We got Eddie Butler blind drunk on Dark & Stormies
ISNAPPED my ACL when I was 17 and I was told I would never play again and it was only because of revolutionary surgery, which involved putting this false terylene ligament in instead of carbon fibre, that I was able to go on and have the playing career that I had. The surgeons had done a lot of research with Leeds United at the time – you’re talking mid-80s here – and I think I was the first person in Yorkshire to have that particular procedure.
Even so, I spent a year on crutches which meant my younger brother, Howard, made his debut for Roundhay RUFC before me. Howard and I were the third generation of the Greenwood family to play for Roundhay. I think my grandfather was one of the founding members, he was sadly killed in the Second World War, and my father also played for the club.
I don’t think for a minute it was the hospital food but, for some reason, I grew two or three inches, to 6’ 6’’, after the surgery. So while I played centre at school – at Roundhay High, the same school that Liz Truss went to and has since rubbished – I played my club rugby at lock at first before moving to the back row.
In my second game for Roundhay I found myself stood opposite Wade Dooley, no less. In fact, most weeks, you’d have a job on your hands because a lot of the leading locks in the country came from the North. Waterloo had a lively pack with the likes of Jim Siddall and Steve Bainbridge (Gosforth) was very fiery but also very athletic. Back in those days every team had one or two enforcers and you just had to stand toe-to-toe and literally slug it out until it was the daftest man left standing.
We had a strong fixture list and a good squad. Jim Mallinder joined us in the second of my three seasons there; he came across from Halifax, as did Brian Moore, who was around 18/19 at the time before he went to Nottingham, my next club.
‘ABCD’ (Alan Davies) was a great
coach at Nottingham, way ahead of his time. He had a massive influence on my career. On top of our internationals, we had a lot of good, young players. Through his Cambridge connections, Alan was able to get players like Rob Andrew and Chris Oti to come and join us, I’d come to the club having studied in the city at Trent Poly, and quite a few came from Loughborough.
Competition for places was fierce – Ian Hunter left to go to Northampton because he couldn’t get in the side – and it took me about 18 months to establish myself in the first team. I remember a big game against Bath at Beeston, in the 1989/90 season. We’d rested our four internationals – Brian Moore, Gary Rees and Simon Hodgkinson from England and Scotland’s Chris Gray, which gave fringe players like me an opportunity. Gloucester fans were
incensed because they were well in the title race along with Bath and Wasps. We had loads of letters from them basically saying, ‘Why don’t you just give the title to Bath?’ But they underestimated us, we had a lot of good reserves and we ended up winning. I was Chris Gray’s replacement, we had Neil Back playing in Gary Rees’ place, I think Wayne Kilford played at full-back for Hodgy and a lad called Roger Taylor played for Brian Moore. Roger was a big lad and a fantastic player. He played for Great Britain at water polo and could throw the ball in like you’ve never seen before in your life.
With Bath slipping up, it meant that Gloucester needed to beat us at our place on the final day to be crowned champions instead of Wasps. It felt as if half of Gloucester had turned up for what was Brian Moore’s last game for us, all you could see was a sea of cherry and white. It was all on for Gloucester to beat us but all the guys were really up for it that day. I remember in the first scrum, Gloucester went back 10 yards, which was unheard of in those days. We put an early marker down and, with about 10-15 minutes to go, the Gloucester fans knew the writing was on the wall. Half the ground emptied as they poured back onto the coaches to leave for home disappointed. It was only then that you could make out some green and white colours in the crowd!
Hodgy was the best goalkicker in the world at the time. You could count the number of times he missed on one hand but, unfortunately, one of those rare misses probably denied us a place in the final of the 1991 Pilkington Cup. Hodgy used to kick it really low, to keep it under the wind, but in the semi-final against Quins, a massive gust took hold of the ball and rather than going straight through the middle, as it looked certain to do when he first struck it from 35 yards out, it shaved the post and the game went to extra-time and Quins won it after Andrew Harriman scored an unbelievable try.
Another huge disappointment was relegation from the First Division. I’d started playing Divisional rugby for the North and was part of the England set-up by then so I had a big decision to make and, as much as it pained me, I realised I needed to leave Nottingham. I agreed to join Wasps and spent five brilliant seasons there, during which time I toured New Zealand and Canada with England so I made the right choice and me and my partner at the time were very well looked after by the club, as everyone was.
Though Repton Avenue was by no means the best ground in the world, what it lacked in terms of facilities was more than made up for by the club members and supporters. We would all end up drinking together in the sponsor’s bar at the end of the game and some great nights were had by all. Sadly he is not with us anymore, but on one occasion we got Eddie Butler blind drunk on ‘Dark & Stormies’ and the poor guy couldn’t even stand up, let alone walk home.
In my first season at Wasps (1992/93), we missed out on the title to Bath on points difference. Our only defeat of the season was down at their place when Franny Clough was sent off early on following an altercation with Jerry Guscott. We were winning 6-0 at the time. In fact, we were always there or thereabouts; I don’t think we ever finished outside the top four, even when the game went pro and we lost a third of our squad to Newcastle.
We still had some good young lads and when given the opportunity, they took it and we qualified for Europe. That led to Chris Wright coming on board and that was the start of it all really. We then brought in the likes of Damian Cronin, Andy Reed, Rob Henderson, Alex King, Gareth Rees, Kenny Logan and Inga (Tuigamala) and became the first-ever Allied Dunbar Premiership champions in my final season. It was a brilliant way to bow out, although in hindsight, I should have probably stayed until the end of my contract as I had another year left to run.
After Wasps, I returned to Yorkshire and had spells coaching at Wakefield (as player-coach), Bridlington and Bradford & Bingley before helping out at Leos, a local club in Leeds. We actually won the Powergen Junior Vase in 2004. It was a fantastic day out with a good set of lads. I gave this speech saying, ‘remember guys, rugby is a simple game, the side that scores the most points wins’. It was a draw (against Ribblesdale) and we won on try count so you can imagine the stick I got.
I’m not at all involved in rugby now but what happened to Wasps really hurt me, especially when you consider Roundhay and Wakefield are not around anymore and Nottingham are at a different ground. It feels as though a lot of the history of my playing days has gone now but, fingers crossed, Wasps can come back and start again. Whatever happens, ‘Once a Wasp, always a Wasp’ is a saying that will always ring true with me.
“You would literally slug it out until it was the daftest man left standing”