On Wednesday 12th March, Giants legend, Eorl Crabtree was the guest of the HGSA at Laund Hill.

Daz Eastwood welcomed and introduced Eorl and gave the audience a rundown of his career achievements, Eorl, now the Managing Director of the Midlands Hurricanes told a busy Laund Hill crowd what his new role entails and how it came about – it literally happened just like that!, Hurricanes Chairman and Ex-Giants sponsor and trumpet player, Mike (Big Red) Lomas, a friend of Eorl’s, asked him over a coffee if he fancied being their MD, Eorl said yes and the 2 of them along with the rest of their passionate and enthusiastic team have set about making a big Rugby League mark in Birmingham.

 

 

Eorl spoke fondly of his time at Huddersfield although he admitted he struggled to get going in Super League in the beginning but as we all know he blossomed into a legendary player with his long blond hair flapping in the wind and the face of opponents.

In his 1st season as part of the Giants First team squad Eorl was sponsored by Neil Shuttleworth (one of the men who saved the club from extinction in the mid 1980’s) and was allocated shirt number 22, Neil was at Laund Hill last to present the actual shirt Eorl wore that season to him as a keepsake, much to Eorl’s surprise as he hadn’t seen the shirt for years, Thank you to Neil for this and of course everything he’s done for the club over the years.

Eorl reminisced about his time in an England shirt and felt at times like he ‘didn’t fit in’ due to the various club cliques in the international camp back then, Eorl was part of the Huddersfield clique, unfortunately for him he was the only one it it as no other Giants players were deemed worthy of an international call up!

He spoke about facing an Australian side with the likes of Thurston, Inglis, Lockyer, Civoniceva etc in and how it was an honour to play against such legends of the game.

He also loved the ‘fat Robbie Savage’ nickname and had even had Mr Savage himself tweeting him reminding him that he was ‘just a fat me, Son’ much to everyone’s amusement.

Eorl said that he will always be a Giants fan having spent 25 years at the club as a player and an ambassador and was rightly proud of the sponsors he brought on board at Huddersfield but the opportunity at Midlands to step up and be in a more senior position and take on a role he saw himself revelling in was too good to turn down, he is currently taking a degree in leadership so who knows if we will see Eorl as the head of the Giants one day or even at the RFL?!!!

Eorl named Danny Brough as the best Giants player he’s played with, describing him as a mix of insanity and genius and someone who he was proud to go into battle with, a true warrior and leader, we won’t argue with that, Eorl!

On closing, Daz Eastwood paid tribute to Eorl, reinforcing his status as a modern day legend of the Giants and a true Rugby League icon and he would always be welcome at the HGSA, Eorl finished by telling the room that he will always be around and that he was grateful and thankful for all the support over the years as a player and later in his role as club ambassador.

Daz invited retired club photographer, John Rushworth to present Eorl with a montage of his playing days as a thank you for his services from the HGSA.

Thank you Eorl and good luck in your future!