In this episode I’m joined by Lee Robinson to talk about his new book ‘Jonty: The Life of Jonathan Parkin’, arguably the greatest rugby league scrum-half of all time.
Jonty’s career began as a teenager with Wakefield Trinity before World War One and ended in 1932, by which time he had become the first player ever to tour Down Under three times, twice as captain, and had played in every international match in which he could be selected before his international retirement in 1930.
He did all this during what was arguably Trinity’s poorest ever decade. Perhaps most importantly, Jonty was the archetype of the typical scrum-half – combative, tricky and with an inbuilt hostility to authority – and his influence is till felt today.
The book is available from https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/136704396053 and you can discover a whole lot more about Wakefield Trinity’s history at https://www.trinityheritage.co.uk
For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, take a look at http://www.rugbyreloaded.com (where you can find the links for this episode) and follow me on Twitter at @collinstony