's 33-2 victory over Wigan in the 1993–94 Regal Trophy final during the 1993–94 season at Headingley Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 22 January 1994.^[6]

Representative honours

Crooks became the youngest ever Great Britain Test forward when he made his début aged 19 on Saturday 30 October 1982. He was selected to go on the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour.

Lee Crooks won a cap for England while at Castleford in 1992 against Wales,^[7] and won caps for Great Britain while at Hull in 1982 against Australia (2 matches), in 1984 against France (sub), and Australia (2 matches), in 1985 against New Zealand, and New Zealand (sub), in 1986 against France (2 matches), and Australia (3 matches), in 1987 against France, while at Leeds in 1989 against France, while at Castleford in 1992 against France (2 matches), Papua New Guinea, and he was selected to go on the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He also played in 1994 against France.^[8]

Crooks also won a cap playing Left-Prop, i.e. number 8 for Yorkshire while at Castleford, scoring 2-conversions in the 17-12 victory over Lancashire at Leeds' stadium on 18 September 1991.^[9]

Honoured at Western Suburbs Magpies

Lee Crooks was named in the Magpies Team of the Eighties.^[10]

Coaching career

He coached Serbia in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifying campaign. In February 2014] Crooks joined the Rugby Football League (RFL) again this time in the role of England Regional Performance Coach for the North East. He will oversee the coaching at the RFL's North East Academy, as well as helping to develop community clubs in the region where he intends to build on the great work that was done by his predecessor Andy Kelly.

References

↑ "Coaches and Captains". hullfc.com. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
↑ "Statistics at hullfc.com". hullfc.com. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
↑ http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/4949786/crooks-in-hull-return
↑ "Measuring Worth – Relative Value of UK Pounds". Measuring Worth. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
↑ "Sat 2nd May 1992 - Challenge Cup - Neutral Ground - 77,386". thecastlefordtigers. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
↑ "Wigan 2 - 33 Castleford". thecastlefordtigers.co.uk. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
↑ "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
↑ "Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
↑ "Statistics at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk". thecastlefordtigers.co.uk ℅ web.archive.org. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
↑ "VEST, KEATO, COGGER ALL HONOURED". weststigers.com.au. Retrieved 30 September 2010.

External links

Achievements
Preceded by Andy Gregory	Rugby League Transfer Record Hull to Leeds 1987	Succeeded by Garry Schofield

Western Suburbs Magpies Team of the Eighties

1. Wayne Smith 2. Warren Boland (c) 3. Jason Lidden 4. Ted Goodwin 5. John Ribot 6. Trevor Cogger 7. Terry Lamb 8. John Donnelly 9. Allan Fallah 10. Lee Crooks 11. Ian Schubert 12. Bob Cooper 13. Jim Leis 14. Alan Geelan 15. Ian Freeman 16. Steve Broughton 17. Paul Merlo

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