Alf Ellaby

Alf Ellaby
Personal information
Full name Alfred Henry Ellaby[1]
Born 24 November 1902
Prescot
Died 1993 (aged 90–91)
Playing information
Position Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1926–34 St Helens 261 271 0 813
1934–37 Wigan 103 90 0 270
1937–39 St Helens 28 9 0 27
Total 392 370 0 0 1110
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1927–35 England 8 13 0 39
1928–33 Great Britain 13 7 0 21
Source: saints.org.uk, wigan.rlfans.com, englandrl.co.uk

Alf Ellaby (24 November 1902[2] — 1993) birth registered in Prescot, was an English rugby league footballer of the 1920s and 1930s. A wing three-quarter back, he retired as the England national team's and St. Helens' all-time top try-scorer. Also a Great Britain and Lancashire representative player, Ellaby was dubbed the "Hat-trick King", with 31 for his home-town club, St. Helens. He was Liverpool's first rugby league superstar.

Background

Born in Liverpool, Ellaby He saw a promising Association football career with Rotherham United ended by a knee injury before going on to become a St. Helens legend.

Playing career

Alf Ellaby scored 50 tries during the 1926–27 season, and 280 in 289 matches for St. Helens. Ellaby won caps for England while at St. Helens in 1927 against Wales, in 1928 against Wales (2 matches), in 1930 Other Nationalities, in 1931 against Wales, in 1932 against Wales (2 matches), and in 1934 against France. He also won caps for Great Britain in 1928 against Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand (2 matches), in 1929 against Australia, 1930 against Australia, in 1932 Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand (2 matches), in 1933 Australia.[3] Ellaby set the St Helens club's record for most tries in a match with six on 5 March 1932, a record that has since been matched, but never broken. Ellaby played in St. Helens' victory in the Lancashire League during the 1931–32 season. Due to being on the 1932 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, Ellaby and Albert Fildes did not play in St. Helens' 9-5 victory over Huddersfield in the Championship final during the 1931–32 season at Belle Vue, Wakefield on Saturday 7 May 1932.

Alf Ellaby played Left-Wing, i.e. number 5, and scored a try in St Helens' 10-2 victory over St Helens Recs in the 1926 Lancashire Cup final during the 1926–27 season at Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington on Saturday 20 November 1926, and played Left-Wing in the 9-10 defeat by Warrington in the 1932 Lancashire Cup final during the 1932–33 season at Central Park, Wigan on Saturday 19 November 1932.

Alf Ellaby was transferred to Wigan in 1933 to help ease St Helens' financial burden, in his début for Wigan he scored a hat-trick of tries, while at Wigan he played for England in 1935 against France, he later returned to St Helens to complete his fantastic career.[4]

Post-playing

Ellaby's position as all-time top try-scorer in the game's history with 446, was overtaken by Brian Bevan in 1954.

Alf was, at various times, the landlord of the Veevers Arms and Ardwick Hotel in Blackpool, together with the George Hotel at Garforth, becoming a Director of Castleford for a spell. A member of the Saints’ Past Players’ Hall of Fame, he lived in Garforth until his death at the age of 90 in 1993. There was to be a final twist, however, quite befitting to one of the great sporting heroes of St.Helens. His ashes were taken home on the Saints ‘A’ Team coach after a match at Castleford and were later scattered on the pitch at his beloved Knowsley Road.

It was no surprise when Alf was inducted into the Saints Greatest 17 in the autumn of 2010 and he was joined by Les Fairclough, his stand-off who had done so much to keep the threequarter line moving to provide Alf with so many of his scoring opportunities.

References

  1. ↑ Service, Alex. "Alf Ellaby". Saints Heritage Society. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Birth details at freebmd.org.uk". freebmd.org.uk. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Wigan Warriors Announce Heritage Numbers" (PDF). wiganwarriors.com. Wigan Warriors. Retrieved 2 January 2014.

External links

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