Garry Schofield

Garry Edward Schofield OBE (born 1 July 1965) 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.

At the time of his retirement he was the most-capped Great Britain player of all time along with Mick Sullivan, with 46 appearances.

He also won three England caps.

Schofield made his début for Hull as a 17 year old in 1983.

Schofield played at, in Hull FC's 13–2 victory over Castleford in the 1983 Yorkshire Cup Final at Elland Road, Leeds on Saturday 15 October 1983, picking up his first piece of silverware.

More success came for Schofield the following season in 1984 when he scored 4-conversions and a drop goals in the 29–12 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1984 Yorkshire Cup Final at Boothferry Park, Hull on Saturday 27 October 1984.

That season he went on to be the division's top try scorer.

Schofield made his début 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.

Although Australia swept the Lions 3–0 in The Ashes series, Schofield won praise from the Aussie players, press and even the public for his clever play and electrifying running game.

In 1985 Schofield played as a substitute replacing Gary Kemble in Hull Kingston Rovers' 12–0 victory over Hull F.C. in the 1984–85 League Cup Final during the 1984–85 season at Boothferry Park on Saturday 26 January 1985.

The same year, Schofield was a substitute in Hull FC's 24–28 defeat by Wigan in the 1985 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 4 May 1985, in front of a crowd of 99,801, in what is regarded as one of the greatest cup finals in living memory, which Hull narrowly lost after fighting back from 12–28 down at half-time.

Moving to Sydney, Schofield spent the 1985, 1986 and 1987 NSWRL seasons with the Balmain Tigers club and gained the rare distinction for a British footballer of becoming the season's top try-scorer in 1986 (he crossed for 13 tries to finish equal with Manly-Warringah's Phil Blake).

In 1985, 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.

The series ended 1–1, with the third game drawn.

In 1986 Schofield played at in the 24–31 defeat by Castleford in the 1986 Yorkshire Cup Final at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 11 October 1986.

Due to Hull's financial difficulties in the late 80s, they were forced to sell Schofield to Yorkshire rivals Leeds in 1987.

A year earlier, the Balmain Tigers won the National Panasonic Cup – Schofield's only major winner's medal at club level (not including the 1988 Yorkshire County Cup which he won at Leeds).

In his three seasons with Balmain, he scored 28 tries, nine goals and four drop-goals in just 45 appearances.

He 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.

Ellery Hanley, Schofield's international teammate who had led Balmain to the 1988 NSWRL Grand Final, recommended him to the club.

Schofield scored five tries in eight starts for the club.

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

Schofield played at and scored 2-tries, and a drop goal in Leeds' 33–12 victory over Castleford in the 1988 Yorkshire County Cup Final at Elland Road on Sunday 16 October 1988.

Schofield played at in Leeds' 14–15 defeat by St. Helens in the 1988–89 League Cup Final at Central Park on Saturday 9 January 1988.

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

He won the 1990 Rugby League World Golden Boot Award as the greatest player on the planet, largely due to his exceptional performances in Great Britain's backs-against-the-wall Test-series win in New Zealand and his remarkable display as Great Britain beat Australia at Wembley 19–12.

In 1990, as vice-captain, Schofield was outstanding in Great Britain's series triumph in New Zealand and then in the shock 19–12 victory over Australia in the first Ashes test at Wembley.

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

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

Schofield experienced possibly his finest hour when captaining the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand with a magnificent 33–10 win over Australia in the second test at Princes Park in Melbourne, with Schofield a clear choice as man-of-the-match.

But the Ashes were once again lost by two games to one.

Due to an injury suffered by Hanley, Schofield captained the Lions in all 6 tests on the tour.

Later that year Schofield retained the captaincy over Hanley for the World Cup Final against Australia played at Wembley Stadium (Hanley was the 1992 Lions tour captain but only played 15 minutes on tour due to injury).

In front of an international rugby league world record crowd of 73,631 Australia prevailed over their British rivals, winning 10–6 thanks to a late Steve Renouf try.

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

After helping Huddersfield into Super League, and went on to become player-coach but was dismissed after 13 games, having picked up two wins and only playing twice for the club.

After he was dismissed from Huddersfield, Schofield signed for Doncaster in 1999 where he made seven appearances before signing for Bramley the same season before retiring at the end of the season.

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

In 2012, Schofield and Hanley were inducted into the Wests Tigers Hall of Fame.

Schofield moved from Hull to his home town club Leeds (Heritage No. 1183) in 1987 for what then was a world record fee of £155,000.