When Tony Hannan, Tim Butcher and I sat down in the autumn of 2002 to discuss a monthly series of articles on grounds for Rugby League World magazine little did I realise that this book would be the result. From my first article on Hull's departure from the Boulevard the series, entitled Groundhopper's Guide, has since taken up most of my thinking time. Football and Rugby League grounds have always held a special fascination for me and in recent years I have been fortunate enough to complete the groundhopper's ambition of seeing a first-class game at each of the current Football League and Scottish League grounds. I have also completed the 'set' of Highland League grounds and have several more ambitions in the pipeline.

Hilton Park, Leigh was the first Rugby League ground I visited and it has retained a special place in my heart, strengthened during that wonderful season of 1981/82 when Leigh lifted the Lancashire Cup and then went on to win the Championship after a memorable last-game win at Whitehaven. John Woods remains my ultimate sporting hero.

I was fortunate enough, as a youngster, to see Leigh's 1971 Wembley Challenge Cup Final victory over Leeds and later became good friends with several of the players, including Kevin Ashcroft who is one of the game's true characters. Over a period of about 25 years I missed only a handful of Leigh games and edited the club's match-day programme for over a decade. In the past ten years or so my reporting commitments have meant travelling far and wide watching the greatest game of all.

In 1999 I was asked to present BBC Radio Lancashire's weekly Rugby League programme alongside Dave Swanton, following on from the pioneering work done at the station by Jason Harborow. Swanny's unfortunate defection to rugby union left me organising the programme single handed, for the best part of fifty-two weeks a year. Sports Editor Gary Hickson has been a huge help and gives me a free rein presenting what is currently League 2005, which has been enormously satisfying. I never cease to be amazed at how approachable and amenable are the vast majority of people in the game of Rugby League, and the great and the good have only been too happy to travel to Blackburn to spread the word.

While other students travelled the world, I spent three summers and subsequently a great deal of time researching the history of the game in dusty libraries. During the early 1990s I wrote six books on Rugby League, the last being a biography of John 'Buff' Berry of Tyldesley and England fame. 'Buff Berry and the Mighty Bongers' sounded like a sex manual and, if it had been one, it might have sold more copies.

When League Express started publication in 1990 I began by contributing the Leigh match reports and that created a new 'career' as a sports journalist. Looking back, the memorable 1995 World Cup was my breakthrough year and I have been very fortunate to see most of the big games first hand since the switch to a summer season. In the process I have clocked up well over one hundred Rugby League games a year and made visiting new grounds a priority wherever possible.

Thanks to Tim Butcher, Martyn Sadler, Danny Spencer and Tony Hannan for their expertise, encouragement and help over many years at League Express Towers and for seeing the results of my labours committed to print. I sincerely hope that you, dear reader, get as much enjoyment out of this book as I did writing and compiling it. Finally, thanks to my father, Derek, for introducing me to the wonderful world of Rugby League and to the wider world of other sports at an early age. My groundhopping days certainly started young.

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British Rugby League - a Groundhopper's Guide

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