The players have a number on their away shirts, on the front under the collar. What do they signify?

i guess it's what player they are for the club in history, made famous by the aussie cricket team

It's an ebay lot number for when Keith offers to do the laundray after the game and mysteriously 17 playing issue shirts end up being auctioned.

We has this discussion the other week and I don't think anyone could come up with an answer.

This was our main guess but I think someone found a few players that made us doubt it.

No it's not. We had this discussion on this a few weeks back but don't think anyone came up with the real reasoning.

Its the number of players that have made 10 or more appearances for Leeds...

There is only one way to sort this out..... TVOC !!! Where are you!!

I have sent a tweet to Matt Diskin, as I do want to know because it is annoying me now, so hopefully he will reply!

Sorry but I couldn't figure it out the last time this was discussed on here and I'm still struggling now.



It probably has got something to do with the order they made some sort of Leeds RLFC debut.



A few examples from last night:



664 - Sinfield

670 - Jones-Buchanan

676 - Burrow

681 - Dskin

684 - McGuire

709 - Kirke

714 - Webb

719 - Watkins

720 - Buderus



That almost follows the 1st grade debut order except Diskin made his before Burrow and the gaps between the numbers don't tally when you consider who made their debuts inbetween.



Hopefully someone (perhaps even Phil Daly at the club) can offer the explanation sometime.

Players are awarded a number once they make 10 appearances for Leeds, as I said above but probably not that clearly





That would perhaps explain the Diskin/Burrow anomaly, if Burrow got to 10 appearances before Diskin.



I started the original thread a while back asking what the numbers signify, and got someone well connected at the club to look into it for me

I'm surprised Watkins made 10 full team appearances before Buderus.

What a strange system to have?!

Fair enough I'll revisit the figures with the above information now in mind.



Got to agree with mirfield here that it's a bit of a strange call for the club to make having a 'ten appearance rule' rather than a straight forward first grade debut. It's almost as if they've worked off the Headingley Story Volume 2 player lists and added the post 1979 players to it. Surely not?

Eastwood told us!!

Is this number only on the away shirt too?

This explains why Eastwood & Delaney do not yet have numbers, but think it is an odd system. So tvoc we need to keep our eye out for their 11th appearances (does it include friendlies) and see if a number appears?

tvoc - could this 10 appearance thing to do with the old days of having a trial'ist and occasional 2nd team players making a first team appearance but not been a regular first team player for the clubs new system?

next time anybody is in the company of gary should ask him

The use of the trialist 'A N Other' in the first grade could be an issue historically (I'm not sure) but I can't think of one in my time of keeping contempory Leeds records stretching back 31 years. Even with the likes of Steve Ford and Steve Pilgrim in the 'no free gangway days' from Union they were still known and I think still named when they trialed at 1st grade level.



'A' teams were an entirely different matter though.



I would regard any player making a first grade competitive debut (not trial, friendly or testimonial) deserving of recognition even if they turn out to be a one 'cap' wonder.



Brett Delaney and Greg Eastwood became the 135th and 136th players to play for Leeds in the SL Era (if you recognise the SL Era includes the 1996 Challenge Cup competition) That list also includes Joe Chandler, Chris Chapman, Michael Haley, Jonny Hepworth, Nathan McAvoy, Scott Murrell and Nathan Picchi who all made just a solitary appearance from the bench at first grade level.



Who makes the rules for recognition? Is it an internal club decision or does it have to follow a convention imported from elsewhere? FWIW the England Cricket team appear to allocate a unique number to each player on debut, for example Amzad Khan played V the West Indies in 2009 and was immediately awarded number 642.... I don't think he's played for the Test team since.



I note with some interest that the Headingley Story Volume 2 player stats are preceded by the line =#FF0000'Qualification: Ten Appearances (excluding substitutions)' and was IIRC at some point explained by the author as being thus due to a lack of space. If that =#FF0000exact criteria was applied in this era it would have taken Carl Ablett 5 seasons and 38 appearances to earn an entry in an updated volume produced after the 2008 season. If the book was released before the 2008 season then Ablett doesn't make it despite contributing 5 first grade tries before the end of 2007. Not forgetting Nick Scruton had to wait 7 seasons to amass 10 starts on his 56th Appearance.



It's a different era (re-the modern game use of substitutions) but it kind of illustrates a point.

How many appearances for Leeds did Jonny Lidell make? Wasn't he a 'one cap wonder'?

Quote Wheels="Wheels"How many appearances for Leeds did Jonny Lidell make? Wasn't he a 'one cap wonder'?'" Jon Liddell made one appearance for Leeds away at Wigan 23rd March 2001. He didn't make that particular one cap wonder list as his was a starting role rather than one from the bench. To highlight the brevity of one such Leeds career Jonny Hepworth played the final three minutes of the away game at the Broncos 9th May 2003. Possibly the shortest 1st grade career in the club's long history. Previously on Soap..... viewtopic.php?f=17&t=443095

Quote Wheels="Wheels"How many appearances for Leeds did Jonny Lidell make? Wasn't he a 'one cap wonder'?'" Jon Liddell made one appearance for Leeds away at Wigan 23rd March 2001. He didn't make that particular one cap wonder list as his was a starting role rather than one from the bench. To highlight the brevity of one such Leeds career Jonny Hepworth played the final three minutes of the away game at the Broncos 9th May 2003. Possibly the shortest 1st grade career in the club's long history. Previously on Soap..... viewtopic.php?f=17&t=443095

Posting from iPhone very quickly, but Matt Diskin replied to my tweet and it as thought, your apperance number awarded after 10 apperances.

Cheers IA

Thanks for that Mr I Armadillo.

To quote Matt Diskin's exact words in his tweet for clarity "it's the number order of club representatives, only applicable when you've played your 10th game."

I'm wondering if that's literally the 10th Appearance or 10th Start?



It could be important for a little project I've got in mind.