The former England A, Roundhay, Nottingham, Wasps & Wakefield loose forward talks about his life in the game

I snapped my ACL when I was 17 and I was told I would never play again and it was only because of revolutionary surgery, which involved putting this false terylene ligament in instead of carbon fibre, that I was able to go on and have the playing career that I had.
The surgeons had done a lot of research with Leeds United at the time – you’re talking mid-80s here – and I think I was the first person in Yorkshire to have that particular procedure.
Even so, I spent a year on crut...