Columnist

MANY YEARS ago there used to be a stereotypical professional rugby league player; a bloke in his 30s who struggled to get into the first team and who spent most of each season playing with the ‘A’ team.

He may have been a regular first team player at one stage in his career who had fallen from grace or he may never have made those exalted heights.

A lot were motivated were pride, a lot more were motivated by the money and put themselves through the pain barrier every Saturday for a few extra quid.

Geoff Palmer, who died recently, was definitely not in this category.

This was a centre with all the attributes. He was over six foot tall and at times weighed nearly fifteen stones and was a lovely passer of the ball.

Palmer was decidedly close to Great Britain selection at one stage in

1958 and captained one of the teams in a trial match prior to the Lions tour to Australia that year.

His partnership with wingers like Johnny Freeman and Keith

Williams was extremely productive in terms of tries scored.

In total he played 208 games for Halifax and scored 99 tries yet chose to retire from the sport at the age of 26 (only a matter of weeks after playing for Fax in a Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan) to concentrate on his business interests.

It was a strange end to an unconventional career.

Born in Maryport in Cumbria Palmer had signed for Halifax in 1955 from Rosslyn Park RUFC after doing his National Service in the capital.

His debut was in August of that year and final bow before walking away from it all was in April 1961 versus Oldham.