21 Facts About Garry Schofield

Garry Edward Schofield OBE was born on 1 July 1965 and is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and is a member of the British Rugby League Hall of Fame.

The award to Schofield was made retrospectively in 2011 by Rugby League World magazine.

Garry Schofield made his debut for Hull FC as a 17 year old in 1983.

Garry Schofield scored a try on his full debut against Parramatta Eels after he took an interception from his former Hull FC teammate, Peter Sterling.

Garry Schofield did not play in the 1988 Winfield Cup as he was touring with the Lions, but returned in 1989 to play for lowly Western Suburbs Magpies.

Garry Schofield scored five tries in eight starts for the club.

In 1988 Garry Schofield was named the costliest player in world rugby league.

In 1991 Garry Schofield won the Man of Steel Award for player of the season.

Garry Schofield made over 250 appearances for Leeds, scoring 147 tries and 746 points.

Garry Schofield finally left Leeds in 1996, joining Huddersfield for a six-figure sum.

Garry Schofield made his debut for Great Britain in his first season in 1984 and went on to be selected for the 1984 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia at the age of just 18.

In 1985, Garry Schofield re-wrote the record books by scoring four tries for Great Britain as they beat New Zealand in the second Test series at Central Park, Wigan.

Garry Schofield was selected to go on the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour.

Later that year Garry Schofield retained the captaincy over Hanley for the World Cup Final against Australia played at Wembley Stadium.

Garry Schofield retaining the Lions captaincy for the World Cup Final would lead to personal animosity between himself and Hanley for a number of years.

The rumoured animosity between Hanley and Garry Schofield was said to be behind Hanley's decision not to start his Leeds teammate in the test decider.

Garry Schofield controversially missed out on selection for England's 1995 World Cup squad.

Garry Schofield could score tries from nothing when he was a young centre and then he went on to become a very good stand-off and a very good leader.

Garry Schofield led the Lions to five wins from five and players such as Tom Spencer, Daniel Rooney and Alex Walmsley have since graced the professional ranks.

In late 2010, Garry Schofield was appointed to coach high-flying, big-spending Barrow in the Championship, although he was fired after only 5 games in 2011 after a personality clash with the club's chairman Des Johnston, who was later that year banned from the sport for eight years by the Rugby Football League.

Garry Schofield is a regular columnist for the weekly League Express newspaper as well as for the Sunday version of the national newspaper the Daily Star.