Mal Reilly

Malcolm John Reilly OBE (born 19 January 1948) is an English former rugby league player and coach.

He played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Castleford (two spells) in England, and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Australia, as a ,

Reilly made his debut for Castleford during the 1967–68 season, scoring a try in a 8–10 defeat against Hunslet in September 1967.

He won his first honours with the club later that season, playing at in Castleford's 8–5 victory over Leigh in the 1967 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at Headingley, Leeds on Tuesday 16 January 1968.

During the 1968–69 season, Reilly played in Castleford's 11–22 defeat by Leeds in the 1968–69 Yorkshire Cup Final at Belle Vue, Wakefield, on Saturday 19 October 1968, and played, and won the Lance Todd Trophy in Castleford’s 11–6 victory over Salford in the 1968–69 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 17 May 1969.

Reilly represented Yorkshire while at Castleford in 1968 against Cumberland and Lancashire.

After retiring from playing, Reilly went on to coach Castleford, Leeds, Halifax, Great Britain, and the Newcastle Knights in Australia.

In the 1969–70 season, Reilly played in the 7–2 victory over Wigan in the 1969–70 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 9 May 1970.

After Reilly had starred for Great Britain in their triumphant 1970 Australasian Tour in which they succeeded in winning The Ashes (the last time that Great Britain has won The Ashes), he returned to play for Castleford and was selected for Great Britain during the 1970 World Cup.

Managing the Australian team in the World Cup was Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club secretary Ken Arthurson who made it a priority to sign Reilly and bring him to Sydney to play for the Brookvale based club.

His signing proved a boon for Manly as his skills and toughness added to an already strong Manly forward pack (Manly had played in the 1970 Grand Final).

Reilly won caps for England while at Castleford in 1970 against Wales and France, and in 1977 against Wales (sub), and won caps for Great Britain while at Castleford in 1970 against Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand (3 matches), and in the 1970 Rugby League World Cup against Australia, France, and Australia.

Reilly was part of the victorious Great Britain touring team that defeated Australia in the Ashes series during the 1970 Great Britain Lions tour.

Reilly helped them to their first premiership in 1972 when they defeated the Eastern Suburbs, Roosters 19-14.

Manly would repeat the feat and became premiers in 1973.

He thus became only the third Englishman (after Dick Huddart and David Bolton) to play in a grand final-winning team in Australia.

Early in the 1973 Grand Final against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (playing their first Grand Final), a team which was captain-coached by Reilly's former Great Britain team mate Tommy Bishop, and also included former Lions prop Cliff Watson, Reilly was felled late by Sharks hooker Ron "Rocky" Turner after putting in a mid-field chip kick (Turner had already targeted him once and just missed him only a minute into the game).

Clearly hobbled with a badly bruised hip, Reilly went off for pain killing injections.

As it was clear he would not last out the match, Manly coach Ron Willey gave the Englishman the instructions to go out and cause as much physical damage to the Sharks players as he could before he could go no further.

After carrying out Willey's instructions, Reilly was replaced after 25 minutes by John Bucknell.

As for the match itself, the brilliance of Manly centre Bob Fulton was the difference between the two sides as the Sea Eagles won 10-7.

The game has often been described as the roughest, dirtiest Grand Final in Sydney premiership history, with several all-in brawls (usually started by Bishop before retreating behind his pack) causing referee Keith Page to caution both teams repeatedly, though strangely he did not send anyone from the field despite repeated warnings that he would do so (according to Bishop, at one stage Keith Page allegedly threatened to take Manly second rower Peter Peters out the back of the Sydney Cricket Ground after the game and 'sort him out' for calling him a cheat).

Leading journalist Ian Heads described the match in the Sunday Telegraph the next day as: "It was a Grand Final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl".

40 Years after that Grand Final, Sharks coach Tommy Bishop admitted that they did in fact target Reilly, knowing just how dangerous a player he was.

Australia regained The Ashes during the 1973 Kangaroo tour, and have not lost them since.

After three seasons with Manly, Reilly returned to Castleford in 1974.

Although Manly made the finals in both 1974 and 1975, they were unable to repeat their premiership success.

Mal Reilly would return to Castleford after the 1975 Australian season.

He played in the 4-12 defeat by Leigh in the 1976 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at Hilton Park on Tuesday 14 December 1976.

Ironically, Ken Arthurson then signed two more Great Britain back row forwards for 1976.

Second rower Phil Lowe, and lock forward Steve "Knocker" Norton who bore an uncanny resemblance to Reilly, as well as Castleford halfback Gary Stephens.

Manly would win their 3rd Sydney premiership in 1976.

During his time at Manly, Mal Reilly was team mates with players who themselves would go on to become legends of the game including Bob Fulton, Graham Eadie, Ray Branighan, Fred Jones, John O'Neill, Terry Randall, and legendary try scoring winger Ken Irvine.

He played in the 11–22 defeat by Leeds in the 1977–78 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1977–78 season at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 15 October 1977, and played in the 2–13 defeat by Hull F.C. in the 1983–84 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1983–84 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Saturday 15 October 1983.

He later became a Tigers Hall Of Fame Inductee.

Reilly was the coach in Castleford's 15-14 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1985–86 Challenge Cup Final during the 1985–86 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 3 May 1986, in front of a crowd of 82,134.

He coached at representative level for Great Britain, and at club level for Castleford, Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield Giants and Hull Kingston Rovers in England, and Newcastle Knights in Australia, taking them to their first premiership in 1997.

In 2014 he was inaugurated into the British Rugby League Hall of Fame.

As of 2015 this remains the last time Great Britain or England has won The Ashes.