HUDDERSFIELD Giants club ambassador and Claret and Gold playing legend Eorl Crabtree has become the 22nd player in the Huddersfield Rugby League Hall of Fame.
The England international prop forward, who won 14 caps, spent his entire 16-year playing career at his hometown club, making 423 appearances and scoring 79 tries.
The 34-year-old was delighted with the honour and said: “It feels absolutely fantastic to be given a place in the Hall of Fame.
“It’s hard to explain because as you start on the journey to being a professional rugby league player all you want to do is play for your hometown club, and I’m very fortunate that I got the opportunity to do that for about 18 years and play over 400 games.
“I’d have liked to have gone on for a bit longer, but unfortunately it had to end at some point.”
The last player to be inducted to the Hall of Fame was former Great Britain winger Ken Senior some 38 years ago, and Crabtree is pleased to be the first player from the Super League era to be honoured.
“It’s something that doesn’t happen too often as the game has changed over the years,” said Crabtree.
“We’ve been waiting a while for another Hall of Fame entrant, but I’m sure we won’t be waiting quite so long for the next Hall of Famer.
“In the future I’d love to see the likes of Jermaine McGillvary, Leroy Cudjoe and Michael Lawrence, these players are going to be around for a while and will hopefully stay with Huddersfield throughout their careers and will join me in the Hall of Fame.
“I look forward to being a part of the new Hall of Famers, the new breed of Super League Hall of Famers, because I think the future is really bright at Huddersfield.
“I’m just glad I’ve been at the start of that. I’ve been here right from the beginning – when we were relegated through to promotion – and now I can see us going from strength to strength.
“The club is going in a good direction now and I have been given an opportunity to try and help the club off the field.
“But to be recognised as a player that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame is unbelievable.
“I’m very fortunate to have been able to do what I love as a career and this feels like a reward from the club to say ‘thank you’ and it’s one that I’m very grateful for.
“When you’ve had about 13 operations you really do feel like you’ve put your body on the line for somebody and I’ve put my body on the line for this club and as a business as well.
“I’ve constantly tried to do the right thing, I’ve played through the pain barrier and now I feel like I’m getting a great reward for that. It’s a nice send-off because of the way my career ended, and I would have liked to have had that final send-off.
“Unfortunately injuries stopped that so this is a nice send-off and something I’ll never forget.
“The club means absolutely everything to me. Rugby League does as well and I want the sport to go on and get bigger and bigger.
“Not only that, it’s not just about the club and rugby league but also the town of Huddersfield. I feel like Huddersfield needs to be even bigger and to continue to rise and prosper.
“Especially with Huddersfield Town doing so well, I feel there is a real buzz around the town and I want to be a part of that buzz and helping to create a bigger one around Huddersfield Giants as well.
“There’s no reason why this town can’t go on to bigger and better things and become a real northern powerhouse.”
HUDDERSFIELD RL HALL OF FAME
Harry Lodge 1890-1896
Milford Sutcliffe 1895-1899
Harold Wagstaff 1906-1914
Douglas Clark 1909-1927
Albert Rosenfeld 1909-1921
Ben Gronow 1910-1925
Len Bowkett 1926-35
Ray Markham 19331939
Alex Fiddes 1933-1947
Russ Pepperell 1938-1956
Jeff Bawden 1943-1952
Lionel Cooper 1947-1955
Johnny Hunter 1947-57
Pat Devery 1947-54
Dave Valentine 1947-57
Frank Dyson 1949-1963
Peter Ramsden 1951-1964
Ted Slevin 1951-1963
Tommy Smales 1959-1964
Don Close 1962-1968
Ken Senior 1962-1979
Eorl Crabtree 2000-2016
