Columnist

Loan players have been around for years.

Some make no visible impression on a club, others go down in the memory as decent lads.

Others are remembered for making an impression but then being dragged back prematurely to their parent club. Danny Craven is a good example of that.

If any one Halifax loanee is remembered above all the others though it is probably a little lad with a broad Lancashire accent and a cheeky grin called Johnny Blair.

He was signed from his hometown club Oldham

(he had started his career at Fitton Hill ARLFC in the Pennine League) when Maurice Bamford brought him to Thrum Hall early in 1980.

Blair was a decent enough goalkicker although he didn’t need to prove that at Fax with Jimmy Birts in the team.

The Bamford revolution was well underway at this time.

The club that had struggled so spectacularly in 1977/78 had been transformed by the extrovert coach and had only just failed to gain promotion the following season, going from strength to strength.

Promotion looked nailed on in 1979/80 and there was also the welcome distraction of a possible run in the challenge cup.

Which brings us to Sunday 9th March 1980 when first division Wakefield Trinity arrived at Thrum Hall. This was a club with a proud tradition in the competition over the previous 20 years and who had been losing finalists to Widnes the previous season.

Blair was in for the injured Mick Blacker who had appendicitis and, as part of the gameplan, kicked four drop goals as Fax won 7-3 in a notable upset.

Unfortunately he sadly passed away in 2011 aged 59 but his memory lives on in the minds of all who witnessed that cup tie.