Charlie Stone (rugby league)

Richard Stone (12 September 1950 – 1 May 2018), known as Charlie Stone, was an English rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Pontefract R.U.F.C. and representative level rugby league (RL) for England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Featherstone Rovers and Hull FC, as a prop or second-row[2] and was captain of Hull during the 1980–81 season.[2][4]

For other people named Richard Stone, see Richard Stone (disambiguation).
For other people with the same name, see Charles Stone.

Charlie Stone
Personal information
Full nameRichard Stone
Born(1950-09-12)12 September 1950[1]
Pontefract, England
Died1 May 2018(2018-05-01) (aged 67)
Playing information
PositionProp, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1970–78 Featherstone Rovers 241 25 0 0 75
1978–85 Hull F.C. 188 8 0 0 24
1985–86 Featherstone Rovers 21 1 0 0 4
Total 450 34 0 0 103
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1973/74–≥73/74 Yorkshire ≥2
1975 England 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [2][3]

Background

Charlie Stone's was born in Pontefract, West Yorkshire on 12 September 1950, and he died aged 67.[5]

Playing career

Featherstone Rovers

Charlie Stone made his début for Featherstone Rovers on Wednesday 14 October 1970,[6] in an 8-year career with the club he made 241 appearances and scored 25 tries playing mostly as a second-row or loose forward.

Notable matches in which he played include two consecutive Challenge Cup finals in 1973 and 1974. In the first he played loose forward in Featherstone Rovers' 33–14 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1973 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 12 May 1973, in front of a crowd of 72,395. In the 1974 final he was a substitute (replacing second-row Jimmy Thompson) in the 9–24 defeat by Warrington Wembley Stadium on Saturday 11 May 1974, in front of a crowd of 77,400.

Two County Cup Final appearances followed playing right-second-row in Featherstone Rovers' 12–16 defeat by Leeds in the 1976 Yorkshire Cup Final at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 16 October 1976 and playing right-second-row (replaced by substitute Peter Smith) in the 7–17 defeat by Castleford in the 1977 Yorkshire Cup Final at Headingley on Saturday 15 October 1977.

Hull F.C.

In 1978 Stone joined Hull F.C. and went on to make 188 appearances and scoring 8 tries during 5 years at the club. At Hull he moved into the front row of the pack and mostly played at prop.

The first honours while at Hull were in the 13–3 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1979 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at The Boulevard, Kingston upon Hull on Tuesday 18 December 1979. With Hull he made a further three Challenge Cup Final appearances; playing right-prop in Hull FC's 5–10 defeat by Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1980 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday 3 May 1980, in front of a crowd of 95,000 and two years later played right-prop in the 14–14 draw with Widnes in the 1982 Final at Wembley on Saturday 1 May 1982, in front of a crowd of 92,147, and played right-prop in the 18–9 victory over Widnes in the replay at Elland Road, Leeds on Wednesday 19 May 1982, in front of a crowd of 41,171. Finally in 1983 he played right-prop in Hull's 14-12 defeat by Featherstone Rovers at Wembley in front of a crowd of 84,869[7]

In between the two Challenge Cup finals he played right-prop in a 12–4 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1981–82 John Player Trophy Final Headingley Rugby Stadium on Saturday 23 January 1982. Stone captained the team on that day and was sent off 5 minutes from the end along with Roy Holdstock from the opposition. In a controversial moment Stone was allowed up to lift the trophy, despite the early exit from the game. In 1982 he played right-prop in the 18–7 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1982 Yorkshire Cup Final at Elland Road on Saturday 2 October 1982.

Featherstone Rovers, second spell

At the end of the 1984/85 season Stone rejoined Featherstone for a second time during which he played a further 21 games, scoring one try before retiring. Stone was inducted into Featherstone Rovers Hall of Fame in 2016.[8]

Representative honours

Charlie Stone won caps for Yorkshire while at Featherstone Rovers; during the 1973–74 season against Cumbria and Lancashire.[6]

Stone won a cap for England as an interchange/substitute while at Featherstone Rovers in 1975 against Australia.[3] Stone was selected for the 1984 Great Britain Lions tour to Australasia in 1984 and while he played in 12 tour matches he was not selected for any of the test matches.[5]

References
  1. Emery, David (1984). Who's Who in Rugby League. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-356-10435-5.
  2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. "Coaches and Captains". hullfc.com. 31 December 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  5. "Tributes paid as Hull FC great Charlie Stone passes away". Hull Daily Mail. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  6. Bailey, Ron (20 September 2001). Images of Sport – Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club. The History Press. ISBN 0752422952
  7. "A complete history of Hull FC's Challenge Cup finals". Hull Daily Mail. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  8. "Featherstone Rovers legends added to Hall of Fame". pontefractandcastlefordexpress.co.uk. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
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